The Top 12 Hotels in Seoul
The best hotels in Seoul, by the professional record: Forbes Travel Guide, Michelin Guide, and 50 Best have all weighed in, and their honors are what rank this list. Four Seasons Hotel Seoul comes out on top.
THE SHILLA Seoul and SIGNIEL SEOUL hold the next two places. Forbes Travel Guide shows up on more of this list than any other guide, with Michelin Guide close behind.
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A circular fireplace cast in an ancient bronze map of Korea anchors the lobby of this 29-story Forbes Five Star luxury hotel in Gwanghwamun. The design nods to an old palace, then pulls it firmly into the present, with over 130 Korean artists represented throughout. Floor-to-ceiling windows on every floor split the view cleanly between Gyeongbokgung Palace on one side and a skyline of glass and commerce on the other.
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star
- Michelin Guide 1 Key
- 50 Best 2025 · Most Admired Hotel Group Award
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A Forbes Five Star hotel tucked against Namsan Mountain, with Seoul's medieval city walls on one side and a city of ten million on the other. The Shilla has been around forever, but Samsung's ownership keeps it feeling sharp rather than musty, and the scale of the place, a massive property in the middle of it all, makes the mountain backdrop feel like a genuine surprise rather than a postcard prop.
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The lobby is on the 79th floor, which is either exhilarating or a mild existential crisis depending on your relationship with elevators. This all-suite luxury hotel occupies the upper reaches of Lotte World Tower, Seoul's tallest building, and the floor-to-ceiling windows make the city feel like a model you could rearrange. Neutral tones, sleek lines, and staff who bow at every arrival keep the atmosphere calm. A Forbes Four Star property.
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The lobby feels like it's been here forever, which is partly the point: this Forbes Four Star luxury hotel in Gangnam folds quiet nods to Seoul's old Chosun Hotel into its Korean-modernism-meets-midcentury interior. A heated indoor pool looks out over the skyline, five dining venues cover most moods, and the spa runs quiet. Teheran-ro is Gangnam's main corporate artery, so the neighborhood hums rather than sleeps.
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Yeouido, Seoul's financial island in the Han River, earns the Manhattan comparison less from ambition than from density: banks, the National Assembly, and the country's tallest building all crowd the same few blocks. Conrad Seoul sits in the middle of it, a luxury hotel holding a Forbes Four Star, with an Executive Lounge on the 37th floor, a spa, and several restaurants. The metro connection to Yeouido Station makes it quietly practical for a place that looks this polished.
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The sky lobby doesn't announce itself until the elevator opens and Gangnam spreads out below you in every direction. This luxury hotel sits quietly among the Teheran-ro towers, its entrance tucked off the street with no fuss. Japanese firm Super Potato designed the interiors around clean lines and natural materials, which gives the whole place the feel of a very serious, very calm apartment you happen to be borrowing for a few nights. Forbes Four Star.
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Perched on the slopes of Namsan Park, this 110-room luxury hotel sits high enough above Seoul that the mountain air makes the city feel like someone else's problem. Rooms lean into neutral tones and plush furnishings, and the contemporary design throws in just enough Korean detail to keep things grounded. The pool draws a summer scene, the spa pulls the city's well-heeled, and the whole property carries the composed confidence the Banyan Tree name travels on.
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Marble floors and chandelier light greet you before you've even found the check-in desk, which sets the tone for this grand city-center hotel on Eulji-ro. Rooms run larger than the Seoul average, done up in warm neutrals that feel calmer than the lobby's palatial ambitions suggest. Pierre Gagnaire is in the building for French fine dining, and Mugunghwa reworks Joseon royal court recipes a few floors away, so you can stay in all weekend without really trying.
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The 25-meter indoor pool overlooks the Seoul skyline, which is a reasonable way to spend a morning. This French-inspired hotel sits in the quieter Jamsil neighborhood rather than the city's more frenetic cores, with Lotte World Tower and Seokchon Lake close by. Parisian-inflected décor runs through the rooms, and the spa and onsite restaurants fill out the picture for anyone who'd rather not leave. A calm base in a city that rarely slows down.
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An old-school institution in the middle of Seoul, the Westin Josun has been hosting the kind of guests who travel with security details for longer than anyone working there can remember. The hotel runs 462 rooms, including suites, in a chic contemporary shell that keeps things quietly understated, which is the point when your clientele prefers not to be noticed.
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Doormen in top hats and tails meet you at the tree-lined entrance, which sets the tone before you've even reached the marble lobby. This large luxury hotel sits inside the Korea World Trade Centre complex in Gangnam, so the crowd skews equal parts corporate traveler and conspicuous spender. High ceilings, ornate sculptures, and multiple upscale restaurants fill the rest of the picture, for anyone who wants glamour with their conference schedule.
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Dark-paneled wood, low lighting, and a glass-ceilinged pool that lets Seoul's sun in without the city's noise: this Central City hotel wears minimalism like it means it. Rooms are spare but spotless, the executive lounge puts on a buffet breakfast worth lingering over, and MOBO Bar's terrace is the right place to land a cocktail after a day of wandering. A calm address in a city that rarely stops moving.