하이원 그랜드호텔 — Hotel in Sabuk-eup

Rooms were pleasant, everything functioning nicely. Hotel is comfortable and reasonably well-organised. Around the resort there are places where poor signage and language difficulties may give pause for non-Korean-speaking travellers, but it's nothing that a smartphone and a little persistence can't overcome. Free shuttle buses to the close-by ski hill and two local towns are frequent enough. Staff are kind, considerate and helpful. Food on the mountain is basic but perfectly fine. Unless you are coming for the casino specifically I wouldn't recommend the hotel in general. All facilities require extra charges and are cynically overpriced to rob more money from the punters, whose tinted-window executive cars arrive in droves. The less said about the buffet at the Grand Table the better. There is something very soulless about the High1 resort in general, and the strong corporate vibes give the place an eerie quality. The skiing is not so bad, although experienced riders will get bored after 2 or 3 days, unless a rare snowfall increases the fun. That said, the resort's snow-making abilities are quite impressive. If you are someone who gets irritated by poor piste etiquette, don't come here. At any given time half of the riders will be in the process of falling over, will have already fallen over, or will be chatting sat in the middle of the fairway. Try not to imagine anything in the way of apres-ski. As a solo traveller bored of watching the casino donkeys shift about the hotel, I went searching in the local towns for a bar. It was a depressing failure. I read the resort was intended to bring money to the depressed mining towns of Sabuk and Gohan, but seemingly it has turned these places into a succession of garishly presented empty restaurants and "Thai massage" joints, the latter being a favourite of the aforementioned...

Rooms were pleasant, everything functioning nicely. Hotel is comfortable and reasonably well-organised. Around the resort there are places where poor signage and language difficulties may give pause for non-Korean-speaking travellers, but it's nothing that a smartphone and a little persistence can't overcome. Free shuttle buses to the close-by ski hill and two local towns are frequent enough. Staff are kind, considerate and helpful. Food on the mountain is basic but perfectly fine. Unless you are coming for the casino specifically I wouldn't recommend the hotel in general. All facilities require extra charges and are cynically overpriced to rob more money from the punters, whose tinted-window executive cars arrive in droves. The less said about the buffet at the Grand Table the better. There is something very soulless about the High1 resort in general, and the strong corporate vibes give the place an eerie quality. The skiing is not so bad, although experienced riders will get bored after 2 or 3 days, unless a rare snowfall increases the fun. That said, the resort's snow-making abilities are quite impressive. If you are someone who gets irritated by poor piste etiquette, don't come here. At any given time half of the riders will be in the process of falling over, will have already fallen over, or will be chatting sat in the middle of the fairway. Try not to imagine anything in the way of apres-ski. As a solo traveller bored of watching the casino donkeys shift about the hotel, I went searching in the local towns for a bar. It was a depressing failure. I read the resort was intended to bring money to the depressed mining towns of Sabuk and Gohan, but seemingly it has turned these places into a succession of garishly presented empty restaurants and "Thai massage" joints, the latter being a favourite of the aforementioned...

The hotel is located at the High 1 Resort but you will have to take a shuttle bus to the ski houses. They run frequently and are on time so there is no inconvenience at all. The shuttle buses also bring you into town where there are more food options especially for dinner. ||||On my last night there, I left my pair of gloves on one of the shuttle buses. I went to the reception desk at Kangwonland Hotel to inquire if there is a lost and found for items left on the shuttle buses. Was expecting a binary answer and hoping to be directed to the lost and found counter if there were one. It sounded to me like there wasn't one so I thought I had seen the last of my gloves. The receptionist on duty however, took down my room number and told me they would call me shortly. ||||And they did. Turns out the hotel had sent word to the bus team and the staff had either gone on the buses to look for my gloves or asked the drivers if they had picked the same up. The gloves were recovered and delivered to my room an hour later. ||||They went the extra mile in locating my gloves when they really didn't have to and I think that kind of service is hard to come by. Wonderful and highly commendable. ||||And breakfast at The Grill is really good too. ||||Oh, if you can't sleep on a hard surface, maybe don't go for the korean rooms. Those come with a tatami type of mattress which means you are kind of sleeping on the floor. But it's really an experience in itself so try...