The Cheapest Bed in Seoul Is a $12 Jjimjilbang Floor: A Night of Saunas, Sheep-Towel Hats and Sikhye

Part 6 of 39 in Only Here: 39 Things You Can Only Do in Korea

For ₩16,000 (about $12) a Seoul jjimjilbang gives you hot baths, a kiln sauna, roasted eggs, sweet sikhye and a floor mat until morning. Roll your towel into sheep ears and lie down like the locals do.

Only Here: 39 Things You Can Only Do in Korea · Part 6 · Seoul

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At a glance

• First time? Go here: 24-hour Spa Rex Goodmorning City, Dongdaemun. One minute on foot from Exit 14 of Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Station (Lines 2, 4 and 5), on basement level 3 of the Goodmorning City building. Open 24 hours, every day, used to foreign guests, and basic English works. Google Maps rating 4.0 (checked October 26, 2026).
• Price: Daytime (5 a.m. to 8 p.m.) about ₩12,000–14,000; overnight (8 p.m. to 5 a.m.) about ₩15,000–16,000 ($9–12). Reviews quote slightly different amounts, so check at the counter (Trip.com reviews, Threads @diparkss).
• Extras: Body scrub (seshin) ₩20,000–40,000, mugwort steam ₩15,000–20,000, a one-hour massage ₩50,000–100,000, snacks ₩1,000–9,000 (Let’s Seoul jjimjilbang guide).
• Bring: Shampoo and body wash (many places only have soap), earplugs, coins (hair dryers cost a little). Sauna clothes and towels are provided.
• Luggage: Spa Rex says it can hold suitcases. Always put valuables in your locker.
• Quiet times: Weekday afternoons from 2 to 5, late night, early morning. Weekends and holidays are crowded.
• Other options: For a charcoal kiln in the woods, Supsok Hanbang Land at the foot of Ansan in Seodaemun (6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.; bath ₩10,000, kiln ₩16,000 as of 2025; rating 3.9). Spa Rex Dongmyo, north of Dongdaemun (24 hours, 4.3). Near the river, The Park Spa Land at Seonyudo Station (24 hours, 4.6). Women only: Spa Ray at Sinsa Station (4.1).
• Closed: Dragon Hill Spa in Yongsan and Itaewon Land, both staples of old guidebooks, have closed (Let’s Seoul guide). Don’t go on the strength of an old blog post.

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Also read: The World's Coolest Neighborhood Only Opens After Dark: Hanok Alleys and Street Pocha in Seoul's Jongno 3-ga

The jjimjilbang, step by step

1. Check your shoes and get your wristband

At the entrance, put your shoes in a shoe locker and pay at the counter. You get a key wristband with your locker number. That wristband is your wallet inside: snack bar, restaurant and scrubs are charged to it, and you settle up once on the way out. Don’t lose it.

2. Undress completely in the changing room

Men’s and women’s changing rooms and baths are separate. In the bath area, nobody wears anything. It feels awkward at first, but nobody looks.

3. Shower before you get in the bath

• Washing before you enter the water is the most important rule.
• Move between the hot and cold pools to loosen up.
• Don’t put your towel in the water. Tie up long hair.
• No photos in the bath area.
• Some places refuse large tattoos, so ask first. Small ones are usually fine.

4. Get a scrub

The highlight of a Korean bath. A seshinsa scrubs dead skin off your whole body with a green or yellow “Italy towel.” 20–30 minutes, ₩20,000–40,000. Soak for about 15 minutes first and it works better.

5. Put on the sauna clothes and head out

In the T-shirt and shorts they give you, you move into the shared, mixed area. Spa Rex has a red-clay room, a hot sauna, a salt room and an ice room, plus a hanok-style lounge. Go back and forth between hot and cool rooms in short stints. If you feel dizzy, get out and drink water.

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6. Eat

The jjimjilbang snack-bar classics are roasted eggs, sikhye (sweet rice punch), banana milk, ramyeon, cold noodles and seaweed soup. The eggs are roasted until the shells turn brown, and cracking one on a friend’s forehead is the standard Korean joke.

7. Sleep

You sleep on a mat with a wooden pillow on the floor of the sleeping room or the shared area. Spa Rex has a women-only sleeping room. Snoring and TV noise mix together, so earplugs are essential. At ₩15,000–25,000 a night it’s the cheapest stay in Seoul. I’d use it for the night before an early flight or a rest after a late night view, rather than as a base for a long trip with lots of luggage.

8. Return the wristband and pay

Change back, hand the wristband to the counter and pay for everything you charged inside in one go.

Top 10 things to do at the jjimjilbang and around Dongdaemun

1. Make sheep ears (experience)

Spread a towel lengthwise, roll both ends toward the middle, and set it on your head with the rolls over your ears. It protects your hair and ears in the hot rooms, and it’s the essential jjimjilbang selfie prop. There are even sheep-ear towels for pets now.

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2. Roasted eggs and sikhye (eat)

Cold sikhye after a sweat and salty roasted eggs are the official jjimjilbang snacks. Sikhye is a sweet drink made by fermenting rice with malt.

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3. The kiln sauna and the salt room (experience)

The dome-shaped kiln sauna is the hottest room. The temperature is posted at the door, so start with the cooler rooms. The salt room’s walls and floor are covered in salt crystals; it’s less hot and good for a long lie-down.

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4. Banana milk after a scrub (eat)

Banana milk after a scrub is the combination most Koreans first tasted as kids at the neighborhood bathhouse.

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5. A charcoal kiln in the forest (experience)

For something other than a city jjimjilbang, go to Supsok Hanbang Land at the foot of Ansan in Seodaemun. Sweat it out in a charcoal kiln, then rest on wooden platforms that open onto the woods. One travel feature mentions roasting sweet potatoes on the brazier outside the kiln (Daum travel, 2025). Take a bus from Sinchon Station (Line 2) toward Bongwonsa Temple and get off at the last stop. It closes at 10 p.m., so no overnight stays. Check current prices.

6. The IVE light show at DDP (K-pop moment)

Three minutes’ walk from Spa Rex, the façade of Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) becomes an IVE screen every night right now. “dive in to light” is a collaboration between DDP’s year-round light program and IVE, with video and lighting themed on the new single “Looks Can Kill” covering DDP’s curved walls. October 19 to November 22, 2026, 6 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., every 30 minutes after dark; the IVE content follows about five minutes of the regular show. There’s also an exhibition of the hero masks the members wore and a limited postcard event at the DDP market (@pap_magazine, October 2026). Watch the show, then head into the jjimjilbang.

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7. Dongdaemun’s dakhanmari alley (eat)

A whole chicken in a pot, boiled at your table: a Dongdaemun classic. Finish by dropping knife-cut noodles into the broth. Google Maps ratings (checked October 26, 2026): Jinokhwa Halmae Wonjo Dakhanmari 4.0, Myeongdong Dakhanmari main store 4.2, Hanminguk Dakhanmari 4.8, Sunhine Bindaetteok Dakhanmari 4.9. Ten minutes on foot toward Dongdaemun Station (Jongno 5-ga).

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8. Sindang-dong Tteokbokki Town (eat)

An alley of table-cooked tteokbokki: rice cakes, ramyeon, chewy noodles, dumplings and eggs simmered together in a pan. Mabongnim Halmeoni Tteokbokki, often named as the original, has a long wait (@bbaekjubu_). Five minutes on foot from Sindang Station (Lines 2 and 6), one stop from Spa Rex.

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9. Heunginjimun and the Seoul City Wall (photo spot)

Dongdaemun’s proper name is Heunginjimun Gate. It’s at its best when it’s lit up at night. Follow the wall from Heunginjimun Park up toward Naksan Park and Dongdaemun’s night view opens below you. Naksan Park and the KPop Demon Hunters Seoul spots are in Part 7.

10. Dongmyo flea market (experience)

Every weekend, the streets around Dongmyo Station fill with secondhand clothes and antiques stalls: Seoul’s biggest flea market. You dig through piles of ₩1,000–5,000 clothes like a treasure hunt. Spa Rex Dongmyo is right there, so finish the market and go straight into the sauna.

Nearby

• Dongdaemun shopping malls: Doota Mall, Migliore and other fashion malls open late.
• Gwangjang Market: One stop on the subway (Jongno 5-ga Station). Mung-bean pancakes and beef tartare. The Jongno 3-ga pocha street is Part 1.
• Cheonggyecheon Stream: A walking path along the water from Dongdaemun to Gwanghwamun.
• Naksan Park: 20 minutes along the wall from Heunginjimun. Part 7.

Hotels nearby

Prices are Google Maps nightly rates, checked October 26, 2026 ($1 = about ₩1,325).

• Budget: Number 25 Hotel Dongdaemun (2-star, 4.3), about ₩95,000 ($71).
• Mid-range: Travelodge Dongdaemun (3-star, 4.3), Hotel Skypark Kingstown Dongdaemun (4-star, 4.3, rooftop lounge), Hotel Dongdaemun (3.7), about ₩168,000 ($127). Check rates for your dates.
• Luxury: JW Marriott Dongdaemun Square Seoul (5-star, 4.4). Some rooms look straight at Heunginjimun.
• Sleep at the jjimjilbang: The Spa Rex Goodmorning City overnight pass, about ₩16,000.

Getting there

① From Gimpo Airport (the airport closest to central Seoul)

• One ride on Line 5: Line 5 from Gimpo Airport Station toward Macheon / Hanam Geomdansan to Dongdaemun History & Culture Park (no transfer, about 45 minutes), then one minute from Exit 14 to Goodmorning City. About ₩1,550 ($1.20) with a transit card.

② From Incheon Airport

• AREX + Line 5 (one transfer): AREX all-stop train from Incheon Airport Terminal 1 or 2 toward Seoul Station, change at Gongdeok to Line 5 toward Macheon / Hanam Geomdansan, ride to Dongdaemun History & Culture Park. About 75 minutes, roughly ₩4,300 ($3.20).
• Airport bus: Airport limousines run toward Dongdaemun; check current route numbers and stops on the Incheon Airport website.
• Landing before dawn?: If your flight lands before the first train, take the first train in and rest at the jjimjilbang until morning.

From Myeongdong

• Line 4 from Myeongdong to Dongdaemun History & Culture Park (two stops, about five minutes), Exit 14.

Sources

• Foreign visitors and the SCMP story: Asia Economy, August 27, 2025
• Spa Rex Goodmorning City prices, facilities, location: Trip.com Spa Rex guide, Threads @diparkss
• How a jjimjilbang works, costs, closures: Let’s Seoul jjimjilbang guide
• Supsok Hanbang Land: Daum travel feature (2025)
• IVE light show at DDP: @pap_magazine (October 2026)
• Google Maps ratings and hotel rates: checked October 26, 2026
• Photos: Korea Tourism Organization (KOGL Type 1), photographer credited on each photo; embedded public Instagram posts and YouTube videos