With most North Korea tours the “Yanggakdo Hotel” is the usual destination visitors stay at. An enormous 47 storey hotel located on Yanggakdo Island in the Middle of the Taedong river in Pyongyang, the hotel offers a great central location in the city which is convenient for tours.
Despite concerns about the efficiency of North Korea’s infrastructure and economy, the Yanggakdo Hotel is sufficient, comfortable and suited for Western tourists. It is claimed by the North Korean authorities to be a “5 star hotel”, although its actual quality resembles that of a three star one. Nevertheless, when visiting North Korea people tend not to expect much, so it does the job!
Rooms
Yanggakdo hotel rooms are of good quality, decent beds, plenty of space, a safe, a clean bathroom with a functioning shower, toilet and shaving plugs. Nothing that pushes you out of you comfort zone. Sometimes on North Korea tours you may end up sharing a room with another person on your trip. Although if you specifically insist and pay more for a single room, you’ll get one. These rooms also come with a television, believe it or not, you have access to the BBC, Local North Korean TV, CNN, Al-Jazeera and a number of other global stations!
Hotel Facilities
The Yanggakdo hotel has a wide reaching range of facilities on an evening. It has several restaurants of varying themes, a coffee lounge, several bars that sell local beers, a bowling alley, numerous shops, a swimming pool, a casino and of course the famous “revolving” restaurant on the 47th floor. This is not somewhere you’re going to get bored, it provides a great place to socialize on the evening with other people on your tour.
