9 Best Seoul Hotels with Onsen-Style Hot Baths

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Want an onsen in Seoul? You’ll get a Korean hotel sauna instead, and on a January night below freezing, that’s no hardship. None of the hotel baths I’d book is billed as spring water. Expect hot pools and nude bathing after a proper wash at the showers. Here’s where I’d stay for the best soak in the city, and which rooms include entry.

Seoul Hotels with Onsen-Style Hot Baths

Seoul Onsen: Hot Spring Water vs Hotel Baths

Korean law counts water as a hot spring only when it comes out of the ground at 25°C or warmer. Inside Seoul, that water reaches a couple of neighbourhood bathhouses.

• Sulfur Water in Gwangjin-gu: Woori Sulfur Hot Spring in Jayang-dong draws its water from about 1,040 metres underground. It’s a walk from Guui Station on Line 2.
• An Alkaline Spring in Gwanak-gu: Bongil Spaland in Euncheon-dong pumps an alkaline natural spring, the only one billed as such in south-west Seoul. It’s a neighbourhood bathhouse, not a resort.
• What the Hotels Call Their Baths: The Shilla Seoul, Conrad Seoul and Lotte Hotel World present their baths as part of a sauna on their own pages. Spring water isn’t mentioned on any of them.

Day Trips to Hot Spring Towns from Seoul

Korea’s hot spring resorts lie outside Seoul, within a day trip of the city by train or car.

• Onyang by Subway: Onyang Hot Springs in Asan is the oldest recorded hot spring in Korea, and Joseon kings including King Sejong bathed there. Line 1 runs all the way to Onyang Oncheon Station in about 1.5 to 2 hours, with express trains quicker. In a hurry, the KTX to Cheonan-Asan Station plus a taxi gets you there in under 45 minutes.
• Spring Water with Slides: Asan Spavis, near Onyang, pairs hot spring pools with a water park of slides and wave pools. Paradise Spa Dogo, also in Asan, runs on sulfur spring water.
• Termeden in Icheon: Termeden is a German-style hot spring spa resort in Icheon, about an hour’s drive from Seoul. It sells itself as Korea’s first bade-pool resort, the German style of hot spring pool.

Paying for the Hotel Baths

Hotel bath entry comes one of two ways: built into the room, or paid at the sauna desk. Check which before you pick a rate.

• Included for Every Guest: Dormy Inn SEOUL Gangnam lets every guest use the baths at no extra charge, on the men’s and the women’s side. A late soak after a day of walking costs nothing more.
• Executive Rooms and Top Suites: The Ambassador Seoul – A Pullman Hotel includes the sauna with its Premier Executive rooms, the Executive Twin, the Pool Side Suite and the Ambassador and Presidential suites. Guests in other rooms pay at the sauna desk.
• Entry Opens the Whole Spa Floor: At Conrad Seoul, bath entry also opens the relaxation lounge and a sleeping area. Lotte Hotel World has a relaxation area beside its baths, so a soak can stretch into a nap.

Korean Bath Etiquette for First-Timers

Korean bathhouse etiquette holds in hotel baths too.

• Hair Up, Towel Out: Tie long hair up so it stays out of the water. Keep the small towel out of the tub too, and if there’s nowhere to put it, do what plenty of bathers do and fold it on your head.
• Wash Before You Soak: Sit down at the showers and soap from head to toe. Rinse off before you step into the first tub.
• Phones Stay in the Locker: Photos aren’t allowed in most bath areas, so leave the phone in your locker or room. Valuables go in the locker too, since thefts happen at busy bathhouses.

Korean Body Scrub (Seshin) at a Seoul Hotel

Seshin is the Korean full-body scrub, booked at the bath desk and done right in the bath area.

• What Happens on the Table: Soak for 15 to 30 minutes first so the skin softens. You then lie unclothed on a vinyl-covered table while an attendant works over you with a rough mitt and rinses you off, and a lotion rub or hair wash is a common add-on. Ask for gentler pressure if it stings.
• Where to Ask for a Scrub: The Ambassador Seoul – A Pullman Hotel sells a scrub it calls Body clean at its sauna desk. The Shilla Seoul has scrub rooms in its sauna, so ask at the desk whether an attendant is working.
• Thirty Minutes, Booked Ahead: A basic hotel scrub runs about 30 minutes. Book it at the sauna desk when you arrive, and go early on a weekday at busy bathhouses to skip the wait.

Hotel Sauna vs Jjimjilbang

A jjimjilbang puts a clothed, mixed floor on top of the nude baths.

• What a Jjimjilbang Adds: Past the baths, everyone wears the T-shirt and shorts handed out at the desk and lounges on heated ondol floors, with hot rooms lined in jade or salt. Kiln-baked eggs and sikhye, a sweet rice drink, are the classic snacks.
• Two Worth the Trip: Sparex Good Morning City in Dongdaemun, by exit 14 of Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Station, has a food court and body scrubs. Spa Lei by exit 5 of Sinsa Station is a women-only spa with an open-air bath.
• Quieter Times: Weekends and public holidays fill jjimjilbang, and late Friday and Saturday nights bring in groups of friends. A weekday morning is calmer.

FAQs

1. Can children use hotel saunas in Seoul?

At the big hotels, only older children. The Shilla Seoul and Lotte Hotel World admit guests aged 13 and over, The Westin Josun Seoul and Grand Mercure Ambassador Hotel and Residences Seoul Yongsan set the line at 16, Conrad Seoul at 17 and Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas at 18. Neither Dormy Inn SEOUL Gangnam nor Dormy Inn EXPRESS SEOUL Insadong has an official bath age limit.

2. Do you have to be naked in a Korean sauna?

Yes, in the bath area. Korean bathers go in fully nude and keep swimsuits for the pool. The same goes for the dry and steam rooms inside the bath area. The baths are split into men’s and women’s sides, so everyone around you is the same sex. Locals treat nudity as a normal part of the visit.

3. What do you need to bring to a Korean sauna?

A change of underwear and a hair tie, plus your own skincare. Towels and basic soap are supplied, and jjimjilbang hand out a T-shirt and shorts for the shared areas. Leave valuables in the locker or your room. At a jjimjilbang, extras such as a scrub are bought at the bath counter and paid on the way out.

4. How long should you stay in a Korean hot bath?

About 20 minutes at a time is plenty, and on a long soak keep your heart above the waterline. Hot tubs run at roughly 38 to 45°C and cold tubs near 15°C, and Korean bathers alternate between them. If you’re pregnant or have a heart condition, skip the hottest tubs and saunas.

5. Can couples use a Korean sauna together?

Not in the baths, which are split into men’s and women’s areas. Couples meet again in the clothed parts of a jjimjilbang, where everyone wears the same T-shirt and shorts and lounges on the heated floors together. At a hotel, swimwear areas such as the pool are the shared space.

6. Can you sleep overnight at a jjimjilbang in Seoul?

Plenty of jjimjilbang take overnight guests. You sleep on the heated ondol floors of the shared lounges, with your things in a locker, and the entry desk tells you whether your ticket covers the night. It’s a cheap night, though you’ll sleep better in a hotel bed than on a heated floor.

7. Do Seoul hotel saunas allow tattoos?

Some turn tattooed guests away. The Shilla Seoul says on its own sauna page that it reserves the right to refuse guests with tattoos, and Conrad Seoul and Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas turn away guests with excessive tattoos. Neither of those two spells out what counts as excessive. Ask at the sauna desk before you pay for entry, especially if your tattoos are large.

8. Do Seoul hotel saunas close on certain days?

Once a month, on a fixed weekday. The Shilla Seoul closes its sauna on the third Wednesday, Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas on the third Tuesday, Grand Mercure Ambassador Hotel and Residences Seoul Yongsan on the fourth Tuesday and Lotte Hotel World on the last Monday. Check the date before you plan a stay around a soak.

9. Is a Korean sauna the same as a Japanese onsen?

Close, with one big difference: onsen means a natural hot spring in Japanese, so the water defines one. The bathing habits match, since you go in nude, wash before you get in and keep the small towel out of the water. Most baths in both countries are split by sex. Korea adds the seshin body scrub and, at jjimjilbang, clothed lounges with heated floors.