The Shilla

If hotel design were an Olympic sport, the Shilla would be the Michael Phelps of Seoul properties. Adjacent to the 23-acre, lushly landscaped Jangchungdan Park, where walking trails wind among pine trees and sculptures by Korean artists, the 465-room hotel provides luxurious seclusion in this otherwise extremely congested city. The rooms are decorated in an understated East-meets-West motif (with blond Euro-style wood furniture, eggshell-colored striped wallpaper, and sliding rice-paper window screens) and have both free high-speed wired and wireless connections, and free loaner mobile phones (a major plus since American network carriers don’t work in Korea). The on-site health and fitness facilities include an outdoor pool—a rarity in Seoul—and a Guerlain Spa offering anti-aging treatments, Bouvier hydrotherapy, and even medical exams by graduates of the country’s top medical university.