Busan-Seoul Day 5: KTX Train to Stanford Hotel Myeongdong

We had simple bread and cup noodles for breakfast in our hotel room before we checked out at 9.15am. The jumbo taxi we had booked via the hotel picked us up at 9.30am to take us to Busan Station. We paid ₩60,000, which was pricey but worth it for the service, comfort and convenience.

Busan Station

Huge signboards with English, Chinese and Japanese words

On arrival at Busan Station, we looked at the Information Board for information on our KTX high speed train to Seoul. The staff informed us that details on the track number will only be available 15 minutes before our departure time.

Since we had time, we explored the station in search of food to bring onboard the train for our lunch.

There's a food court at the 2nd floor

We bought food and milk tea from Eggbox

It was soon time to head to the platform and we headed to our train. We had booked our first class tickets directly on the Korail website (28 days prior) and paid ₩83,700 per adult and ₩53,800 per child. The difference between regular and first class was ₩23,900 per ticket, which we thought was reasonable since first class had wider seats, more leg room and a complimentary snack box each.

Boarded our train and headed to our preassigned seats

We departed Busan at 11am sharp

Getting our FREE bottled water for 1st class passengers from a vending machine

Free KTX snack box for 1st class passengers

Getting ready to watch my K Drama

Eating my toast from Eggbox while enjoying the beautiful view

It was interesting that no one came to check our tickets. Probably an honour-based system. After travelling for 2 hours 45 minutes, we arrived at Seoul Station at 1.47pm.

Seoul Station

We joined the very long queue for taxis (at least 20 people) and eventually got into two regular taxis. At ₩10,000 per taxi, the price was very reasonable for the journey to our hotel.

After previously staying at PJ Hotel in 2013, Solaria Nishitetsu Myeongdong and Lotte Hotel World in 2023, we decided to stay at Stanford Hotel Myeongdong this time. The hotel lobby was located at the 9th floor of the building so do look out for the lifts behind the Apple Store. 

Stanford Hotel lobby

We had booked 2 Family Twin Room at S$311 per room per night (inclusive of breakfast for 2 adults per room, more details in the next post). It was much more expensive than our stay at Lotte Hotel Busan but at least each room can accommodate up to 4 adults, which was very comfortable for our family of 6. Our rooms were also much bigger than the Myeongdong hotel we had stayed in our previous trip.

Two double beds

Sofa area

View of Lotte Department Store and surrounding streets from our room.
We could see the Christmas lights at night.

Complimentary snack pack from Stanford Hotel

Very small cupboard and wardrobe

Good size bathroom with bathtub

Breakfast info in the lift (left) and water dispenser just outside our room (right)

The hotel also had a laundry room and a gym. The first thing we did after unpacking was to do our laundry! There were laundry facilities within the hotel for the convenience of guests. We loved the convenience so much that we did our laundry every morning during breakfast.

Each load of washing cost ₩3,000 and you pay by inserting cash into the machine

Good size gym for a 3-star hotel

Our only complaint about the hotel, other than the price, was the inability to adjust the temperature in our room, making us feel very hot during the afternoon due to the afternoon sun. Thankfully it was much cooler and comfortable at night.

Exterior of Stanford Hotel (left) and the hotel's main entrance (right)

After a long day of travelling, we had dinner at a restaurant just next to our hotel.

153 Gupo Noodles

Self ordering and payment kiosks at each table; very convenient! 😅

Various noodles and pork with rice; food was decent but not the best we've eaten.

After dinner, we walked and shopped at the nearby Myeongdong area as we had done previously.

Streets of Myeongdong behind our hotel

So many people in Myeongdong!

Huge HBAF Almond Store in Myeongdong!

The Boy wanted to try the grilled lobster with cheese! He loved it! 😃

We loved Artbox!
There were many outlets in Myeongdong area alone because they were so popular!

Artbox photobooth

Choosing our iron-on patches for our keychains
(These photos were obviously by the Boy 🤪)

This time I made a keychain for myself too! 😁

Super cute Wiggle Wiggle store!

Wiggle Wiggle photobooth

We were feeling hungry after covering almost the whole of the Myeongdong area and had fried chicken from Kkanbu since the Hubby really liked it since our last trip.

Looking forward to our meal!

Beer from the tap, Korean fried chicken and cheese sticks

We returned back to our hotel after a fulfilling supper.

Beautiful Christmas light up at Lotte Town Myeongdong!

Even though we had walked a lot, a check on my Huawei smart watch showed that I had not hit my exercise target of 45 minutes! Since we had feasted a lot, I decided to exercise in my room to hit my target! 😅 Yes I've become that person; however it was the reason why I did not gain any weight after our trip 🤭

Looking forward to exploring more of Seoul! 😁

Continue to >> Busan-Seoul Day 6: Namsan, N Seoul Tower & Myeongdong
<< Back to Busan-Seoul Day 4: Jagalchi Market & Gamcheon Culture Village

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