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The Second Biggest Hotel in Pyongyang

May 25, 2006 at 10:07 AM | 0 Comments

The Ryugyong Hotel, aka Dr. Evil's secret hideout hotel, never fails to fascinate us, even though it will more than likely never see an actual guest. The DPRK has actually struck the hotel from all official maps, and we hear many tour guides won't even confirm Ryugyong's existence. Ha.  Yeah, the big, ominous, monolithic structure in the middle of town, that just so happens to be the seventh tallest building in the world doesn't exist.

So if Ryuguyog is a figment of your imagination, where do you stay if you visit Pyongyang?  Well, more than likely you will stay at, Koryo Hotel, the second largest hotel in North Korea (also the second highest building in the panoramic photo above), and one of the DPRK's fully operational hotels.

While the entryway of a 30-foot wide jade dragon mouth that leads into an expansive lobby some guests have been less than impressed with the power of Koryo:

·This hotel is rated as 5 stars by the DPRK tourism officials. The atmosphere and the attention for detail however are definitely NOT up to usual 5 star standards.

·There is also a "restaurant number 1" and "number 2". One of them has a nice view over the river. Service is not great and not fast, and we got the set menu.

·There are about three channels on TV, the guards wouldn't let me go off the premises, and very few if any spoke English.

But you don't have to stay at Koryo, right?  You have choices.  Um, well, not really, according to another tipster:

You have no choice of accommodation. It will be at one of the two modern-ish tower hotels where you'll be one of very few guests and your fellow guests tend to be from places like Cuba, Mozambique (and other T.P.L.A.C.'s) and Libya. Makes for interesting post-dinner conversation.
Irrelevant - it's all part of your package, and that costs a mint.

[Image Via blogjam/Flickr]

Related Stories:
· Ryugyong Hotel Coverage [HotelChatter]
· Koryo Hotel reviews [TripAdvisor]