The Ryanggang Hotel

The Best Karaoke in Town!

Built in 1989, the Ryanggang Hotel is a first-class hotel in Pyongyang. Please note that the top level hotels are the deluxe standard hotels. It has 11 stories and 330 rooms.

Location of The Ryanggang Hotel

The Ryanggang is quietly located in the Sports Village in Mangyongdae District, where the Taedong River and the Pothong River meet. The hotel is on a hill overlooking both rivers and Sosan Football Ground, an it is five minute drive to the city centre.

Interesting Facts

As you enter the hotel you will find a large lobby covered in marble, and lit with colourful fluorescent lights at night. Behind the front desk you will see a large world map on the wall showing a unified Korea in red. Re-Unification is a predominant theme in the DPRK and in the lives of North Koreans, something that you will clearly see this when travelling there.

Facilities at the Ryanggang Hotel

In the entrance hall there is a bar, restaurants, a clothing shop, a gift shop and bookshop.

Bar/coffe shop at the Ryanggang Hotel lobby

Apart from traditional Korean products, you will be able to find a good variety of books about the DPRK's history as well as biographies of the Great Leaders in different languages here. There is also a rich collection of Korean movie DVDs. The price of North Korean souvenirs here tends to be slightly cheaper than in the city centre, so if you are going to buy some souvenirs this is a good place to do so. There is too a clothes shop, ideal if you are going to the Palace of the Sun and did not bring formal clothes with you!

Shop and souvenir stand

You can make international phone calls from the the International Communication Centre in the lobby. Please always ask about the cost of calling your destination country per minute in order to avoid any unpleasant surprises.

Other entertainment facilities include a sauna,  a huge karaoke room, a small movie theatre, a billiards room, a ping pong room and a rotating restaurant on the top floor. In fact the Karaoke here is the best in Pyongyang!

Rooms

Rooms are relatively spacious, with two single beds, a bathroom and a small sitting area, a balcony and heated floors.

Mattresses are thin. If not used to it and if you need a thicker mattress you should request it at the front desk or ask one of your guides.

Views of one side of the Ryanggang Hotel

Rooms also have a TV with local Korean channels, a fridge and a kettle.

Corridor in the Ryanggang Hotel. Like most hotels in Pyongyang, it was renovated in 2018, for the 70th Anniversary of the Foundation of the DPRK

There is hot water in the morning and evenings but there can be shortages during the day. Please note that you will be travelling around North Korea in the daytime.

Restaurants

Apart from the restaurant by the lobby there is also a rotating restaurant on the top floor. Western breakfast serves bread / toast with butter and jam, eggs and coffee as well as other beverages. Staff both in the hotel and the restaurants are extremely friendly.