Paradise City is a massive hotel, resort, and casino located adjacent to Incheon Airport just outside of Seoul. It’s a fantastic resort and casino, but a pretty lousy airport hotel IMHO.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s an incredibly beautiful and luxurious property. It’s the pinnacle of what a “destination hotel” should be.
I just think it’s completely overkill if the only thing you need is a place to sleep between flights, that’s all.
A full review of my one night stay at the Paradise City Incheon
There are many really great hotels located adjacent to Incheon Airport (ICN). If all you need is a place to sleep, I recommend the Grand Hyatt Incheon. If you want the most luxurious experience possible (with the possibility of winning a million bucks during your stay), the Paradise City is hard to beat.
Location
You’ll find the Paradise City at the very southwest corner of Incheon Airport (and right across the street from the Grand Hyatt). If you’re coming from the airport like I did, complementary shuttle buses pick up and drop off once every 30 minutes from both Terminals 1 and 2.
Good news: the shuttle bus has arrived right on time! Bad news: I may be in for the ride of my life considering how poorly the driver parked this b*tch.If I die, at least I will die comfortable. This is nice.There’s actually a full-fledged bus station underneath the hotel, and this is where you will be dropped off (and picked up, assuming you still have any money left after a rough night in the casino).“Take me down to the Paradise City where the grass is green and the girls are pretty!” (you know it’s a good hotel when it gives you an irresistible urge to sing Guns N’ Roses songs).
The lobby
The lobby of the Paradise City is nothing short of stunning. “Grand” it’s the only word I can think of to describe it. It basically looks and feels like a museum, and it’s so fancy that I almost felt nervous about touching anything.
*gulp* Is this one of them horses that can shoot laser beams from it’s eyes? He does not look happy to see me.All jokes aside, the lobby of this hotel is nothing short of spectacular. It may be the most beautiful hotel lobby I have ever seen actually.This is the entrance to the casino. Not my kind of place unfortunately, as I have forever been as unlucky as the guy in horror movies who says ‘I’ll be right back.’ Moving on…
Checking in
It wasn’t all that easy to find the reception desk. The lobby is huge (with multiple rooms) and I actually had ask for directions. At least I didn’t have to wait very long to be checked in. It took less than five minutes.
One of the largest hotel reception desks I’ve ever seen in my life? Easily. No doubt paid for by unlucky idiots like me trying to hit the jackpot (over and over and over again) in the casino.
Getting to my room
There are three separate wings to this property (red, purple, and gold). I was assigned a room in the red wing, and let me tell ya, it was an adventure trying to find it. This place is huge!
The target pattern in the floor of the elevator was just another reminder that yes, I am 100% certain that they targeted me as an unlucky idiot as soon as I walked through the main entrance. “Get that guy into the casino. Our reception desk isn’t big enough!”The 10th floor hallway. And yes, I’ve still got that Guns N’ Roses song stuck in my head.Why am I smiling? The fact that I have avoided getting shot in the junk by a horse with laserbeam eyes (as well as having resisted their efforts to lure me into the casino) has made this quite the successful evening so far. Room 10121 is mine for the night. Let’s hope it’s a good one (at least good enough for a low roller such as myself).
Room overview
I basically chose the cheapest room possible when making this reservation. That’s usually a pretty safe bet for a resort and casino, as I haven’t been in one yet that that’s been a total dump (except Circus Circus in Las Vegas lol).
Long story short: being frugal paid off. My room was very large, very well designed, and very cozy.
This looks more like a suite than a room so far! Perhaps they’re waging psychological warfare on me (in the form of upgrading me to a nicer room, which in turn makes me feel like a high roller, which in turn gets my a** down to the casino).The foyer. And artwork that matches my shirt. Score!I wouldn’t exactly call this paradise, but it’s pretty darn close. I like.What is it with these shelving units in Korean hotel rooms? This looks like the shelves in the room that I had at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul not long ago. A lotte!From this angle, it looks like they tried really hard make it look boring (so you’d be more inclined to say “screw this, let’s go to the casino!”).But then you turn around and see this. “I’m good, dawg.”What do you think? Did a previous guest draw a d*ck on the artwork? Or was that how the original artist envisioned it?“What are you looking at? Sit your unlucky a** down.” <– What this couch was obviously thinking as I was looking down taking a picture of it.“You sure you’re qualified to sit here bro? High rollers only!” (I appreciated it’s honesty – this doesn’t look all that comfortable anyway) USB-C and Lightning charging cables. Gracias! Oops, wrong country. Where am I again?Four bottles of complementary bottled water as well. RIP to the one on the front left as soon as I was done taking these pictures. I think I sucked it down all in one breath…“But Scott, what’s in those shelves underneath the bottled water?”Looks like we’ve got a nice assortment of teas and broths. No sign of the pen or brush responsible for the d*ck pic though.This is the first time I’ve ever seen a fan control switch next to the light switches in a hotel room. More of this. Please!The closet? Large enough to stash all of the cash you’ll win downstairs. If you’re lucky (which I’m not). Unlucky or not, these robes felt like a million bucks. I’d rather have the cash though.
The view from my room
Even though I didn’t pay extra for an airport facing room, that’s what I got. It wasn’t a great view (probably even worse than the one that I had recently at the Sheraton at Schiphol Airport), but a view is a view. Especially when you’re not expecting it.
If you squint really hard (and apply some CSI-levels of Image Enhancement to this photo), you’ll see a Cathy Pacific A330-300 taxiing out for departure. The question is: can they see me (wearing nothing but my fire truck underwear) standing in the window? God I hope not.This is the view from the windows right next to the elevator. They weren’t kidding about calling this a ‘city’ – it may not be paradise, but it sure is a huge property.
The bathroom
What’s not to like about a huge bathroom (especially when you’ve got it all to yourself)? It was clean, bright, and very functional. No complaints.
“Take me down to the Paradise City where the bathrooms are huge and the toilets are…”“…clean! The toilets are clean.” I like how it’s just as marbly here in the bathroom as it is downstairs in the lobby.His and her sinks. Or in my case (since I was traveling solo), me and me sinks. And you’re darn right that I used them both.I didn’t use the tub though. The shower was enough to rinse away all the filth I brought with me from the US.
Pros and cons
When it comes right down to it, the pros and cons ultimately depend on your particular purpose for staying here.
If you just need a place to crash between flights, you might be annoyed by the excessive opulence of it all. If you’re looking for a true Las Vegas style experience, well, you found the right place.
Pros
It’s one of the most beautiful hotels I’ve ever stepped foot in. They spared no expense building this place.
It just oozes luxury from every crevice. This is the place for those of you who like being spoiled rotten.
Gambling!
Access to and from the airport is very convenient. Shuttle buses run every 30 minutes.
Cons
It sort of feels like a tourist trap. Not as touristy as most Las Vegas hotels, but close.
This is a massive property. Trying to get anywhere (to a restaurant, to the front desk, to the main entrance, etc) takes some effort.
Getting in and out quickly isn’t as easy as other nearby hotels (which makes this place not ideal for short layovers between flights).
Scott has been traveling the world since 1997, and is the founder and author of SleepAndReview.com. He never had any aspirations of being a hotel reviewer, but one thing let to another, and...well...here we are.
