The Jjimjilbang
Naked strangers, scalding kilns, a scrub that takes off a layer of you, and a warm floor to sleep on
The jjimjilbang is part public bath, part sauna, part cheap hotel and part living room. Koreans of every age go there to get clean, get warm, eat, doze and simply be, often for a whole day and sometimes overnight. Visitors often describe it as the most exposing thing you can do in the country, and one of the most relaxing. It also costs about as much as a cinema ticket. This guide explains how it works, so you can walk in without worrying.
- Wash first. Shower thoroughly, sitting down, before you get into any pool. This one matters most.
- The baths are nude. The bathing hall is single-sex and everyone is naked. It is routine and non-sexual.
- The common floor is clothed. You wear the t-shirt and shorts you are given. You are never naked in mixed company.
- Keep quiet, and keep the towel out of the water.
- No photographs in the changing rooms or the bathing hall. Ever.
How this page was madeWe have not yet been to South Korea, so we have not been to a jjimjilbang. This guide is built from Korean tourism sources, specialist guides and many visitors’ detailed accounts. The customs are long-standing and change slowly; prices change, so those are dated. Where practice varies, as it does with tattoos, we say so. When we go, we will say so here.
Last updated 1 October 2026
What a jjimjilbang actually is
Think of two worlds under one roof. The first is the bathing hall, the mogyoktang. It is strictly separated by sex and entirely nude: a warm, tiled room of showers, pools at different heats, steam and a dry sauna.
The second is the jjimjilbang floor proper. It is a big, mixed, fully clothed common area, built around heated kiln rooms lined with stone, salt, clay or charcoal. People lie on the warm floor, crack baked eggs, sip sikhye, a sweet rice drink, and nap. You move between the two worlds, and the day finds its own rhythm: wash, soak, sweat, cool, rest, repeat.
It is one of the most democratic spaces in Korea. Stripped of clothes and status, grandmothers, office workers and toddlers share the same hot pool. On the floor above, families sprawl asleep beside students revising for exams.
A visit, step by step
The sequence is fixed, and after one visit it is obvious. Here it is in order.
| Step | What happens | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Shoes off | Small lockers by the door | Leave your shoes and keep the key |
| 2 Pay at the counter | You get a locker key on a wristband, a small towel, and a t-shirt and shorts | Keep the wristband on: it also runs a tab for food and extras |
| 3 The changing room | Men and women go to separate floors or doors | Undress fully and lock everything away |
| 4 Wash | Rows of low stools, showers and mirrors | Sit down and wash thoroughly with soap and shampoo before any pool |
| 5 Soak and sweat | Pools at different heats, a cold plunge, steam and a dry sauna | Move between them at your own pace |
| 6 The scrub, if you want it | An attendant scrubs you down on a table, for an extra fee | Book at the desk or in the bathing area |
| 7 Dress and go up | The mixed, clothed floor: kiln rooms, snacks and space to lie down | Put on the uniform, then stay an hour or the night |
The naked part, and why it’s fine
This is the part most visitors worry about. By most accounts, the worry fades within a few minutes of walking in.
In the bathing hall, nudity is not optional or daring. It is simply the rule, the same for everyone, and by every account people are busy with their own wash. The space is single-sex, matter-of-fact and entirely non-sexual: Korean families have washed together like this for generations. The small towel is for modesty on the walk to the pool and for drying, not for wearing in the water. Fold it and rest it on your head, as many people do, or leave it at the side.
If you are uneasy, keep to a quiet corner and move at your own pace. You can also spend most of your visit upstairs on the clothed floor, which is where much of the jjimjilbang’s charm lives anyway.
From what we have read, the nerves pass within minutes, and the clothed floor upstairs is reason enough to go.
— Andrew + MargaretThe kiln rooms
The kiln rooms are the heart of the clothed floor. Each is a small chamber kept at its own heat, often lined with a material that the spa promotes for its supposed benefits: salt, jade, clay, charcoal. You crawl in through a low door, lie on the warm floor with a wooden block under your neck, and sweat. The hottest rooms are fierce, so most people go in for a few minutes at a time, then cool off with an iced drink outside.
Between rooms, there is the snack bar. Eggs baked on hot stones, brown-shelled and faintly smoky, are a fixture, and so is cold sikhye. Some people fold their towel into a little bun with two side rolls, like a lamb’s ears: the yangmeori, the jjimjilbang’s best-known look.
The scrub
The full-body scrub, seshin, is optional and, by visitors’ accounts, a little brutal and strangely wonderful. It is a Korean institution in its own right.
For an extra fee you lie on a table in the bathing hall, and an attendant scrubs you from head to toe with a coarse mitt known as an “Italy towel”. It is vigorous and sometimes startling. Grey rolls of old skin are part of the show, and your skin comes out very smooth and very pink. It happens in the nude, single-sex bathing area, and it is routine. Book at the desk or in the bathing hall; the price varies from venue to venue, so ask first.
There is no national rule. Many visitors with tattoos report no trouble, especially at the big modern spas used to foreign guests. But some bathhouses post signs refusing people with large tattoos, and staff decide on the day. If your tattoos are large and you want certainty, check with the spa before you go.
The unwritten rules
Seven of them. Follow these and you will pass unremarked, which is the goal.
Seated, with soap, every time you come back to the water. It is the rule that matters most, and the one people notice.
Bathing is nude in the single-sex hall. A swimming costume is not allowed in the shared water, which is treated as unhygienic.
It is for the walk to the pool and for drying. Fold it on your head or leave it at the side.
Hair should not touch the bathwater.
The bathing hall is calm, and loud conversation carries over the water.
None at all in the changing rooms or the bathing hall, whatever the floor upstairs looks like.
The hottest kiln rooms are intense. Start in a cooler one, drink water and leave when you have had enough.
Cost, what’s provided and where to go
| What | The detail |
|---|---|
| Entry | Roughly ₩10,000–20,000 at an ordinary jjimjilbang; night and weekend rates are often a little higher |
| Provided | Locker, small towel and uniform. Soap and shampoo at the washing stations; other toiletries usually sold cheaply |
| Bring | Very little: a hair tie, and any toiletries you prefer |
| Paying | Food and extras go on the wristband; you settle the total on the way out |
| Overnight | Many are open 24 hours, with a warm floor, a mat and a hard block pillow. Big spas may close at night: check first |
Price range from recent visitor guides, checked 1 October 2026. Prices vary by venue, time of day and day of the week; confirm with the venue before you go.
Two well-known places to start. In Seoul, Dragon Hill Spa in Yongsan is a large complex used to foreign visitors. A guide updated in March 2026 lists it as open 24 hours and puts entry at ₩13,000–16,000 per adult; older figures run lower, so take the range as a guide and check before you go. In Busan, Spa Land at Centum City is a stylish, modern spa. It is not an overnight option: its Trip.com listing, read on 1 October 2026, shows it open 9am to 10pm, with last entry at 9pm. We could not confirm its current price.
Once you are clean, warm and horizontal on the heated floor, the point of the place becomes obvious. From everything we have read, it is one of the loveliest cheap pleasures in Korea.
A final word on the jjimjilbang
Wash first, leave your shyness in the locker, and give the warm floor an afternoon. From what we have read, few places show ordinary Korean life so plainly, or for so little.
Andrew + Margaret
- Korea etiquette: what to do and avoid Culture
- Tasting Korea Culture
- Seoul Overview
- Busan Overview
- Visiting South Korea Overview
Can we go as a couple or a family?
Yes. You split up for the bathing halls, then meet again on the clothed common floor, where couples and families spend most of their time together.
Can I sleep there overnight?
At many, yes. Places open 24 hours let you sleep on the warm floor or in a rest room, with a mat and a block pillow. It is cheap and communal rather than private, so keep valuables in your locker.
How long should I stay?
Allow at least two or three hours for a first visit: time to wash, soak, try the kiln rooms and lie down for a while. Many people stay half a day.