Yanggakdo International Hotel

Our group of 15 stayed here for 5 nights in September, and found the hotel building very impressive and the lobby was bright and modern. The rooms were a tad small, but the beds were comfortable and the place was clean and tidy. The bathroom could do with an update, but everything worked well and the water in the showers was hot with good pressure. The rooms had large sliding windows that actually opened, permitting pictures to be taken with no glass flashbacks. The views of the city are quite stunning from the rooms, and the 47th floor revolving restaurant, which serves good (inexpensive), bottled beer. Lots to do in the basement like bowling, swimming pool, karaoke room and lots more to entertain you, as you are not permitted to leave the hotel without your guide(s). If you need any laundry done, this is the place to do it, as the prices are very very reasonable. We only ate in the hotel Chinese restaurant one night, and were not impressed by their food.||The hotel is central to all the tourist sites, so not a lot of driving to get around them. The hotels for foreigners are limited in Pyongyang, and I think this one must be one of the better ones. It is large, with 46 floors and 1,000 rooms. I would not mind staying here again, should I ever return to NK.

Stayed four nights here, and so did hundreds of other tourists. Hotel lobby is really nice and shiny, could imagine arriving to high quality hotel by European standards. After going anywhere else the impression really crashes down..:) But still this is propably best you can get in PY, or second best.||||Rooms. Everything is old as you could imagine, but clean! Air in the room is very dump and moist, bed sheets feel a bit wet, though there is somekind of AC but doing nothing. Bed has only the spring mattress, no mattress pad on it so it is quite uncomfortable. Windows can be opened (tip for base jumpers). Elevators are super slow so be prepared for waiting.||||Restaurants. Breakfast is quite limited, various cold and hot dishes and fried eggs. No juice, and coffee is made from instant powder. There is european, chinese and korean restaurants, but all are serving more or less the same. Buffet dinner was quite terrible.. in cellar there is also cold noodles place.||||On the top there is rotating restaurant, but didnt try that. The bar on top floor was closed. In cellar there is sauna and pool, billiards, bowling, table tennis, karaoke, small shop,... the staff in these was very nice, especially in billiard room. Prices are quite reasonable considering we are inside hotel.||||Three stars does not mean this is bad, but review wrote with same standards as all the others, and you just cant rate this luxury hotel :)

You are probably reading this review as you are heading to North Korea and the Yanggakdo Hotel is the option in your package. The hotel is good considering it's North Korea. The room was large and clean and had excellent city views on an unpolluted day. The breakfast was plentiful but just ok. There are a number of restaurants for dinner which we did not try. We very much enjoyed our drinks at the end of a busy day in both the foyer and revolving restaurant. There are shops to buy postcards, stamps and NK information! Enjoy your trip...

So you have no choice about staying at this hotel but its actually not that bad. ||You get amazing views over the Taedong River in the morning (frankly the guides work you so hard you don't actually see the hotel in the daylight!).||The rooms are clean, reasonably comfortable (you are so exhausted by the day that any bed is comfy). The water pressure is amazing. The best showers ever.||Breakfast is a bit hit and miss. Given that North Korea puts on an amazing show of food for lunches and dinners, the breakfast is hard to navigate.||Trying to get a lift at peak times is also a tad trying

Stayed at the Yanggakdo for 2 night, I have to agree with the other reviewers - the beds are very firm its like sleeping on a box, breakfast has plenty of choice if your not fussy but limited European options. ||The bowling is really good about 280 won per person ||There's a lingering smell of smoke in the hallways but the bedrooms are fine. ||There's a casino in the basement and if you place a bet you can use the wifi but its little temperamental. ||There's a bar with a good choice of alcoholic drinks and a shop to purchase food/drinks. ||The staff were very friendly and helpful and the rooms are super clean.

But then, everything was better than expected. Room was clean and all services worked. However, it would appear that North Koreans like sleeping on hard beds which we were not. Breakfast was ample but varied depending on the number of guests in the hotel. Dinner was limited but our lovely guides took us out most nights.

What can you say about one of the only 2 hotels you can stay at in Pyongyang? As far as worldwide hotels go, it wouldn’t even scrape a 2 star. The lobby is relatively swish but the rest of it is a 1980s run down old hotel. The corridors smell odd (I thought kind of like celery, but none of us could agree on exactly what it smelt like), the carpets are worn and stained, the lifts take FOREVER to come and when they do, it’s a painfully slow ride down 40-odd floors. The rooms have the most basic amenities, the decor is tired and bare and everything smells of smoke. Tip: Bring a bath towel from home if you can. The towels are the size of dishcloths. ||||The best bit is the revolving bar! You can stay up there until the early hours drinking with your group and taking in the 360 views. It was definitely the highlight. The basement tunnels were also a real bonus. There’s a bar with pool tables, a karaoke room, a massage parlour, hairdresser’s, a couple of shops (selling Chinese goods rather than local which was disappointing), a cold noodle bar and a casino. We were shocked to find that the casino had WiFi! It was the only place in the whole of DPRK where you could make contact with home. I made a WhatsApp call home and was very surprised at the connection quality.||||There are a couple of bookshops and convenience/snack shops on the main floor. Buy as many souvenirs as you can - you’ll regret it if you don’t. Also, send a postcard home. I regret not doing this. ||||The staff are very sweet - as are all of the staff, guides and various members of the public you’ll encounter on your trip. ||||Despite any of the downsides above, the Yanggakdo gets 5 stars, because IT’S THE DPRK and you’ll never stay somewhere so surreal in your entire life, and the excitement of that alone means that all of the above becomes inexplicably endearing. It’s still the most memorable place I’ve ever stayed and I can’t see anywhere else in the world ever topping it.

I stayed here for four nights last week.||||The ground floor of the hotel has been refurbished, and looks great. That may raise your exceptions of the bedrooms, however the ground floor is where the renovations start and end. ||||That being said, the bedroom was absolutely fine. Yes, it was dated, but it was clean, and the bed was comfortable. The air conditioning didn't really work, but it wasn't a massive problem, however the room did feel slightly damp, and could have done with some clean fresh air running through it.||||The corridors were very poorly lit during the day; actually, there were no lights on at all until evening time.||||I didn't enjoy breakfast at all, so skipped after day one, and instead bought canned coffee from the hotel's shop (the breakfast room only has really bad instant coffee).||||The bar on the ground floor is really modern, and serves excellent locally produced beer. We spent a couple of evenings here, plus on the revolving restaurant on the 47th floor.||||Try to time your departure well, as the lifts can take a lifetime to come, and then stop on every floor on the way down.||||We had to stay in one afternoon due to Typhoon Lingling, so we spent the time in the pool, sauna and steam room, which were all good.||||All in all, a satisfactory stay.