Mona YongPyong - Dragon Valley Hotel — Hotel in Daegwannyeong-myeon

Korean ski resorts are a hidden gem. ||Unfortunately, they seem to cater more to domestic tourists rather than focus on international tourists. The site although in english, does not offer any booking options. When I wrote to the hotel, it was ages before they responded and told me to wait for a travel fair in Singapore and to look for their appointed agent to book. I nearly could not book because the said agent was not with the Korean entourage/area but at the Japan Tourism booth. ||I finally made it here and I am very pleasantly surprised. I did not find much information about the resort so I am going to write my personal experience so that others looking to come might benefit. I stayed here for 6 days and 5 nights so I have had some time to experience the resort. ||The resort is the biggest among the ski resorts in Korea. Vivaldi is 1.5 hours away, Alpensia, High1 and Yong Pyong are 4 hours away (and the latter 3 are in the same vincinity). You can travel to the resort by train, bus or private transfer. We opted for the latter as we are a famliy of 5 with 3 kids. It was a painless option and we stopped at Nami island on the way to the resort. The other option I had contemplated was to drive but I was a little put off by how complicated the roads in Seoul could be. ||There are a number of places to stay at Yong Pyong. Dragon valley is the nicest and rooms are regular hotel rooms which are spacious and well maintained. There is GreenPia condo, Blisshill stay, Tower condos which are more for domestic tourists (or so I am told by the booking agent). Dragon valley is the closest to the ski lifts and although it is not really ski in and ski out, the ski lift area is less than a 5min walk from our lobby. ||We were met by the staff of the appointed booking agent at the resort door and our rooms, passes and information were all given to us allowing us to bypass the reception altogether. That was a nice plus. ||We had a deluxe twin and a deluxe family rooms (1 queen and 1 single). We were at the Annex block which was closer to the ski area. The hotel has a bell desk which serves as a ski locker service. You are however expected to keep your boots in your own room. The rooms have a heated floor and aircon system. Rooms are more than adequately heated and in fact we often have to turn down the heating to a minimum and even open the window to cool down the room!||We came in early Dec and there was not much snow but the snow makers were in full force day and night to make some of the slopes available for skiing. I have never seen this before and it was quite cool. Unfortunately, there was only 2 beginners slopes, 1 intermediate and 1 advanced open while we were here. The ski lift felt slower than in Japan and the snow was not quite as soft as in Hoshino resorts Hokkaido but I think this is to be expected given that all the snow was artificially made. We are beginners and I only used the 2 beginners slopes. One of them was a little icey and fast but the other was ok. The course is just straight and wide. Nothing fancy. Not much by way of trails like we had in Hoshino resorts Hokkaido. The staff were good but a notch below compared to Hoshino resorts Hokkaido. The housekeeping was excellent. ||Food options were plentiful. Dragon valley has 2 eating places, the Chatlet main dining and the bakery. Prices here were a fair bit more than other eating places in the vicinity. Other eating places were in the Tower plaza and the Dragon plaza. The Tower plaza is further from the lifts and slopes but had better and cheaper eating options. The Dragon plaza is closer to the lifts and most skiers will eat here for the convenience of not having to walk a distance. ||The Tower plaza has an excellent Noodle Tree which has many kinds of noodles, a homely Korean eatery Noobu, BHC chicken pizza, Angel-in-us coffee, a Turkish food joint and another Korean eatery. The largest mart is also found here. The basement has a bowling alley, arcade and pool tables. ||The Dragon plaza has a food court which has a pretty large range of food , a burger restaurant and a western cafe which serves pastas and pizzas. There area also a number of food stands which serve fairly overprices skewers, Gimbaps, instant noodles and other finger foods. There is a coffee join on the 2nd floor. This is also where the cable car departs for a tour of Mount Balwangsan. This is also where the ski equipment rental service is located. ||Food and entertainment prices are higher compared to Seoul but that is to be expected as this is a resort. With that said, the prices just 10-20% more at most. I think that this is because the resort serves many domestic tourists. In our time here, we saw busloads of kids on skiing excursions!||In summary, Yong Pyong is a relatively undiscovered gem with reasonable prices and skiing which was adequate to a beginner...

Had the most pleasant experiences with the hotel front desk. We have the condo but we reached the hotel instead through our transport. initial arrangement, the front desk,(Yan can cook lookalike) gentlemen - didn't have his name as we are bad at Korean, help to direct us to the condo which is under the same umbrella. he also offer to upgrade us to hotel see we have kids around but we politely decline the offer since we booked the condo. We have arrived the condo check-in and to our disappointment it is quite unsafe to proceed to the condo but overall there is still a nice place. We decided to went back to the hotel front desk and ask for help. seeing we have a stroller, 2yrs old kid. he relentlessly secure a room for us although it was extreme peak period, march bank holiday in Korea - everyone skiing. carpark is full of cars. we are appreciate for his kind and warm personality helping us to get a room and change our booking from the condo to hotel. the hotel room cost more than the condo and he was trying to save as much as possible not to incurred us too much cost. overall, we will return again due to his warm and assisting personality. Overall, an extremely great experience staying at the hotel. the hotel is surrounded with all resources hence food, convenience and accessibility are all top notch. it is just right in front of...

We stayed at the Resort over CNY and it is perfectly situated to to ski in and out for the slopes. The rooms were comfortable and the staff were very competent whenever we engaged them.||||That being said there were one or two aspects that brings down the review. ||As it was CNY weekend the rates for the hotel were extremely expensive for a 2 night stay, even with this high rate though there was no breakfast included in the stay and you had to pay extra to use the Gym and swimming pool facilities. ||The room temperature was difficult to control and we had to open windows to regulate the heat of the room. ||The bathroom ventilation is connected to the room next door and our room smelled of cigarette smoke due to this, the rooms were non-smoking but the other guest obviously didn't adhere to that.||||I would return to the resort for more skiing but probably out of the CNY high period to get a better...