The setup for the Pyeongchang Paralympics is similar to the Olympics, with events split between the Coastal Cluster and the Mountain Cluster. However, the smaller number of events means things are more compact, and the Mountain Cluster events are in two places (rather than 4), namely Alpensia and Jeongseon Alpine Centre. For more detail on venues see here
Pyeongchang Paralympics Latest (Feb 2018) update:
Accommodation
Jeongseon Alpine Centre: the Park Roche hotel near the base of the venue is now open and you can search & book here
Mountain Cluster ski resorts: space available (Yongpyong & Alpensia)
Coastal Cluster (Gangneung) hotels: space available (see hotels in Gangneung)
Wonju hotels: good availability (see hotels in Wonju)
Donghae hotels: limited availability (see hotels in Donghae)
Sokcho hotels: good availability (see hotels in Sokcho)
Seoul hotels: good availability (see hotels in Seoul)
Airbnb is showing plenty of availability in Seoul, Wonju, Donghae, Sokcho, Pyeongchang, and Gangneung. If you haven’t used Airbnb before, you can get a 35-dollar discount off your first rental by signing up through Snow Guide Korea; simply click on this link and register.
Transportation
A Pyeongchang Rail Pass is available for the Olympics & Paralympics, granting unlimited train travel for 5 or 7 days (approx $200 for the 7-day pass); this pass is exactly what you need if you’re staying in Seoul and travelling back & forth repeatedly (at least 3 times) to the venues on the KTX. See here for more on the Pyeongchang KTX and here for details of the pass (sales period is only until January 31st, so you have to buy it by then)
The Paralympic shuttle bus system is shown here
Read on for full details on the above options
Pyeongchang Paralympics Accommodation: overview
Accommodation is available at Alpensia and neighbouring Yongpyong Resort (with regular shuttle buses between them); skiing’s available at Yongpyong (but with the upper slopes closed), but not at Alpensia. The KTX also makes it possible to stay in Seoul and visit Gangneung/Pyeongchang for the day to attend events.
Pyeongchang 2018 Accommodation: where to stay
As there’s plenty of availability your best bet is probably to stay in Gangneung itself, or at Alpensia if you prefer to be in the mountains. If you’re wanting to stay somewhere you can hit the slopes yourself, stay at Yongpyong and use shuttle buses to get to the events.
Where to stay for Pyeongchang 2018
Red line: Gangneung KTX
Green: venue clusters
Blue: main regional cities
Ski resorts
1: Oak Valley (check accommodation and see resort guide)
2: Welli Hilli Park (check accommodation and see resort guide)
3: Bokwang Phoenix Park (check accommodation and see resort guide)
4: Jeongseon Alpine Centre (Park Roche Hotel)
5: Yongpyong/Alpensia (many accommodation options; see resort guide for full details & links)
6: High1 (many accommodation options; see resort guide for full details & links)
Gangneung (Coastal Cluster): search for Gangneung hotels here. Gangneung’s well-placed for any of the events – if you find something within your budget, snap it up!
Search for hotels in Gangneung
Mountain Cluster ski resorts: the in-resort accommodations at Alpensia and Yongpyong have rooms available, and there are some small pension-style places and motels in the nearby towns. See here for options in & around Yongpyong / Alpensia. There’s also the newly-built Park Roche Hotel located a few hundred metres from the entrance to Jeongseon Alpine Centre, see here.
Seoul: another option is to stay in Seoul and travel to your events on the new Gangneung KTX bullet train line. The line started regular service in December 2017, taking around 2 hours from Seoul Station to Gangneung Station (a handful of trains per day will start & finish at Incheon Airport). Bear in mind that you’ll also need to take a shuttle bus between the train station and the venue you’re heading to, and there’ll also be a subway or taxi ride in Seoul, depending which part of the city you stay in.
The full Gangneung KTX route
Of a total of 22 to 28 trains per day during the Paralympics (Friday & Saturday have extra services), 8 to 16 will start from Cheongnyangni, 10 will start from Seoul Station (and also stop at Cheongnyangi), and 4 will start from Incheon Airport (and stop at Seoul Station but not Cheongnyangi).
Cheongnyangi therefore has the best frequency of service, though it doesn’t have much by way of accommodation. The best place to stay near Cheongnyangi is the popular Dongdaemun district, four stops away on subway Line 1. Seoul Station has a good number of hotels close by and is more central for sightseeing etc, so may be more attractive.
If you stay south of the river in e.g. Gangnam, you’re looking at a 30 to 40 minute subway ride just to reach Seoul Station or Cheongnyangni, so try to avoid that.
For getting back to Seoul, the last trains are 21:50 from Jinbu Station and 22:30 from Gangneung Station. The Mountain Cluster events all finish well before 21:50 so that’s fine, but I’d advise caution for late-finishing ice events which run to 22:00 – if you’re attending the wheelchair curling, or the later-finishing para hockey sessions, it’s probably best to stay in Gangneung. And for those attending the opening & closing ceremonies, they finish at 21:50 and 21:20 respectively so there’s no way you can make that last train from Jinbu to Seoul (other than leaving early) – definitely stay in Pyeongchang or Gangneung if attending those.
(Note: 청량리 is correctly romanised as Cheongryangri due to Korean spelling rules but the correct pronunciation is Cheongnyangni. Bit of a mouthful either way! You’ll see it written both ways)
It’s advisable to book your train tickets in advance on the Korail site – advance booking is available one month before the travel date. If you’ll be doing this journey repeatedly, take advantage of the Pyeongchang Rail Pass to keep costs down (sales deadline is January 31st).
Other Potential Bases
Wonju: the largest city in Gangwon-do, Wonju is halfway between Seoul & Gangneung and fairly close to the Mountain Cluster venues, so if you book accommodation there it’s a workable base.
Donghae: this port city 20km south of Gangneung makes for a potential base if you’re attending Coastal Cluster events in Gangneung but don’t want to actually stay in Gangneung. For Mountain Cluster events though, the dogleg through Gangneung makes the transportation tricky (Wonju would be better)
Sokcho: as with Donghae, the port of Sokcho should work well enough for Coastal Cluster events, though it’s a bit further away (50km) than Donghae is. Yangyang is just south of Sokcho and is home to the nearest (very small) airport to the venues.
Airbnb: it’s worth checking Airbnb as well as the hotel listings. It’s a particularly good option in Seoul, where there’s a huge number of places available, and Airbnb’s really convenient in Korea – hosts usually have it set up so you can arrive & check in by yourself without having to wait around or meet anyone, and the housing standards are good with underfloor heating and excellent internet connections as standard. If you haven’t used Airbnb before, you can get a 35-dollar discount off your first rental by signing up through Snow Guide Korea; simply click on this link and register!
Pyeongchang Paralympics Tickets
You can search and buy tickets here; wheelchair users should select Wheel Chair on the booking purchase screen, and for those accompanying them to sit together you can select one Guardian ticket per wheelchair ticket.
Pyeongchang Paralympics Transportation
The KTX, Korea’s bullet train system, was extended to Gangneung in time for the Olympics & Paralympics; it started service in December 2017, drastically reducing the travel time from Seoul to the Olympic venues (and several other ski resorts) in Gangwon-do. See here for details of the Gangneung KTX.
Free shuttle buses will transport spectators to the venues from the train stations and park & ride facilities, and will also enable visitors to move around & between Pyeongchang and Gangneung. Some shuttle buses will be wheelchair accessible – but not all, so if required make sure to allow extra time to get from the station to your event in case you have to wait a bit longer for a shuttle. You can see the shuttle bus system here
Any questions about accommodation for the Pyeongchang Paralympics? Leave a comment below!
See also:
Snow Guide Korea’s Pyeongchang 2018 page; more details on the Gangneung KTX; and the best Korean resorts to ski at during Pyeongchang 2018
Good day, please advise if there is any vacant condo in ski resort from 19/02 to 22/02
Whould be high apreciate for your reply
Hi Ekaterina, please use the links on the page to check the condo availability. But I think they’re mostly fully booked already, so you might have to reserve a pension nearby instead. Which resort(s) do you want to stay at?
FYI I had no problem booking tickets on the KTX trains during the Seoullal weakend (Feb 16th-18th), using a foreigners’ 7-day Pyeongchang Korail pass.
However, the trains don’t run very late — there are often only 2-4 trains returning to Seoul after the last event of the night — and many of the first few and last few trains of each day already have all seats reserved. This could be very problematic if you’re staying in Seoul, and you have to get back late at night, but the trains run out of standing-room tickets (the standing-room tickets are only for the space between carriages, which could hold maybe 40 people per carriage, so at most it will double the capacity of the trains).
This issue will be worst after the opening and closing ceremonies, and popular events. People may get stranded some nights. They really need to run more trains between 11pm and 1am during the Olympics just to get everybody back to their hotel. The fact that there are so few trains after the last events, with such low total transport capacity relative to the number of Olympic attendees, when there are so few hotels anywhere near the Olympic events, really shows the lack of coordination between the involved agencies.
Hi Luke, glad to hear you’re sorted!
Re your train comments, did you take into account the trains to Cheongnyangni & Sangbong stations in addition to Seoul Station? (though, the same comment would probably still apply!)
We did not buy the PyeongChang Korail Pass by the 31 January 2018 cut off date. Any recommendations about how to get one/buy one for our travel March 10-17, 2018 for the Para Olympic games? We would be willing to purchase them from those who no longer have use.
Hi Valerie,
Sorry, they stopped selling them at the end of January and I just saw they’d responded to a comment on their site saying they won’t re-open sales for them. You’re going to have to just buy individual tickets I’m afraid.
Where are you staying for the Paralympics? (if you’re staying close to the venues, the train pass wouldn’t be economical anyway)