Jjimjilbangs are one of the truly great aspects of a unique Korean culture. These are large, gender-segregated public bathhouses complete with hot tubs, steam showers, Swedish-style saunas, and massage tables, similar to what you may find in a Korean sauna or mogyoktang.

However, in other areas of the building or on other floors, after donning your robe, you will enter the unisex areas and will usually find a snack bar, ondol-heated floor for lounging and sleeping on, wide-screen TVs, PC games, noraebang, and sleeping quarters with either bunk beds or sleeping mats.

Jjimjilbangs are usually 24 hours and are a popular weekend getaway for Korean families to relax and spend time soaking in tubs or lounging and sleeping, while the kids play away on the PCs.

Jjimjilbangs are also a great deal for the cost-conscious traveller in Korea. For 6000-8000 Won, one can sleep overnight there and enjoy the bathhouse and sauna, and wake up fresh and ready to travel the next morning. If you have bags and backpacks with you that are too big to fit in the lockers, then usually the front desk will watch your bags at no charge, during your stay.

There are many words to describe Korean bathhouses and most usually mean the same thing. However, keep in mind that while a place that says 24 hour sauna definitely will have a bathhouse, it might also have the recreation facilities of a jjimjilbang. And a small jjimjilbang might not offer the full services of a larger one, either. So there will be some trial and error involved or clarification with the front desk over what facilities the business offers. Either way, if you plan on overnighting, rest assured that the term '24', referencing the hours of operation, is usually emblazed in neon, regardless if the sign says sauna or jjimjilbang.

A jjimjilbang is as Korean as a bullfight is Spanish and a raging football fan is English ― it would be hard to imagine the country without one. Hotsprings, of course, are not unique to Korea. Japan has its fair share, Finland a few and the ancient Romans built many. The Korean versions, however, are less personal. Bathers steam themselves in caves full of strangers and sleep on wide heated floors with dozens of other visitors.

The heat from the floor helps the blood circulate around the body, especially when followed by a sit in one of the sauna’s steam-rooms. Chase it with a cold glass of misutgaru (rice grain powder juice) and shikhye (a sweet drink made from fermented rice) and you’ll find all your stress and frustration has dripped out, leaving a puddle on the floor.
“I can’t go through these freezing winters without jjimjilbang,” said Jang Mi-gyeong, 25, an office worker. “It is just so relaxing when your shoulders feel like they’ve shrunken.”

A jjimjilbang is more than just a hot sauna. They usually have several different sauna rooms with different themes, from burning hot charcoal rooms to miniature ice-houses. Some rooms are made of brick, while other are covered in clay or with stones. Of course, all this follows a regular bath-house regimen, including grinding away one’s outer layer of dead skin, a process that can make one look either much younger or much pinker.

A good jjimjilbang, however, offers more than just a long hot sweat. Most have restaurants, Internet cafes, movie rooms, televisions, a gymnasium and some even have swimming pools and golf ranges.

The full experience can be remarkably effective. The skin feels softer and looks shinier, the neck and shoulders are totally relaxed, and the brain is happily dead. This overall feeling is why some people go on dates to the jjimjilbang (be warned, it’s not a wise place to go on a first date ― you have to wear very unattractive shorts and a t-shirt).

Footnotes & Links:
-Korea's Jjimjilbang Offers Various Entertainment Programs - http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200503/200503020014.html