The Westin Josun Seoul Hotel

Seoul's Oldest Hotel, Still at the Centre of Things

The Westin Josun Seoul traces its lineage to 1914, when it opened as the Chosun Hotel and became Korea's first Western-style hotel, a building locals once saw as a symbol of ultra-modern architecture in a still-traditional city. It survived the Korean War largely intact, though decades of political upheaval and industrialisation eventually led to a major rebuild in the 1960s and 70s that replaced the original structure while keeping its name, its site and much of its institutional memory. The current red-brick building stands on Sogong-ro, directly beside Seoul Plaza and City Hall, in the same spot the hotel has occupied for well over a century, and the lobby still carries an old-guard formality that newer towers rarely bother with.

Why It Works

Seoul has newer, flashier five-star towers, but almost none can claim to have shaped the city's own habits the way this one did: it's credited with introducing Koreans to their first elevator, their first Western-style buffet, and their first hotel wedding and banquet culture, all of which trace back to this address. That depth of history, paired with a genuine five-star spa and pool offering rather than a token gym, is why it earns a place on our list over hotels with better Instagram angles but no real story behind them, and why we'd point a first-time visitor here before a design-led newcomer.

Why This Location

Sogong-ro puts the hotel at the functional centre of Seoul: Seoul Plaza and City Hall are at the doorstep, Myeongdong's shopping streets are a short walk away, and Gwanghwamun and the old palace quarter are close enough for a morning outing before returning for lunch. It's a location built for guests who want to be near everything without needing a taxi for each errand, and it has worked that way for the hotel's entire history, long before Myeongdong became the shopping district tourists know today, which gives the area around it a layered, lived-in feel rather than a purpose-built tourist strip.

Fast Facts

• Price tier: €€€€

• Vibe: historic grandeur in the heart of downtown Seoul

• Rooms: 462

• Best For: travellers who want a central base with real institutional history behind it

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: knowing you're standing where Korea's first hotel elevator and first Western buffet once made their debut

• Dining: multiple restaurants and a Grand Ballroom still used for major events

• Amenities: year-round indoor pool, spa and wellness centre, sauna, fitness centre

• Nearby: Seoul Plaza, City Hall, Myeongdong shopping streets

A Century of Firsts

Long before anyone used the phrase heritage hotel, this one was quietly setting precedents: the first ice cream many Koreans tasted, the first Western-style parties the city had seen, and a guest book that, by its 70th anniversary in 1984, had its own commemorative history written about it, titled On the Center Stage for Seventy Years. None of that nostalgia is performative here; the hotel has simply been doing the same job, in the same spot, since before most of Seoul's skyline existed, and the staff's sense of the building's place in the city's history still comes through in small, unforced ways.

Spa Floors and a Ballroom With History

Where the history stops being abstract is in the hotel's spa and wellness floors, which pair a year-round indoor pool with a proper sauna and massage menu, the kind of facility a stay this central doesn't always include. The Grand Ballroom, the same room that hosted the hotel's 70th-anniversary gala decades ago, still anchors Seoul's banquet and wedding calendar today, which gives even a short stay here a sense of being folded into something ongoing rather than passing through a stage set built for tourists. It's a hotel that rewards guests who like a sense of continuity with their comfort.