WHERE TO STAY IN GYEONGJU , SOUTH KOREA ? - GYEONGJU NAMU GUESTHOUSE AND HANSOL MOTEL REVIEW

My long long time not so good flatlay

Hello everyone~ 

If you followed my blog or Instagram account, you might know that I love to visit Korea. Who doesn't love to visit Korea, right? 

This time, I just want to share a place to stay in Gyeongju, South Korea if you wish to participate in Gyeongju Cherry Blossom Marathon. =)

In 2016, it was my first time entered a marathon outside Malaysia. There is non-other reason why I wished to participate in that marathon if not because of the beautiful cherry blossom scenery. =)

And, 2018 I make a comeback by entered the marathon for the second time. Yeay !!  But, 2018 was different because my friend Hanis and Syira also participated in the marathon. I will be sharing our 2018 marathon day story in the separate post, okay?

Gyeongju actually is a beautiful place full of heritage and history to be explored. It is not well known yet by Malaysian. Why I said this? It is because if you are in Gyeongju it's hard for you to meet Malaysian there, not like in Myeongdong. =)

So, here are the two accommodations that you can stay in Gyeongju if you wish to enter the marathon. There are lots of other guesthouses or motels or hotels or hostels that you can stay in Gyeongju. But, these two accommodations that I shared was based on my/our experienced.

1) GYEONGJU NAMU GUESTHOUSE

The entrance of the Namu Guesthouse and that is Hanis =)

What are the good things to stay in Gyeongju Namu Guesthouse:

• The building and interior of this guesthouse so cute and beautiful.

• It has their own cafe too. Since we only stayed one day in Gyeongju, therefore, we unable to taste any coffee or lepaking at their cafe. =( 

The entrance of the Namu Guesthouse Cafe 

• The guesthouse totally clean that is the most important part. I guessed most of the guesthouses/hostels in Korea definitely clean ( based on my experienced ). I totally love that.  =) 

• The room quite big for only 2 persons to stay just for a night.

• The staff or owner of that guesthouse totally helpful and kind even though they are not speaking English fluently. Why I can say this? The staff told us where we can go to explore Gyeongju and told us the weather in Gyeongju and more other information. The staff also helped me and Hanis by telling us the information that there will be a shuttle bus for all the runners. If she didn't tell us, we might get lost how to go to the marathon starting line/area. One more thing, we arrived late at the guesthouse the day we should check out. But, the staff just said that she will not charged us the late checkout charges. Instead, she told us to quickly take our belongings because they need to clean up the room before the next customer checking in. How kind she was. And, we are totally lucky.

• The restaurants/cafe only walking distance from the guesthouse even though we need to walk a bit towards the main road.

• One more thing, that I like stayed here is because of the guesthouse really near to the Gyeongju Intercity Bus Station. This is the first reason why we chose Gyeongju Namu Guesthouse. It is easier for us to take the bus back to Busan.

The bad side to stay in Gyeongju Namu Guesthouse:

• The guesthouse is near with Gyeongju Intercity Bus Station but we get lost when we try to search for the guesthouse using Google Map. It is because the guesthouse actually situated a little bit far from the main road and it is facing some kind of factory or something. You can read more about our get lost story here on my previous post. 

• The location of the guesthouse was quite far from the marathon area. It took around 40 minutes to arrived at the marathon area ( the marathon area near to Bomun-Lake - Bodeok-Dong ) by bus. Please take note: public transportations around Gyeongju only bus, car, taxi or motorcycle/Vespa. But, luckily on the marathon day, there was a shuttle bus provided for all runners.

Namu Guesthouse Cafe

The Reception area

2) HANSOL MOTEL

This picture, I took it from Google because I don't have any picture of this motel in full.

Lesson learnt from our previous trip in 2016. We knew that the marathon starting line was near the Bomun-Lake. Therefore this year, 2018. We decided to stay at any guesthouse/motel/hostel/hotel near the Bomun-Lake. Since our trip is a budget trip, obviously we chose to stay in budget accommodation. Plus, we only stayed for one day just for the marathon day. Hihi.

What are the good things to stay in Hansol Motel:

• Totally near to the starting line of the marathon area ( Bodeok-dong centre). Only, walking distance around 10 minutes walk. 

The marathon area situated behind this building but need to cross just a small river first .

• Near to Bomun -Lake and all the attractions in Gyeongju.

• The staff totally helpful even though they can't speak English. We communicate with the staff using Google translate. hihihi.

From the side of the Hansol Motel

• Quite big room for three persons. But, actually, we booked for 2 persons in a room because when we do our booking, the three-person room already fully booked. We are so lucky the ahjumma gave us the three-person room when we are checking in.

• Importantly, the room and the hotel totally clean.

On the day of the marathon, we are checking out early and ask the staff permissions to kept safe our luggage at the storeroom. And, they are so kind by accepting our request.

Hansol Motel entrance

The Bad side to stay in Hansol Motel:

• The motel quite far from the Gyeongju Intercity Bus Station, it is 30 minutes distance by taxi. 

From the main road , the first landmark that we will see towards the Hansol Motel is this museum.

The nearest shopping complex to Hansol Motel - can you see Syira in purple jacket is walking towards the motel

The hotel that situated next to Hansol  Motel.

That's are my review about two places you can stay in Gyeongju if you are planning to take part in the Gyeongju Cherry Blossom Marathon.

After all, both places are quite good for us since we only stayed for one night.

Hopefully, my review helps a little bit to anyone who is planning to visit Gyeongju.

P/s: I don't have any pictures of the interior for both buildings. I just don't find any in my handphone or I just forgot to take the pictures. =(

Thank you for reading.