Forest 701 Hotel

A 10-minute walk gets you from Dong Daegu station to the hotel, with lots of restaurants on the next street. The room is spacious and has a nice bathtub as well as a shower. Facilities are basic but clean and tidy, and the small gym was enough for us. We also liked the authentic home-style Korean breakfast. Good value for a short stay.

There’s a convenience store nearby, and the hotel has free coffee, laundry, a gym, and breakfast from 7 to 9 a.m. No subway runs past here. A taxi costs about 4,200-5,300.

Good service, and there’s a computer you can use for work.

The bed was the one comfortable part of the stay. It’s electrically heated and kept me warm. Otherwise, there were serious problems. At check-in on Sunday the front desk staff were friendly, but the bathroom floor had used condoms on it and the room smelled of smoke. The tables and chairs were large but so dusty that dust flew up when I shook them. The electronic wardrobe stopped drying clothes before its timer ran out, nothing like the LG wardrobes I’ve used in other hotels. There was no heating in either the toilet or the hallway, so both were cold. On Monday breakfast was just instant noodles, toast, cereal, milk, and coffee, with no jam or other food. The booking said breakfast was included, but there was hardly any hot food. The hotel is among commercial buildings, about a 10-minute walk from the bus stop and even farther from the subway. Dining choices nearby are limited. The pricey barbecue street is more than 10 minutes away on foot, and affordable snack shops are scarce or close early.