Yongpyong Resort

Rooms and decor

Most guests book the 4-star Dragon Valley Hotel, where a 32 sqm Standard room runs ₩140,000 (about $105) a night (about $105). The look is brown-and-red Alpine: a King bed at 200×200cm, a sofa, a desk and a minibar, with a marble bathroom that adds a jacuzzi and a rain shower stocked with Innisfree toiletries. Big windows look straight out onto the slopes and Dragon Peak. The hotel connects directly to the gondola station, so it's a 2-minute walk to the lift up the mountain — no dragging heavy ski gear across the resort. If you want to spend less, the 3-star Mona Yongpyong starts at ₩110,000 (about $83) (about $83), and a six-person condominium starts at ₩220,000 (about $165) (about $165).

Food and amenities

Gear rental — skis, boots and a helmet — costs ₩50,000 (about $38) a day (about $38) at the rental shop. Beyond the snow, Yongpyong Water Park stays open all year at ₩45,000 (about $34) (about $34), and there's an Olympic Plaza displaying medals, photos and athletes' kit from 2018, free to walk through. For dinner, the Dragon Restaurant inside Dragon Valley does Korean beef BBQ, kimchi stew and rice for around ₩35,000 (about $26) a head (about $26) — warm and welcome on a day that drops to -10°C. Eight restaurants and a spa round out the on-site options.

Location and getting there

Getting up from Seoul is straightforward: take the KTX from Seoul Station to Jinbu Station in about 80 minutes for ₩28,000 (about $21) (about $21), then catch Yongpyong's free shuttle for another 20 minutes (reserve it online ahead of time). At peak season the resort hums, with more than 8,000 skiers a day on the mountain. The brown-red stone buildings sit in a European Alpine style, with the 1,458m peak standing right behind them.

Things to know before booking

It's a real haul from the capital — three hours all in once you add the connecting transfer, and shuttles from Jinbu Station aren't frequent, so leave buffer. The terrain is the bigger catch for strong skiers: of the 28 runs, only 6 are advanced (black), against 16 intermediate (red) and 6 beginner (green) — fine for most, thin if you came for steep lines. Dragon Peak does hold a long 5.6km advanced run, but plenty of guests find their legs top out on intermediate terrain like the 3.7km Rainbow Slope.

Our take

Yongpyong Resort is Korea's #1 ski resort, the kind of place every skier should hit at least once — 28 slopes, 14 lifts, Dragon Peak at 1,458m and a 2018 Olympics venue, with everything a skier needs in one spot. It scores 8.6/10 across 5,200+ reviews, and from about $105 it earns its place for serious skiers, groups and families who want to ski hard. It's at its best for beginner-to-intermediate skiers.