Every Korean bathhouse has a wet zone: the mogyoktang (목욕탕) proper, separated by sex, used naked, with the showers, the pools and the saunas. A jjimjilbang (찜질방) adds a second zone, clothed and mixed, with the heated rooms, the sleeping area and the snack bar. Your ticket may cover both zones or only the bath, and the rules change at the door between them; see which is which if you are not sure what you have walked into.
This guide goes through everything you will find, with the temperatures that have been published. A warning about those numbers: no Korean rule sets a pool temperature, and we found no facility that posts one. Sweat rooms are different. The law requires a thermometer inside every one, so when our figure and the wall disagree, believe the wall.
The wet zone
You enter from the changing room into a tiled hall lined with low shower stations and plastic stools. You sit and wash with soap before you touch any pool, and again before you leave; elderly regulars often correct people who skip this. Phones stay in the locker, the key stays on your wrist or ankle, and the only thing you carry is a small towel, which can go on your head but never in the water. On official notices the bath hall is 목욕실 (bathing room), the changing room is 탈의실, and any sauna or hot room is 발한실 (sweat room).
Wet floors are slippery, so dry off before you walk; the injury figures are in heat, cold and your body.
The pools
| Pool | Korean | Published temperature |
|---|---|---|
| Warm pool | 온탕 ontang | about 38–40°C |
| Hot pool | 열탕 yeoltang | above 42°C; a travel guide gives up to 45°C |
| Cool pool | 차탕 chatang | between warm and cold; no figure found |
| Cold pool | 냉탕 naengtang | about 15°C (travel guide); no facility figure found |
| Event bath | 이벤트탕 | herbal or seasonal additive, such as mugwort (쑥) or green tea (녹차); no temperatures published |
| Seawater bath | 해수탕 haesutang | seawater; see the regions guide |
| Hot spring | 온천 oncheon | natural spring water; Suanbo's rises at 53°C |
Start a first visit in the warm pool. The hot pool is for a few minutes at a time. After two bathhouse deaths in May 2026, Korea's fire authorities advised soaks of no more than 10–15 minutes, with rest afterward. A 2004 health feature put the limit at under 8 minutes at 43°C and under 5 minutes at 45°C.
Many locals alternate between hot and cold pools. The fire authorities warn of blood-pressure spikes when you do this; the health guide explains who should not.
Saunas: dry, steam and salt
Inside the wet zone, used naked, there is a dry sauna (건식 사우나) and sometimes a steam sauna (습식 사우나). A 2004 Korean magazine put dry saunas at 70–100°C, in line with the 80–100°C of the Finnish research. Actual rooms vary: Creatrip reports that the signs at Seoul's Hongdae 24-hour Bulgama Sauna give its Finnish-style sauna as about 61°C (2026), so a room's name tells you the style, not the heat. We found no published temperature or humidity for Korean steam saunas, and none for the salt saunas and salt kilns (소금 불가마) described in 2004.
A Korean clinician in 2001 advised no more than 10 minutes per sitting. Read the thermometer when you walk in; it is there by law.
The jjimjil rooms
In the clothed zone the rooms are lower in heat and named after what lines them. The guide figures below are the only room-level numbers we found; where a facility posts its own, it can be much higher.
| Room | Lining | Published temperature |
|---|---|---|
| 황토방 hwangtobang, red-clay room | loess (황토) | 40–50°C in a 2026 guide; about 85°C at one Hongdae sauna, per Creatrip's report of its signs |
| 숯방, charcoal room | charcoal (숯) | similar to the clay room |
| 소금방, salt room | salt (소금) | 35–40°C |
| 맥반석방, elvan room | elvan stone (맥반석) | none found |
| 옥방, jade room | jade (옥) | described in 2004 as unheated, used for cooling down |
| 게르마늄방, 자수정방, 사파이어방 | germanium, amethyst, sapphire | none found |
| 얼음방, ice room | refrigerated | 10–15°C |
| 불가마 bulgama, fire kiln | clay, heated with charcoal | the hottest tier where it exists; see below |
The 2004 magazine put jjimjil rooms in general at roughly 40–70°C.
What the walls are claimed to do
- Facility and marketing claims. Far-infrared rays that "reach deep into the skin" (4–5 cm in one version), "negative ions" from charcoal, "energy" from jade, "alkalizing" the body. A 2004 feature listed relief of neuralgia and arthritis, stronger immunity and cancer prevention as further claims, and said itself that they lack medical evidence.
- Clinician opinion. A rehabilitation-medicine professor (2001): far-infrared penetrates only about 1–2 cm, ordinary radiant heat drives any benefit, and no facility publishes measured data.
- A chemist's view. A Sogang University chemistry professor (2018): "negative ion" names no specific substance or function, charged ions cannot exist stably in air, and sitting on germanium ore is unlikely to affect the body.
- Evidence. The solid research is on Finnish sauna at 80–100°C: regular use is associated with, not proven to cause, lower rates of high blood pressure and heart disease. That is evidence for heat, not for jade or elvan. A 1994 survey of Korean kiln users recorded self-reported relief of back and joint pain; its authors warned of heat stroke.
- Myth. Weight lost by sweating is water, and it comes back when you drink (clinician, 2001).
Choose rooms by comfort, not by the sign.
Hanjeungmak: the kiln
A hanjeungmak (한증막) is a dome of stone or clay heated by a wood fire inside it. Its history is well recorded. In 1422 King Sejong ordered an inquiry into the medical effect of sweat bathing, and in the 1420s the state funded sweat houses (한증소) in and outside Seoul, run by monks with physicians attached. The traditional method: pine branches burn on the floor; when the chamber is hot, the fire is put out with water, filling it with steam; wet straw mats are laid; the bather enters wrapped in cloth or a straw sack, sweats for four or five minutes, cools down, and repeats. A 1994 study of a working kiln found that it cools to about 80°C over roughly twelve hours after firing, with very dry air.
Published temperatures conflict: a 2026 travel guide says 50–90°C, a 2004 magazine 70–130°C. The owner of a Daegu charcoal kiln, whose rooms are graded 불가마 (hottest), 고온, 중온 and 저온 (high, medium, low), teaches a careful method: 30 seconds the first time, then 30 seconds outside to cool, building to 50 seconds over four or five rounds. Once you are sweating, two or three minutes is enough. A two- or three-hour visit holds about 30 minutes of kiln time: "better often than long". Wear the outfit or gown provided, cover your head, never fall asleep inside, and come out as soon as you feel unwell.
How long to stay, and the towel on your head
| Where | How long | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Hot pool | 10–15 minutes | Fire authorities, 2026 |
| Sauna | 10 minutes or less a sitting; about 30 minutes of heat in total | Clinician, 2001 |
| Each jjimjil room | 10–20 minutes | Guide, 2026 |
| Whole first visit | two to four hours | Guide, 2026 |
A 2004 feature split sauna time into sessions of 10, 5 and 5 minutes with 10-minute rests, and a cup of water every half hour. A Busan bath owner's routine for regulars is a little longer: 5–15 minutes in the sauna, one minute in the cold pool, 10 minutes of rest, three rounds.
The folded towel is the yangmeori (양머리, "sheep head"). Fold a small towel in thirds lengthwise, roll both ends inward, and set it on your head. The only function any source gives it is to keep wet hair from frizzing in the heat. A popular story says a 2006 TV drama started it; we could not verify this.
It's hot.
Extras
Full-service jjimjilbang add massage chairs, TV lounges, game rooms and a snack counter or small restaurant. Check the directory for what each place has.
The sleeping area is a heated (ondol) floor with wooden block pillows. The law shapes it: facilities may not provide bedding for overnight stays, only large towels and pillows. Anyone in a mixed-gender sweat room must wear the jjimjil outfit. See sleeping overnight and sikhye, eggs and banana milk.
A rotation that works
Our suggestion, based on the guidance above:
- Shower and wash fully at a seated station.
- Warm pool, about 10 minutes.
- Hot pool, a few minutes, or skip it.
- Cold: a rinse at the shower, or a short plunge only if you are healthy and already used to it.
- Dry sauna, under 10 minutes. Rinse.
- Dry off completely, then walk. An optional seshin goes here, after the soak.
- Change into the jjimjil outfit. Start low (salt room), move up (clay room), and finish with a short kiln visit if you want one. Use the ice room in between. Drink water every 30 minutes. Lie on the floor as long as you like.
- Have a snack, then go back through the wet zone for a last wash before you dress.
Total heat: about 30 minutes. Total time: two to four hours.