It’s finally that time of the year when cozying up with a cup of hot chocolate and a stack of movies seems the best way to spend time off. In winter, warm, inviting hotels can become destinations in themselves.

Arumjigi Hamyang Hanok

Arumjigi Hamyang Hanok, located in South Gyeongsang Province, offers visitors a chance to spend a winter’s night in the Korean traditional style.

Donated by the 150-year-old Jeongseon Jeon clan’s head family in 2003, the traditional house was restored with westernized rooms for the convenience of guests.

The main hall has kept its traditional form, though, aside from windows to keep guests warm. Here, guests can enjoy the view of a bamboo forest out back, even during the coldest days of the winter. 

The hotel has regular rooms with beds as well as rooms with “ondol” (under-floor heating) for those who prefer to be warmed up the traditional Korean way.
The kitchen of Hamyang Hanok offers a Korean menu that includes porridge, boiled and sliced pork with spicy cabbage, soybean stew and more.

While enjoying the sense of severance from the rest of the world, guests can take a stroll on warmer days, as Hamyang is a well-known tourist region with beautiful mountains and clean water.

Haslla Museum Hotel

Art devotees may dream of a warm evening surrounded by artwork. A combination of an art museum and a hotel, the Haslla Museum Hotel in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, is the right destination for such people.

With a panoramic view overlooking the East Sea, the hotel itself looks like a huge contemporary artwork.

A middle-aged couple’s love for art and nature has led to a nature-friendly art garden ― an art museum created outdoors using the slope, the height of the mountain and the natural features of the land, according to the hotel’s own explanation. 

Strolling along the 108,596 square meters of pathway at the museum designed to integrate art and nature, guests can experience art with all their senses.

Rooms are decorated with artwork just like galleries and all 24 rooms feature different concepts and designs. The building holds some 100 pictures and sculptures.

Pullman Ambassador Changwon City7

Pullman Ambassador Changwon City7 should be your destination if you’re searching for “extreme modernism.”

A five-start hotel in a city famous for factories spewing smoke, the hotel, located in South Gyeongsang Province, is international chain Accord’s first luxury hotel in Korea.

Opened after three years of construction, the “hotel” is more like a complex, also housing three shopping malls, a trade center, office buildings, theaters and restaurants.

The hotel also displays in rooms and a gallery works of famous Korean photographer Kim Joong-man.

W Hotel

If you’re more of a city-lover, perhaps the W Hotel in Seoul will be a better destination for this winter. The W Hotel offers a feeling of detachment while being located just half an hour from the busiest parts of the city.

This winter, the W Hotel is recommending guests to try out the Winter Home package which offers a one night stay in a room with a panoramic view of Mt. Acha and a buffet style breakfast for two at the hotel’s main restaurant “Kitchen.”

In celebration of Christmas and the year-end, W Hotel restaurants are offering a variety of course meals prepared by the Hotel’s star chef Ciaran Hickey.

This winter, guests will have the opportunity to experience the sounds of DCUP, an Australia-based DJ famed for “We no speak Americano”, and DJ Angus Wong from W Hong Kong at WooBar.

The Away Spa is also a good way to relax in warmth with a special treatment for the mind and body exhausted from a long year.

By Shin Hae-in (hayney@heraldcorp.com)