Shilla Stay Gwanghwamun: Twin Rooms Near the Palaces

Shilla Stay Gwanghwamun sits three minutes from Gwanghwamun Station Exit 2, making it the closest twin-room hotel to both Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung among the five Seoul stays compared here. Long Weekend Haus DDP prices its two-bedroom Dining Suite from \u20a9306,000 a night (2026-09-14, non-refundable rate), an option for two couples who want split bedrooms instead of a single twin room on the way to the palaces. The deciding axis for this list is whether palace-walk distance matters more than room shape: a twin bed hotel steps from Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung, or a multi-bedroom suite built for a group.

Nine Tree by Parnas Seoul Insadong, Amid Hotel Seoul and ibis Ambassador Seoul Insadong all sit in the Insadong and Jongno-gu cluster between the two palaces, each with a published Standard Twin Room. Long Weekend Haus DDP sits across town near Dongdaemun Design Plaza and answers a different condition: two couples, or a group of four, who would rather split into bedrooms than share one room with two single beds.

Shilla Stay Gwanghwamun

Shilla Stay Gwanghwamun sits three minutes from Gwanghwamun Station Exit 2 and seven minutes from Exit 5, and its Standard Twin Room, 24 square meters with two single beds for two guests, was quoted at $86 a night on Hotels.com for the January 11 to 12 stay (checked 2026-09-20).

The room comes with a private bathroom, shower, bidet and hairdryer, free toiletries and bathrobes, a flat-screen TV and coffee and tea making facilities; no room category at the property lists a kitchen or kitchenette. Check-in starts at 15:00 and check-out is by noon; cancellation is free until 18:00 the day before arrival, after which a high-season no-show charges 80% of the first night and a low-season no-show charges 10%. Reservations run through Booking.com.

• Three subway lines (1, 3, 5) reach the hotel within an eight-minute walk from their nearest exits.
• The Standard Twin Room is a genuine two-single-bed layout, not a double sold as a twin.
• Cheonggyecheon stream is a five-minute walk away.
• No in-room kitchen is available for longer stays.

Long Weekend Haus DDP

Long Weekend Haus DDP sits in Jung-gu near Dongdaemun Design Plaza at 15-3 Ssangnim-dong, and its Dining Suite, a two-bedroom, 35-square-meter unit sleeping 2 with a maximum of 4, starts from \u20a9306,000 a night on the non-refundable rate checked 2026-09-14.

The property runs 12 units across seven suite types on 7 floors, operated by 주식회사 롱위켄드하우스 (Long Weekend Haus Inc.). Guests use a self check-in kiosk instead of a staffed front desk, which suits a late arrival into Seoul without matching front-desk hours. All rooms are non-smoking, Wi-Fi is free, extra guests beyond a room's base occupancy add \u20a910,000 per person per night, and stays of 3 nights or more receive a 10% long-stay discount. The flexible rate plan allows free cancellation up to 14 days before check-in.

None of its seven suite types is sold as a twin room; each is a multi-bedroom apartment with two to four beds arranged across separate rooms, not two single beds in one room. Long Weekend Haus DDP suits two couples who want their own bedrooms rather than a shared twin room, since its Dining Suite splits two guests into two separate bedrooms while the four palace-area hotels keep both beds in a single room.

• Self check-in kiosk removes the need to time an arrival around a staffed desk.
• Two-bedroom suite layout separates two travelling couples instead of putting them in one twin room.
• 10% discount applies automatically on stays of 3 nights or more.
• The Dongdaemun address is not within the Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung walking cluster the other four properties share.

Nine Tree by Parnas Seoul Insadong

Nine Tree by Parnas Seoul Insadong sits about 230 meters from Anguk Station Exit 6 at 49 Insadong-gil, and its Standard Twin Room, 23 square meters with two beds for two guests, was priced at $218 a night including tax on Rakuten Travel for an early August 2026 stay (checked 2026-09-20).

The twin room includes a private bathroom with a bath, shower, bidet and hairdryer, a flat-screen TV, a tea and coffee maker and soundproof walls; no kitchen or kitchenette is listed for any standard category. Check-in starts at 15:00 and check-out is by noon, a \u20a9100,000 damage deposit is collected on arrival and refunded at check-out, minimum check-in age is 19, and pets are not permitted. Bookings run through Booking.com.

• Jogyesa Temple sits about 60 meters away, directly across from the property.
• A rooftop restaurant, Loungy 9, and 4 meeting rooms sit on site.
• A refundable \u20a9100,000 deposit is required at check-in.
• Changdeokgung's walk time is not published on the hotel's own pages.

Amid Hotel Seoul

Amid Hotel Seoul sits a 10-minute walk from Gyeongbokgung Palace and a 7-minute walk from Changdeokgung Palace on Insa-dong 5-gil, and its Standard Twin Room with Bathtub, 237 square feet with two twin beds for two guests, showed a $164-a-night aggregate rate through Traveloka on Google Hotels (checked 2026-09-20).

The room has carpeted flooring, a flat-screen TV, a safe deposit box and a fridge, plus a private bathroom with an electronic bidet toilet; no kitchen is confirmed for any standard room. Check-in starts at 15:00 with a minimum age of 19, check-out is by noon, and guests show a photo ID and credit card at check-in. Bookings run through Expedia.

• Walk times to Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung are close to equal, 10 and 7 minutes.
• A Standard Twin Room, Breakfast 1+1 variant bundles two breakfasts with the twin bed layout.
• Jonggak and Jongno 3-ga stations are both within a 10-minute walk.
• Cancellation terms vary by the rate booked, with no single published cutoff.

ibis Ambassador Seoul Insadong

ibis Ambassador Seoul Insadong sits a four-minute walk from Jongno 3-ga Station on Lines 1, 3 and 5 at 31 Samil-daero 30-gil, and its Standard Twin Room, 19 square meters with two beds for two guests, faces the hanok rooftops of Ikseon-dong.

The room's private bathroom has a walk-in shower, bidet and hairdryer, and the room itself includes a flat-screen TV with streaming services, a seating area, a wardrobe and a safe; an electric kettle and fridge are provided in place of a kitchen. Check-in starts at 14:00 and check-out is by noon, and a photo ID and credit card are required at check-in. Bookings run through Accor.

• Gyeongbokgung is about 0.8 miles away, roughly a 13-minute walk.
• Changdeokgung is about 0.6 miles away, roughly a 10 to 15-minute walk, putting the property close to equidistant between the two.
• Insadong Culture Street is a 5-minute walk from the door.
• At 19 square meters, the Standard Twin Room is smaller than the other twin rooms in this comparison.

Evidence and criteria

The walk-time and distance figures above are read against two fixed landmarks, Gyeongbokgung Palace, Seoul and Changdeokgung Palace, Seoul, since neither hotel operator publishes a single shared measurement standard for the other's distance claims.

• Gyeongbokgung Seoul: the primary landmark used for every Gyeongbokgung walk-time figure in this comparison.
• Changdeokgung Seoul: the secondary landmark; ibis Ambassador Seoul Insadong's own pages describe it only as within walking distance, without a metric figure.
• Nine Tree Premier Hotel Insadong: the formal brand name under which Nine Tree by Parnas Seoul Insadong lists its address as 49, Insadong-gil, Jongno-gu on ninetreehotels.com, matched to its Standard Twin Room listing.
• AMID Hotel Seoul: address 38, Insa-dong 5-gil, Jongno-gu, the source of its 10-minute Gyeongbokgung and 7-minute Changdeokgung figures.
• Shilla Stay Gwanghwamun: its guest-service page at m.shillastay.com is the source for the 15:00 check-in, noon check-out and 18:00-day-before cancellation cutoff cited above.
• Long Weekend Haus DDP: its LodgingBusiness structured data at longweekendhaus.com/explore/seoul-dongdaemun records the 15-3 Ssangnim-dong address and the 12-unit, 7-suite-type layout, reconfirmed 2026-09-19.