What is a jjimjilbang? The Korean bathhouse explained

A jjimjilbang (say “jim-jil-bahng”) is a Korean bathhouse: one building with hot and cold baths, a set of heated sauna rooms, and places to eat, nap and sit around. You pay once at the door and stay for hours. In the US most of them call themselves a Korean spa or Korean sauna, and the three names mean the same kind of place.

We list 63 of them in 16 states. Admission runs from $30 to $90, typically $40.

Jjimjilbang meaning and how to say it

Jjimjilbang (찜질방) means “heated room”. Jjimjil is warming the body with heat, and bang is a room. Say it “jim-jil-bahng”, with the stress even across all three parts.

How a jjimjilbang is laid out

The bath area

Separate for men and women, and used without clothes. Expect showers, several hot tubs at different temperatures, a cold plunge, a steam room and a dry sauna. This is also where body scrubs are done. See what a Korean body scrub is.

The shared floor

Everyone together, wearing the cotton shirt and shorts the spa hands you. This is the jjimjilbang proper: a row of small heated rooms, each lined with something different, such as salt, clay, jade or charcoal, usually with an ice room to cool off in. Around them are heated floors to lie on, a restaurant or snack bar, and often a sleeping room.

Smaller Korean spas have the baths without the shared floor. Women-only spas are usually this kind. See women-only Korean spas.

The sauna rooms in a jjimjilbang

• Salt room: walls or floor of rock salt, warm and dry.
• Clay room: yellow clay (hwangto), a gentle, even heat.
• Jade or charcoal room: the same idea with a different lining.
• Kiln (bulgama): a domed oven room and the hottest one. A few minutes is enough.
• Ice room: a cold room to cool down in between the hot ones.

Go from a hot room to the ice room and back, and drink water as you go. Each spa has its own set, and not every spa has every room.

Jjimjilbang clothes and the towel hat

The spa gives you a loose cotton shirt and shorts, often in one colour for men and another for women. You wear them everywhere outside the bath area. The rolled towel some people wear on their head, with a knot over each ear, is called a sheep head (yangmeori). It keeps hair off your face in the hot rooms.

Jjimjilbang food

Most larger Korean spas have a restaurant or snack bar on the shared floor. The classics are eggs baked in the hot rooms until the whites turn brown, a cold sweet rice drink called sikhye, and shaved ice with red beans. Many also serve full Korean meals. Food goes on your locker key. 35 of the spas we list say on their own website that they have food. Every spa has a “Food on site” filter.

Jjimjilbang, Korean spa or sauna?

• Jjimjilbang: baths plus the shared floor of heated rooms.
• Bathhouse (mogyoktang): the baths only, with no shared floor.
• Korean spa or Korean sauna: what both kinds call themselves in the US.

What a jjimjilbang costs

• Admission covers the baths, the sauna rooms, a locker, towels and the uniform.
• Scrubs, massages and food cost extra and go on your locker key, which you settle on the way out.
• Some spas charge more at weekends, limit how long you can stay, or add a fee overnight.

How much a Korean spa costs has the numbers by city.

How long people stay at a jjimjilbang

Three to five hours is common, and a full day is not unusual. 6 of the spas we list are open around the clock. See 24-hour Korean spas.

Where to find a jjimjilbang in the US

Korean spas cluster around a few big cities: Los Angeles, the New York City area, the San Francisco Bay Area and the Atlanta area have the most. Or see every Korean spa we list. Going for the first time? Read what to expect.