Our decision to change our 4D3N middle segment of our vacation from the city of Ulsan to Suncheon was just 6 weeks before we were to fly off, and it was again on account that the places we would be visiting in Ulsan was not really very different from what we’ve already seen in Japan during our holidays in the last several years. Suncheon on the other hand had the wetland reserve that the wife was very interested to visit, so we went for it.
Thing is: Suncheon by comparison to Ulsan is a tiny city of just with an approximately 280,000 population, versus the 1.1 million in the latter. And the infrastructure shows: there is no subway system to speak of, and we saw far more elderly than young people. The general lack of accommodation options was also apparent, but we were fortunate to find fairly quickly a property – or room actually – that could host the four of us and also that was near to the city’s train station.
The hotel we found is pretty small and classed as a hostel. Truth to tell too, we were a little worried at what we’d be getting, but our fears were unfounded: the Baguni Hostel we stayed for three nights is clean, reasonably modern, and exceeded our expectations for a property in a small and less built-up and modern city like Suncheon.
Our notes!
We stayed in a family room that was designed like our Busan Airbnb i.e. a loft unit that comprised a ground floor where the bathroom-toilet was, and also a king sized bed (or actually, two single beds joined as one), and a loft level where there was a queen sized bed but with a somewhat low ceiling. We appreciated too that the sink was outside the toilet, which let us get washed up and prepped for each day’s activities a little faster. The family room was clean, and hot water and air-con/heater working as they should. Our room was also situated next to the pantry where there was a hot and cold water dispenser for guest use.
The hostel has three levels, and we were initially expecting to have to lug up our heavy luggage cases up the stairs to the third floor and where our room was. As it turned out, as check-in time is at 4PM, the hostel was happy to keep our luggage for us when we arrived into the city at noon, and our luggage was brought up to our room by the time we returned in the early evening.
The hostel uses a simple token system for selected types of amenities: We are given 16 tokens for the four of us per night of stay, with breakfast at 4 tokens per person. Unused tokens can be used for renting bicycles, and buying accessories like masks, souvenirs and so on. We opted for the breakfast, and it comprises hot and cold beverages and a simple yet very delicious ham and cheese sandwiches. To note though: upon finishing breakfast, guests are expected to clean up after themselves, including washing of used utensils and dishes.
All in, we kept our expectations low in view that Suncheon isn’t a city in the same size nor infrastructure as Busan and Seoul. Moreover, the per night rate was a low ~SGD120 for the family room, and the Baguni hostel was a short 5 minute walk from Suncheon Station where several convenience stores are located, and a very slightly further 7 minutes walk from the Suncheon Bus Terminal. This property is worth checking out if you’re also planning to visit the city.