How to Visit a Jjimjilbang: A First-Timer's Guide to Korean Bathhouses

What is a jjimjilbang?

A jjimjilbang is a public bathhouse with a sauna floor added on top. The men's and women's baths are separate, usually on the ground floor or in the basement. Upstairs is a large shared space with a hot kiln sauna (bulgama), a salt room and an ice room for cooling down, plus a snack bar, a restaurant, massage chairs, TV lounges and a sleeping room.

For Koreans it's a place to sweat, but also where families spend a weekend and friends sit around talking for hours. It's also where you crash after missing the last train. Many large jjimjilbangs are open 24 hours, which makes them one of the cheapest places to spend a night in Korea.

Step by step: from the front door to checkout

The first visit is mostly about knowing the order. Most jjimjilbangs work like this:

• Put your shoes in a shoe locker and take the key
• Hand the shoe key to the front desk and pay. You get a locker key, a uniform and towels
• In the gender-separated changing room, put your clothes and bags in your locker
• Shower before you get into any bath
• After the baths, put on the uniform and head to the shared sauna floor
• Move between the kiln, salt and ice rooms, and grab eggs and sikhye at the snack bar
• Return your locker key on the way out. Many places let you charge snacks and meals to the key and settle up here

The rooms inside a jjimjilbang

The shared sauna floor has several rooms at different temperatures. The hottest is the dome-shaped kiln sauna, where people usually go in for a few minutes at a time and come back out rather than tough it out. Salt rooms and yellow clay rooms are milder, good for lying down for a long rest, and the ice room is there to cool you off.

Many places also have massage chairs, a big lounge with TVs, shelves of comic books and a kids' area. The sleeping room is a dim room with mats on the floor, and some places split it by gender. If sleeping on the floor isn't for you, a mat or recliner in the lounge works too.

What to wear (and do you wear underwear?)

This is the question everyone asks. In the separated baths and changing rooms, you wear nothing. Nobody wears a swimsuit in the bath. In the shared sauna area, you must wear the uniform from the front desk, a loose T-shirt and shorts.

Underwear under the uniform is up to you. Plenty of people wear it and there's no set rule. You'll sweat a lot, so bring a spare pair.

How to make the sheep-head towel

If you've seen jjimjilbang photos, you've seen towels rolled into little horns on people's heads. Koreans call it yangmeori, the sheep head. It keeps the heat off your head and ears in the hot rooms and holds wet hair in place.

It takes ten seconds. Lay a towel out long, roll both short ends toward the middle, then put it on your head with the rolls facing out. Line the rolls up over your ears and you're done.

Baked eggs and sikhye: the jjimjilbang snack

You don't have to, but almost everyone does. The classic snack bar order is eggs baked on hot stones (maekbanseok gyeran) and sikhye, a sweet, cold rice drink. A cold sikhye after a good sweat is how a lot of Koreans end the session. Cracking an egg on your own forehead is a running gag in Korean dramas and variety shows.

Places with a restaurant also serve meals such as seaweed soup and cold noodles. Snack bar and restaurant purchases are often charged to your locker key and paid at checkout.

Jjimjilbang prices and hours

Prices vary a lot by city and size. These are rough 2026 ranges. Night rates usually add a surcharge, and some places charge more after a set number of hours, so check the price board at the door.

Jjimjilbang etiquette

• Wash before you get into the bath
• Keep your towel out of the bath water, and tie up long hair
• No phones in the changing rooms or baths, and never take photos there
• Phones are fine in the shared sauna area, but keep calls short and quiet
• Stay quiet in the sleeping room, especially once the lights are off
• Don't get into the baths wearing the uniform

Tips for foreigners

You don't need Korean to get by. The price board and some pointing are enough. A few things help, though.

A big suitcase may not fit in the locker, so ask at the desk whether they can hold it. If you plan to sleep over, check whether there's a separate sleeping room and when the night rate starts. Some places check ID at night, so bring your passport. Toiletries like toothbrushes and razors are usually sold at the snack bar or cost extra.

Try it in a game

Our game Korean Spa Tycoon starts you with a small neighborhood bathhouse left to you by your aunt. You add baths, a kiln sauna, a snack bar, a sikhye machine and a sleeping room, and grow it into a jjimjilbang where guests spend the whole day. Each day ends with a receipt broken down by admission, snack bar, restaurant and more. If you're curious how a jjimjilbang runs behind the counter, give it a try.