ENA Suite Hotel Namdaemun, Seoul
The first of three hotels on this South Korea trip, and our longest stay, so we went with space. The ENA Suite is located in Namdaemun, a couple of minutes' walk from City Hall station, if you come out of the right exit.
Rather delightfully, we arrived to find snow on the ground. What I hadn't counted on was side-stepping ice as we dragged our cases up the hill for those couple of minutes to the entrance. Even more surprisingly, none of this ice was cleared by the businesses lining the route during our entire stay.
The ENA is a thoroughly modern hotel, right down to the digital doorbell and housekeeping sign, with superb staff on reception and everything we needed. We specifically look for hotels with laundrettes and needed some help with this; staff rushed straight upstairs to assist without hesitation.
We specifically look for hotels with laundrettes and needed some help with this; staff rushed straight upstairs to assist without hesitation.
The Room
The room had exactly the space we came for: a good-sized bed, sofa, large desk and a comfy chair, plus bedside tables, one of which had a drawer. Further storage came by way of a wardrobe with another drawer, plus one in the fridge unit.
I mention drawers specifically because they are increasingly rare in hotels and I have never fathomed why. Here, they were very welcome.
There is also a handy shelf under the large wall-mounted TV, plus a windowsill to spread out a little more. A new hotel tends to have plenty of plug sockets and USBs, and this one delighted us further by including a UK socket, meaning we never had to unpack our adaptors once.
Bathroom
The bathroom also had ample storage.
Wall-mounted shower gel, shampoo and conditioner, and rather randomly, a small C.O. Bigelow body lotion. In the land of skincare, I was surprised to find anything other than Korean brands on the shelf.
Various other amenities were, sadly, unnecessarily wrapped in single-use plastic where paper would have done just fine. Better still; have them available on request only, as other hotels have started to do (see Tokyo).
Two bath towels, two hand towels and a bath mat.
Best of all: a Japanese toilet. Or as they more commonly call it here, a bidet toilet. Always a highlight.
Food and Drink
A kettle with instant coffee and standard teas, and two mugs. Breakfast was lacklustre, so we supplemented whatever we could manage to eat there with our first coffee stop of the day.
Amenities
Fridge, safe, hairdryer, and rather lovely bath robes, along with slippers.
The pavement outside could have done with a little more attention, but the ENA Suite delivered on every front and set the bar nicely for the two hotels to come.
January 2025
