A Korean spa, or jjimjilbang, is a bathhouse with two sides. In the men's and women's bathing areas you soak in hot and cold pools, usually naked. In the shared co-ed area everyone wears the T-shirt and shorts the spa hands out, and moves between heated rooms lined with salt, clay or jade.
You pay one entry fee and stay for hours, and some places never close. As of October 2026, our directory lists about 46 Korean-style spas in 12 states, with the biggest clusters in Los Angeles, the New York area and the Atlanta suburbs.
Most Korean spas have three zones. The men's wet area and the women's wet area each have showers, a few pools at different temperatures, a dry sauna and usually a steam room. The third zone is the co-ed jjimjil area, where families, couples and friends sit or lie on heated floors and take turns in the themed heat rooms.
In our listings, 28 of the 46 spas have all three zones recorded. The rest are either single-sex spas or places where we only have part of the layout. Each facility page on our site shows the zones as "Male area", "Female area" and "Co-ed area" tabs, with the clothing rule for each.
A first visit usually goes like this:
Food is part of the day. 33 of the 46 spas in our directory list a cafe or restaurant.
In the single-sex bathing areas, usually yes. 29 of our 46 Korean spas mark at least one area as nude required. Wi Spa in Los Angeles says bathing suits aren't allowed in its gender-separated spa floors, and most guests wrap in the towels provided.
It isn't universal, though. Spa World in Centreville, Virginia, makes nudity optional in its pool area and allows proper swimsuits. Spa Castle in Queens requires swimsuits in its big pools but asks you to be undressed in the locker-room baths. In the co-ed area, you always keep the uniform on.
Our post on whether saunas are gender separated covers how single-sex and co-ed areas work at other kinds of places.
The co-ed area is where Korean spas differ most from a gym sauna. Instead of one hot box, you get several rooms, each built around a material. Here's how often each one shows up in the room and area descriptions of our 46 spas:
Temperatures vary from room to room, so check the sign by each door. Some rooms have heated floors where people lie on mats instead of sitting on benches. Most of these spas also have the basics: 41 have a hot tub or hot pool and 36 have a cold plunge.
The rules are posted at each spa, and they're stricter in the bathing areas than at a gym. A few show up at almost every place:
Rules on kids and tattoos vary, so check before you go. Spa World, for example, doesn't let children 10 and under into its hot dry sauna rooms, citing a Fairfax County health rule. For more on general sauna manners, see our sauna etiquette guide.
Entry usually covers the pools, saunas, heat rooms, towels and uniform, and you can stay most of the day. Prices from the spas' own pages, as of October 2026:
Body scrubs and massages are extra. Wi Spa's scrub-and-oil-massage combo, which it calls its most popular service for women, is $100, and at Spa World scrubs are walk-in and booked at the front desk.
Can you sleep there? At some. 10 of the 46 spas in our directory are listed as open 24 hours, including Wi Spa, King Spa in Niles and Dallas, and Jeju Sauna near Atlanta. King Spa Niles is open 24/7 but stops new arrivals between 2 and 6 a.m.
Our list was built by hand, because there's no single "Korean spa" label in our data. It includes bathhouses and day spas whose descriptions mention a jjimjilbang or Korean bathing, or that have several themed heat rooms. Counts are as of October 2026.
| Metro area | Korean spas | Some names in our directory |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | 9 | Wi Spa, Spa Palace, SPA LA, Olympic Spa, Riviera Health Spa |
| New York and northern New Jersey | 8 | Spa Castle, New York Spa & Sauna, King Spa Palisades Park, Paradise Spa |
| Atlanta | 5 | Jeju Sauna, Spa Land, Gangnam Sauna, Roman Holiday Sauna |
| Orange County | 3 | K Spa, LUX SPA, I Spa |
| Chicago | 3 | King Spa Niles, Sky Spa, Imperial Sauna & Spa |
| Washington, DC suburbs | 3 | Spa World, Spa Riverside, Balian Springs |
| Dallas and Houston | 4 | King Spa Dallas, Spa Castle Texas, Gangnam Spa, Spa World Houston |
| Other | 11 | San Diego, Las Vegas, Honolulu, Seattle-Tacoma, Bay Area, Philadelphia, Rhode Island |
To see them on a map with addresses and hours, browse bathhouses in our directory. That filter also includes Russian banyas and other bathhouses, so look for the Korean names above.
Five of the spas on our list are for women only: Olympic Spa and Hugh Spa in Los Angeles, Olympus Spa in Tacoma, and Makaloa Sauna & Spa and Loess Spa in Honolulu. Qi Clay Sauna near Atlanta is the reverse: men only. At most of the others, women have their own bathing side and share only the co-ed area.
Usually, in the men's and women's bathing areas. Some spas, like Spa World in Virginia, allow swimsuits there too. In the co-ed area you always wear the uniform the spa gives you.
The T-shirt and shorts the spa hands out at check-in. Spa World, for example, asks guests to wear its uniform in the shared area and doesn't allow street clothes or underwear in the pools.
Yes, in the co-ed area, which has the heat rooms, lounges and restaurant. Couples split up for the bathing areas, which are separated by sex.
Most big-city Korean spas charge about $40 to $75 for entry, and resort-style ones like Spa Castle in Queens charge more. Scrubs, massages and food cost extra.
At some. Ten of the 46 Korean spas in our directory are listed as open 24 hours, and some charge an overnight fee, like the $20 at King Spa in Niles.
An attendant scrubs your whole body with a rough mitt to take off dead skin, usually in the single-sex bathing area. It costs extra and is booked at the spa.
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