The Hyangsan Hotel is a striking 15-storey pyramid clad in mirrored glass, set incongruously at the foot of the wooded mountains. It was renovated under Kim Jong-il in 2010 and reopened as the country's flagship mountain resort, with a revolving restaurant on the top floor that — when the power cooperates — offers slow, sweeping views over the valley.
Most foreign tour groups overnight here, since it is the only practical option for visitors to the exhibition. The lobby is enormous, the corridors echo, and the karaoke bar in the basement sees the occasional surreal evening. Outside of organised tour itineraries it is essentially inaccessible.