Jjimjilbang Guide (2026): How a Korean Bathhouse Works Step by Step, What It Costs, Sleeping Overnight, Tattoos, and Which Big Ones Are Actually Open (Dragon Hill Is Not)

A jjimjilbang (찜질방) is a Korean bathhouse with a second life upstairs: below, hot tubs, cold plunges and scrub tables, single-sex and nude; above, a warm common floor where families in matching cotton pyjamas eat boiled eggs, watch television, take turns in sauna rooms of different temperatures, and — after midnight — sleep. It is cheap, open around the clock, and the best thing to do in Korea on a rainy or freezing day. This part walks through the procedure so nothing is awkward, gives 2026 prices, and corrects the guides that still send people to spas that closed years ago.

The procedure, in order

1. Shoes off at the entrance. Put them in the small shoe locker; take the key (it is your wristband and your bill — you will pay everything at the end).
2. Pay at the counter: entry ₩10,000–20,000 at a typical 24-hour place, more at the big spas. You receive two towels, a T-shirt and shorts (colour by sex), and your locker number.
3. Go to your side: 남 (men) or 여 (women). The changing room has a full-size locker that opens with the wristband. Undress completely, leave the uniform in the locker for later, take only the small towel.
4. Shower first, sitting or standing, with soap — this is the rule everyone is watching for. Then the tubs: hot (40–42°C), warmer, a cold plunge (17–20°C), often a herbal or salt bath, a dry sauna and a steam room off the bath hall. Long hair is tied up; no phones, no swimwear, no towels in the water. Twenty minutes in and out of the tubs is the classic first pass.
5. Optional: the scrub (세신). The attendant in black underwear scrubs your whole body with a rough mitt on a table, ₩25,000–40,000, 20–30 minutes, paid on the wristband. Book at the desk in the bath hall. It removes a layer of you and is the thing regulars come for.
6. Dry off, put on the uniform and go up to the jjimjil floor. Mixed-gender, everyone dressed identically. The sauna rooms (찜질방 proper) are the attractions: a charcoal room, a salt room, a jade or loess room at 50–70°C, an ice room at −5°C, a low-heat "bulgama" kiln at 80–90°C for the brave. Between rooms, lie on the heated floor with a wooden pillow.
7. Eat: the snack bar sells maekbanseok eggs (baked brown eggs, three for ₩3,000), sikhye (sweet rice drink), instant noodles, bibimbap and beer, all on the wristband. Wrap the towel into the "sheep's head" (양머리) like everyone else.
8. Sleep, if staying: after midnight the floor and the sleeping rooms (수면실, bunks or mats) fill; men's and women's rooms exist, plus the common floor. Earplugs and an eye mask help. Wake, shower again downstairs, and pay at the counter with the wristband on the way out; retrieve your shoes.

Nothing else is required. Koreans go with family, friends, on dates and alone; a foreigner following the shower rule is simply another customer.

Prices and hours (2026)

Place	Entry	Hours	Notes
Neighbourhood 24-hour jjimjilbang (any city)	₩10,000–15,000 day · ₩13,000–20,000 night (after ~20:00)	24 h	Overnight surcharge ₩2,000–5,000 after midnight; scrub extra
Spa Land, Shinsegae Centum City, Busan	₩26,000 adult (4 hours; extensions ₩10,000/2 h) · ₩16,000 after 19:00	08:00–23:00	Hot-spring water, 20+ rooms, outdoor foot spa; no under-7s, no overnight
Sealala, Yeouido (Seoul)	≈ ₩15,000–20,000	24 h	Large; women's floor; near IFC
Aquafield (Starfield Hanam / Goyang / Anseong)	≈ ₩20,000–30,000 (weekend more)	To 22:00–24:00	Mall spa with pools; families; no overnight
Spa Lei, Seocho (Seoul)	≈ ₩18,000–22,000	24 h	Women only; sleeping floor
Hotel/hot-spring spas (Dongnae in Busan, Onyang, Suanbo)	₩8,000–15,000 baths only	Day	Real thermal water; older, mostly bath floors

Prices at the big spas change yearly; check the door. Cash is rarely needed — the wristband is charged to your card at the exit.

What closed, what is open

Dragon Hill Spa (Yongsan), the multi-storey spa that anchored every English guide for fifteen years, closed in 2021 and has not reopened; the ground floor is now restaurants and it was removed from Naver's listings in 2025. Siloam Sauna by Seoul Station has been reported closed as well; check Naver Map before going. The reliable large options in and near Seoul in 2026 are Sealala (Yeouido), the Aquafield spas in the Starfield malls, Spa Lei for women, and — for the real thing — any of the hundreds of district 24-hour jjimjilbangs that Naver Map lists under "찜질방", the larger ones (over 1,000 m²) being the ones with proper sauna rooms and sleeping floors. In Busan, Spa Land is the destination, and the Heosimcheong hot-spring bath in Dongnae is the traditional counterpart.

Etiquette in one breath

Shower with soap before any tub; no swimwear, no towel, no phone in the bath hall; tie hair up; do not swim or splash; a small towel covers what you like while walking; keep the uniform on upstairs; whisper in the sleeping rooms; and the wooden pillow is meant to be that hard. Tattoos are tolerated at most large spas and some small ones — a sign at the counter says if not. Children go to the floor of the parent of the same sex; under-7s are barred at Spa Land and the mall spas' bath halls have age rules, but neighbourhood jjimjilbangs welcome families.

When to go

After a day of walking; on the monsoon and heat days of July and August (Part 6); on a −10°C January night; after a late-night arrival with an early train; and at least once, to understand why every Korean drama has a scene in one. The last part of the course solves the problem that a jjimjilbang night creates: where your suitcase goes.