Planning a trip or staycation in Seoul? If you’re looking for the finest the city has to offer in dining, rooms, and location, then look no further than Banyan Tree Seoul. I recently had the opportunity to stay at this beautiful property and absolutely loved it.
The Banyan Tree Club and Spa in Seoul is the most popular reason everyone chooses to stay. They offer holistic experiences with local ingredients to help nurture and relax your mind, body and soul. Their signature scents are enough to start helping you destress and are also available for purchase.
One of the things I loved was Banyan Tree’s commitment to the safety of their guests and staff. Everyone is required to wear masks at all times when on the property except while dining. They ask you to give your name and number so they can contact trace just in case anything happens.
Of course, there was also Judy who was so lovely and kind and gave us the grand tour of the Banyan Tree Seoul property and introduced us to the rooftop bar, restaurants, and spa.
Table of Contents
About Banyan Tree Seoul
If you’re looking for an urban oasis in the heart of Seoul, you need to look no further. They really know how to balance a countryside getaway in an urban setting. This 5 star luxury hotel overlooks the beautiful Namsan Mountain and Namsan Tower. It also offers exclusive access to hike along the historic fortress wall. The Banyan Tree Hotel group was founded in 1994 in Singapore. Since then the Banyan Tree Hotel locations have expanded to 23 countries which include 47 hotels and resorts, 63 spas, 75 gallery outlets, and 3 championship golf courses. As one of the leading operators in hotel hospitality, the Banyan Tree Resort Seoul should be your go to when showing guests the root of Korea’s signature warmth.
As someone who tries to be more conscious about where they travel, I love when a hotel goes that extra mile to protect our environment. Banyan Tree Resort Seoul has received an EarthCheck Bronze Certification. EarthCheck Certified is the world’s leading environmental certification and benchmarking program for the travel and tourism industry to help them minimize their carbon footprint. And to top it off, Banyan Tree has completely given up all plastic straws and switched to paper.
Inside the Namsan Pool Deluxe Room
The Namsan Pool Deluxe Room offers 53 square meters of space featuring a king size bed, relaxation pool, and awe inspiring views. These rooms are located on the 14th-16th floors of the building and feature views of Namsan Tower, the historic fortress road, and most importantly, the tower.
This room is ideal for any traveler seeking lots of space and luxury. My favorite part of this room is of course the relaxation pool because how cool is it to have your own personal pool in the room?
Since Banyan Tree’s mission to to provide wellness for the body, mind and soul, these incredible attributes come beautifully together with the peaceful mountain scenery, relaxation pool, and space of the room. I liked how everything is wood so it can imitate as much of nature as possible.
This room goes for about $1,000 USD per night, but I assure you, it is worth every penny.
BOOK YOUR STAY AT BANYAN TREE SEOUL
Banyan Tree Restaurants
Whenever you think of fancy hotels, of course gourmet dining also comes to mind. To satisfy the palette of every traveler and staycationer, Banyan Tree offers a variety of Eastern and Western culinary experiences.
- Granum Dining Lounge – a healthy and relaxed dining restaurant popular for breakfast and tasty seasonal salads and soups for lunch
- Festa by Mingoo – signature dining restaurant featuring European style cuisine
- The Club Member’s Restaurant – this offers the best of Asian and Korean food
- Moon Bar – this is a Banyan Tree Hotel rooftop Bar located on the 20th and 21st floor, you’ll get insanely beautiful views of Namsan and Seoul city
Festa By Mingoo
Festa by Mingoo is a two star Michelin run by Chef Kang Mingoo. The restaurant is designed to be like a private villa and it has gorgeous shining crystals cascading like a waterfall from the ceiling. On one side of the restaurant you’ll get dashing views of the garden and mountain on one side and the pool oasis and city view on the other. It has also been featured in prominent television shows, Korean dramas, and movies. This is probably the best Banyan Tree restaurant I have ever been to.
While there with Linda, we were invited to try the Gourmet City Tour Lunch course menu. It came with salads, breads, sides, appetizers, main dishes, coffee, and dessert.
The menu came with many tasty choices and if you have any dietary restrictions, the staff will kindly accommodate them. Since I don’t eat any beef, chicken, or pork, they kindly removed it from any of my dishes. Every dish is inspired by a city in Europe and it was just perfection.
- Sicily | Arancini
- Rome | FESTA Burrata Cheese Caprese
- Nice | Tofu and Sesame Endive Salad
- Bologna | Seared Abalone and White Ragout Ravioli
- Paris | Sole Meuniére
- Tiramisu with raspberry sauce
- Capuccino
The lunch course costs about 70,000 won per person and it’s perfect and affordable for anyone looking to celebrate special occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries, or go out on a fancy date night.
I loved everything I ate and I loved how thoughtful the staff were in welcoming me with a special message on my dessert plate. It made me smile from ear to ear and it was the absolute perfect way to end such a magical stay.
Banyan Tree Seoul Pools
Banyan Tree has both an indoor and outdoor pool. The indoor pool requires you to wear a bathing cap. It has a small kid sizes pool and one for doing laps for the adults.
Pre Covid-19 the Banyan Tree Seoul pool party was the best in all of the city. Picture beautiful cabanas, hit DJs performing, delicious cocktails and drinks, plus Seoul’s youngest and hottest partying there. Sadly, now the outdoor pool is reserved for patrons only, but rest assured once this pandemic is over, you get your tickets to the best pool party in all of Seoul.
How To Get To Banyan Tree Seoul
Address: 60, JangChungdan-Ro, Jung-Gu, Seoul 100-857, South Korea
From Incheon International Airport
Banyan Tree Hotel is located about 65 kilometers (40 miles) from Incheon International Airport. It takes about an hour by local taxi or you can take a bus to Seoul Station and then a taxi for 15 minutes to the hotel.
From Gimpo Airport
From Gimpo Airport, Banyan Tree Seoul is about 30 kilometers (18 miles) away. The best way to get there
From Seoul Station
You can easily get there by a 15 minute taxi. I think this is much better since taxis in Korea are affordable and going up the mountain to Banyan Tree from the bus is quite a hike.
So when are you booking your trip or staycation here? Make sure that you get the Namsan Tower Deluxe Room and tell them Gina Bear sent you. 😉
Gina Bear was invited to stay at Banyan Tree Seoul and Festa at Mingoo. As always all opinions and thoughts remain my own.
Free Seoul E-Book
Do you love South Korea?
Enter your name and email address and click the button below to receive your Easy Seoul Travel Guide so you can travel like a local!
