Hi guys! In this video we visit the Dragon Hill Korean Sauna in Yongsan, Seoul. We spent the day at this Korean spa with our kids. A Korean sauna, also known as a “jimjilbang” is a place where you can go 24 hours a day and spend time relaxing with your family.
What should you bring to a Korean Sauna?
Most spas provide some sort of bar soap, lotion, and essence/toner, but here are some things you may want to bring:
‣ A scrubby towel/washcloth
‣ Shampoo & conditioner
‣ A hair tie or clip if you have long hair.
‣ Clean underwear (it’s always nice to change into clean underwear after a shower)
‣ A sheet mask (for use afterwards)
‣ Sunscreen
‣ Your own bar soap, skin care products (or you can use what the facility provides).
15 Things to do at a Korean Sauna
When you enter the Korean sauna, go to the counter to pay for your entry fee, and pick up your key(s), towels, and special Korean spa clothing. At the spa I visited, the cost was 12,000 KRW for adults and 6,000 KRW for kids on weekdays. On weekends it is slightly more expensive. At the Dragon Hill Spa, you can actually stay overnight, and the cost for that is 15,000 KRW. They will give you a waterproof bracelet with a number and electronic key attached to it. You are to wear this on your wrist at all times (do not lose it) and it is your key to enter the facility, use the lockers, and pay for everything, including games like claw machines! Isnt’t that great?! The bill for all of the services incurred once within the spa will be paid at the end of your stay.
[1] Take off your shoes and put them in a shoe locker.
How do you know which locker to use? Look at the number on your key. It will correspond to the locker number you will be using throughout your stay.
[2] Look for the sauna corresponding to your gender.
Men & Women have separate facilities. Usually the signs for women’s facilities have a red color, and men’s are blue. Or, yeo (여) for women and nam (남) for men.
[3] Book a body scrub and/or massage (if desired).
This is where a naked middle aged lady will scrub you all over your body really hard so that all of your dead skin sloughs off. It’s gross and refreshing at the same time. Sometimes this can be booked in the locker area, but if you don’t see anyone taking appointments, you can just wait until you get to the sauna area, and look around for ladies scrubbing down people on tables. Try to communicate with them that you want a body scrub and they will book you.
[4] Find your clothes locker.
Again, you will look for the number on your key. Then take off all your clothes and get naked. When you paid for your entrance, they should have given you a set of clothes and a small towel. You should leave the clothes in your locker and if you wish, you can take the small towel to cover up your private parts, and head to the shower area. If you’ve only been given one towel, you’ll probably want to leave it in the locker so you can use it to dry off once you get out of the sauna. Or look around to see if there are extra towels available for use once you get out.
[5] Take a shower.
You don’t want to be dirty when you enter the sauna (shared hot tub) so you should wash your body and hair. A lot of people use a scrubby towel if they are not getting a scrub down. You can use your towel to wrap your hair.
[6] Sit in a hot tub and soak for about 20-30 minutes to prep for your body scrub.
There should be a variety of hot tubs to choose from. They will typically feature different types of mineral water that is supposed to be good for your skin. Some have jets that will give you a nice massage.There will usually be a variety of temperatures, from about 38°C (not too hot) to about 42°C (pretty hot), and also a cold tub. Before entering the baths, make sure to wash your body. If you haven’t washed your hair, tie it up and don’t let your hair touch the water. Soak for a while until you are all good and pruney. Clothing and swimsuits are not allowed in these saunas, and you should also take care to keep your towel out of the water. You want to soak so that your dead skin comes off more easily.
[7] Get a body scrub and massage.
As I mentioned previously, if you want to be squaky clean once you leave the sauna, you can book a body scrub and massage. A naked or semi-naked Korean lady called a ddemiri (scrub mistress) in black lace underwear will scrub down every inch of your skin until it hurts. If you’ve never gotten this done before, you will probably have a lot of “noodles” coming off your body. This is what Koreans call the little rolled up pieces of dead skin that get sloughed off your body during a body scrub. When you’re done with the scrub, you can get a oil massage. When did it at the Dragon Hill Spa, it was 50,000 KRW for the body scrub & oil massage, and I believe 30,000 for the body scrub alone. Next time I will probably do without the oil massage.
[8] Take another shower and soak in the hot tub again.
You will probably want to wash off all those dead skin noodles sticking to your body once you’re done with the body scrub and oil massage. if you want, you can go for another soak in the tub, but at this point you’ll probably be hungry.
[9] Get dressed and make a Ram’s head hat.
Now it’s time to dry off with what is essentially a hand towel. Put on the pair of clothes that you were given and head down to the common area to meet up with your friends of the opposite gender!
[10] Eat lunch.
You can probably find most of the typical Korean “snack” meals here, like jja jjang myeon (black bean noodles”, naeng-myun (cold noodles), fried rice, naeng-myun (cold noodles), soba, and curry.
[11] Snack on Korean sauna eggs and drink shik-hye (a fermented rice drink) while sitting on the floor.
In the common areas, you will find people eating Korean sauna eggs and drinking cups of shik-hye, which is a fermented rice drink while sitting on the floor. Try cracking an egg on your head before you eat it! Because of the way the eggs are cooked (for a long time at high pressure), the egg white turns brown and takes on a nutty flavor with a rubbery texture.
[12] Lay on the floor and take a nap.
Sleeping on rock-hard floors is popular in Korea, so you will find a lot of spa-goers snoozing on the floor. If you can get comfortable, feel free to join them! Some rooms are hot, some are normal temperature, and some feature things like salt and special rocks. If you get too hot, you can cool off in a room that’s literally freezing!
[13] Play claw machine, Japanese UFO Catcher games and other arcade games.
Korean saunas are one of the few places in Korea where I’ve found actual Japanese UFO Catchers. There is also a good selection of claw machines and other arcade games.
[14] Sing karaoke.
Some Korean spas have individual Karaoke booths that can fit about 1-4 adults. They are about the size of a photo booth. You pay per song.
[15] Pay up!
When you’re done, you can pay for all of the services you incurred while you were in the sauna – food, body scrubs and massages, games, snacks, etc.