After a cold day on the slopes, a Korean bathhouse is the best way to warm up. How the jjimjilbang works, step by step, including the part everyone worries about: being naked.
The jjimjilbang, a Korean bathhouse and sauna complex, is at the heart of Korean winter life. After a day on cold slopes, a long soak in hot water is the best thing you can do for tired legs. Many resorts have a spa or sauna on site, and ski towns usually have a public bathhouse too. For many visitors from abroad, though, one part puts them off: the nudity. Here is how it works, so nothing catches you by surprise.
At the entrance you pay, and men and women head through separate doors to separate bathing areas. First you take off your shoes and lock them in a small shoe locker. Keep the key, because you may need it to get your main locker key at the counter.
The bathing area is fully nude. No swimsuits, and no towel wrapped around you in the water. Small towels are for drying off and for covering up as you walk, if you like. Nobody is looking. Koreans grow up going to the bathhouse with parents and grandparents, and it is a completely ordinary, non-sexual place. Within ten minutes most first-timers stop noticing.
This is the rule that matters most. Shower and wash properly at the seated washing stations before you get into any pool. Getting into the water without washing is the one thing that will draw disapproving looks. If you want the full experience, buy an "Italy towel", the rough green or yellow scrubbing mitt sold at the counter, and scrub off dead skin. Many bathhouses also offer a paid body scrub from an attendant.
Most bathhouses have a cold plunge pool, a warm pool at around body temperature or a little above, and a hot pool that is noticeably hotter. Temperatures are usually posted beside each pool. A common routine is warm, then hot, then a quick cold dip, then repeat. If you have heart or blood pressure problems, skip the hot-cold switching and drink water.
After bathing, you put on the T-shirt and shorts you were given at the entrance and go to the mixed common area. This is the jjimjil part: heated rooms at different temperatures, a large floor for lying down, and a snack bar. It is where couples, families and friends meet up again. The classic snacks are sikhye, a sweet rice drink, and maekbanseok eggs, roasted brown in the sauna.
Yes. For a few hours of hot water, sauna rooms and snacks, entry usually costs less than a restaurant dinner, and your legs will feel the difference the next morning. If you would still rather have privacy, see our guide to quiet spaces at busy resorts, and for the area around the resorts, our notes on rural Korean etiquette.