The Best Resorts in South Korea

Terraced down a hillside above the East Sea, this full-scale luxury resort handles the dramatic coastal setting without fighting it. Rooms lean into dark wood and wide balconies with ocean views that go on longer than seems reasonable. The indoor-outdoor dining room runs live cooking stations where the chefs perform as much as they cook. Central Busan is close enough for a day trip but far enough that leaving feels optional.

Perched on the Eoseungsaengak ridge of Hallasan Mountain at 520 metres, this resort was built around the idea of taking things away: low rooflines that follow the land, windows placed where the eye already wants to look. Rooms come in three flavors, from thatched Forest suites with stone jacuzzis to Hill lofts with concrete plunge pools to Green Valley rooms that frame Jeju's interior ridgeline in what amounts to a very large, very still painting.

Vintage Airstreams, minimalist cabins, and squat little lodges shaped after Jeju's stone pagodas share a patch of farmland near the island's eastern coast at this design-forward glamping resort. Most units come with stylish kitchens, private grills, and freestanding tubs aimed at the surrounding countryside. The communal lawn ties it together with a fire pit, pool, and a stage that gets regular live music, which is a lot of ambition for a field.

The Taebaek Mountains got an Alpine-style resort, complete with pine-paneled rooms, lake views, and enough ski terrain to keep you busy for days. The InterContinental Alpensia Pyeongchang is a large, full-service mountain resort where Korean heritage shows up in the art and design, though the overall feel is polished international chain, close the curtains and it could be Seoul. Summer brings golf, hiking, and a water park; winter adds skiing and a luge track nearby.

Architect Kim Chan Jung imagined this resort as a spaceship parked on the cliffs of Ulleungdo, a volcanic island off Korea's east coast, and the building does nothing to talk him out of it. Three villas, named Terre, Sommet, and Kosmos, each carry their own interior logic, all of it modern and deliberately luxurious. The restaurant riffs on boyang, the Korean tradition of restorative eating, and the cliff-edge infinity pool speaks for itself.

The property sits across two coastal peninsulas connected by a footbridge, which tells you something about the scale before you've even unpacked. This luxury golf resort on South Korea's southern coast leans into its setting with floor-to-ceiling water views in every room, while freestanding villas add private gardens and plunge pools. A modern jjimjilbang, indoor and outdoor aromatic pools, a bookstore café, and a kids' club fill out the rest of your day.

Sitting on Jeju's Pacific-facing southern coast, this is the island's original high-end resort, nearly five hundred rooms of mellow tones and quietly Korean furnishings. The seaside is the whole point: the grounds open onto one of Korea's more dramatic volcanic landscapes, and a full spa and dining options round out the retreat. Big, yes, but the service has the careful attention that only comes from having been at this a very long time.