Best Jongno Hotels for Seoul's Palaces: Four Seasons & More

Long Weekend Haus DDP, a 12-unit apartment-style stay in Seoul's Jung-gu, starts from ₩306,000 a night on its non-refundable rate (₩341,000 on the free-cancellation rate, checked 2026-09-14) and fits groups who want multiple bedrooms and self check-in more than a room inside Jongno-gu itself. Four Seasons Hotel Seoul, Rakkojae Seoul Main Hanok, Nine Tree by Parnas Seoul Insadong, Shilla Stay Gwanghwamun and Grid Inn Hotel, Seoul are the five properties actually inside Jongno-gu, spanning Gyeongbokgung palace views to a budget room by Jongmyo Shrine. The deciding axis is how much you weigh walking distance to Gyeongbokgung Palace and Insadong against room size, price and how many bedrooms your group needs; settle that first, then check each property's neighborhood and price below.

Reporting checked against each property's own site and current booking-platform listings, 2026-09-14 through 2026-09-20.

Four Seasons Hotel Seoul

Four Seasons Hotel Seoul sits at 97 Saemunan-ro in Jongno-gu, a 9-minute walk from Gwanghwamun Square and about 14 minutes on foot from Gyeongbokgung Palace, and its Deluxe Room, roughly 45 to 52 square meters and sleeping up to 3 guests, opened at rates near US$375 a night, a figure a live Kayak snapshot for April 15-16, 2026 put at R7,058 (about US$375) for the same room class.

The palace connection reaches into the room plan itself: one suite gives unobstructed, floor to ceiling views of Gyeongbokgung Palace from every room, including the bathroom, and the Sejong Two-Bedroom Suite adds a formal entry foyer and a marble soaking tub facing the palace grounds. Deluxe bathrooms use Italian marble with a rainforest shower and double vanities, and every room includes an espresso maker and an iPad Mini. Check-in starts at 15:00 and check-out is at 12:00; guests arriving after midnight are asked to contact the property in advance so staff can greet them.

What the room rate buys: four in-house restaurants, a fitness center, and traditional Korean saunas, all inside a 10-minute walk of Cheonggyecheon Stream and City Hall. What it does not include: a kitchen or kitchenette in any published room type, so a longer stay means dining out or ordering in for every meal. Book through Booking.com or the hotel's own reservations line.

Long Weekend Haus DDP

Long Weekend Haus DDP sits at 15-3 Ssangnim-dong in Jung-gu, a subway ride from the Jongno palace circuit, and its Dining Suite, two bedrooms across 35 square meters and sleeping up to 4, starts from ₩306,000 a night on the non-refundable rate or ₩341,000 on the free-cancellation rate, checked 2026-09-14.

The property is a 12-unit apartment-style stay run by 주식회사 롱위켄드하우스 (Long Weekend Haus Inc.) across seven suite types, from the 36-square-meter Garden Suite up to the 69-square-meter, three-bedroom 702 Penthouse that sleeps up to 8. Check-in works through a self check-in kiosk instead of a staffed front desk, so a flight landing at midnight does not need to match a lobby's opening hours. Every room is non-smoking, wifi is free, and the free-cancellation rate can be cancelled at no cost up to 14 days before arrival. Stays of 3 nights or more get a 10% discount, and guests beyond a room's base occupancy add ₩10,000 per person per night.

Two bedrooms in one unit mean two couples traveling together do not need to book two separate hotel rooms on two different floors, and the apartment layout gives each group its own space to eat in instead of a hotel restaurant tab for every meal.

• Garden Suite: 1 bedroom, 36m², sleeps 2 (max 4)
• Dining Suite: 2 bedrooms, 35m², sleeps 2 (max 4)
• Maru Suite: 2 bedrooms, 44m², sleeps 3 (max 6)
• 702 Penthouse: 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 69m², sleeps 4 (max 8)

Long Weekend Haus DDP is the pick when two couples want separate bedrooms under one roof instead of the palace-district walk, since the Maru Suite alone sleeps up to 6 across two bedrooms and the 702 Penthouse sleeps up to 8 across three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Reserve through the official site or via Trip.com.

Rakkojae Seoul Main Hanok

Rakkojae Seoul Main Hanok occupies a 130-year-old hanok compound inside Bukchon Hanok Village near Anguk Station, and its Patio Room, a private-terrace room for up to 2 guests, starts from KRW 490,000 a night with breakfast included, reported in February 2026.

The compound was renovated by master carpenter Jeong Yeong-jin and keeps its original gate, stone walls and tiled roofs across five guest hanoks scattered through the village in an albergo diffuso layout. Guests get a complimentary hanbok-wearing experience, a snacks bar, sheet masks and an in-room coffee machine, plus access to a nearby mud sauna. It was the first hanok hotel listed in the first edition of the Michelin Guide Seoul, in 2017. Check-in runs from 14:00 and check-out is by 12:00.

No guest room includes a kitchen or kitchenette; meals run through the on-site restaurant and breakfast delivery instead. Book through Tripadvisor's listing, and treat the room type, not the neighborhood, as the trade-off here, since Bukchon puts the hanok itself inside the historic streets it borders.

Nine Tree by Parnas Seoul Insadong

Nine Tree by Parnas Seoul Insadong stands about 1.1 kilometers from Bukchon Hanok Village and roughly 9 minutes on foot from Gwanghwamun Gate, and its Standard Double Room starts from about ₩171,492 a night, a rate checked 2026-09-16 for a September stay.

Rooms run from a Standard Double at 18 to 19 square meters up to a Deluxe Family Twin sleeping 4, and a refundable deposit of KRW 100,000 is collected at check-in and returned on departure. The property sits within walking distance of Insadong's antique shops, Gwanghwamun and Cheonggyecheon Stream, putting a temple and the Bukchon lanes within reach on the same afternoon.

No room type lists a kitchen or kitchenette, and parking is not available on site. Book through the property's official site or Agoda, and expect a plainer, more compact room than the district's luxury properties in exchange for the lower nightly rate.

Shilla Stay Gwanghwamun

Shilla Stay Gwanghwamun stands at 71 Sambong-ro in Jongno-gu, within a 10-minute walk of Gwanghwamun, Jonggak and Anguk subway stations, and its Standard Double Room, 260 square feet and sleeping 2, priced at US$86 for the night of January 11, 2026, per a Hotels.com quote checked that day.

The 338-room property was designed by Piero Lissoni and sits beside Jogyesa Temple, with Gyeongbokgung, the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts and Gwanghwamun Square all inside the same 10-minute radius. Standard rooms include a refrigerator and a tea and coffee maker instead of a kitchen, and guests need a photo ID and a credit card at check-in; anyone under 19 cannot check in without a guardian.

Breakfast is served weekdays from 06:30 and weekends from 07:00 at an added cost. Book through the official Shilla Stay site or Hotels.com, and treat the design-forward interior as the trade for a smaller room than a full-service hotel offers.

Grid Inn Hotel, Seoul

Grid Inn Hotel, Seoul sits at 9-6 Jong-ro 18-gil, a few steps from exit 15 of Jongno 3-ga subway station, and its Economy Double Room, 142 square feet and sleeping 2, is listed from about US$74 a night, checked September 20, 2026.

Jongmyo Shrine is 600 meters away and Changdeokgung Palace is reachable inside a 15-minute walk, putting the property closer to the eastern palace circuit than to Gyeongbokgung. Only the Family Studio room lists a kitchenette; every other room type has a private bathroom with a shower and a hairdryer, and every room adds a safety deposit box, a TV and an electric kettle. Cribs and extra beds are not available, and pets are not allowed.

Check-in starts at 15:00 with no fixed end time, and check-out is 11:00. Book through Booking.com, and plan for a compact, budget room rather than the space of the district's apartment-style or five-star options.

Evidence and criteria

Every distance above comes from a specific record: Four Seasons Hotel Seoul's walk time to Gyeongbokgung Palace and Gwanghwamun is from its own accommodations pages and a Kayak listing snapshot; Rakkojae Seoul Main Hanok's placement inside Bukchon Hanok Village comes from its Secret Retreats and Scott Dunn agent pages; Nine Tree by Parnas Seoul Insadong's 1.1-kilometer figure to Bukchon and 9-minute figure to Gwanghwamun Gate come from the property's own area description; Shilla Stay Gwanghwamun's 10-minute radius to Gyeongbokgung and Gwanghwamun Square is from Shilla Hotels' property page; Grid Inn Hotel, Seoul's 600-meter distance to Jongmyo Shrine and 15-minute walk to Changdeokgung Palace come from its Expedia and Hotels.com listings; and Long Weekend Haus DDP's Jung-gu address and room specifications come from its LodgingBusiness structured data, checked 2026-09-14.

• Gyeongbokgung Palace: the district's largest royal palace, the reference point for every walk-time figure above.
• Jongmyo Shrine: the Confucian royal shrine nearest Grid Inn Hotel, Seoul, 600 meters away.
• Insadong: the antique and gallery street between Gyeongbokgung and Jongno 3-ga, closest to Nine Tree by Parnas Seoul Insadong and Grid Inn Hotel, Seoul.
• Bukchon Hanok Village: the hanok neighborhood housing Rakkojae Seoul Main Hanok and sitting 1.1 kilometers from Nine Tree by Parnas Seoul Insadong.
• Marriott's Jongno-area portfolio, searched alongside these six properties, includes Four Points by Sheraton Josun Palace and Moxy Seoul Insadong.