The rules of a Korean bathhouse are few, and the sources we read, from Korean law to facility notices and foreign travelers' guides, list the same core set. Almost all of them come down to one idea: the water, the floor and the air are shared. So you keep yourself clean, keep your things out of the water, and keep your noise and your phone to yourself.
The rule is low voices, not silence. And a handful of the rules are not custom but law, with penalties that fall on the operator or, in the case of cameras, on you. We mark those at the end.
Before the water
Shoes off at the door. Shoes go into the shoe locker by the entrance.
Undress completely. The bath halls are separated by sex and used nude. Swimsuits and underwear are not worn; a small towel held in front of you while you walk is fine. If nudity is not for you, skip the bath area.
No phone, no camera. Leave the phone in the locker. Filming or photographing in a changing room is prosecuted as a sex crime: in August 2023 a man who filmed in the women's changing room of a Daejeon bathhouse was arrested on the spot. By law, a facility may install security cameras only outside the bathing, sweat and changing rooms, and must post a notice where it does.
Tie up long hair so it does not trail in the water.
Sober only. Operators must refuse anyone too drunk to use the facility normally; Sparex Dongdaemun states the rule in its ticket listing. The health notice that must be posted at every sweat room also warns people who drank alcohol in the past two hours.
Wash first, sitting down. Take a stool at a shower station, soap your whole body, and rinse completely before you touch a pool. The pool water is shared with everyone who comes after you. Elderly regulars often correct people who skip this. Bring only your small towel and toiletries into the hall.
In the bath hall
Nothing in the water but you. Towels, clothing and other items stay out of the pools. Locals put the small towel on their head.
No splashing or swimming. The pools are for sitting still.
Low voices, no staring. Talk if you like, quietly, and do not stare at other people.
Ask before you sit. If you are not sure whether a shower station is free, ask.
Is this spot taken?
No shaving, hair dyeing or laundry. One etiquette guide lists these as not allowed in the bath hall.
At the scrub table. Soak first, so the skin is soft. Scrubbers are always the same sex as the bathers, by law. Tipping is not customary. Say 살살 해주세요 (salsal haejuseyo) if you want it gentler. If you came with a friend, this is how to offer to scrub their back.
Shall I scrub your back? An offer between people who know each other, not a service.
Dry off before you walk. Of 1,790 bathhouse injuries reported to the Korea Consumer Agency from 2021 to mid-2025, 89.3% were slips. They happened mostly in sweat rooms and around the pools, and also at changing-room scales, sinks and water dispensers. The main cause was people walking around wet.
Children. A child aged 4 (48 months) or older may not enter the bath or changing room of the opposite sex. Facilities may add a height line: Sparex bars boys over 105 cm from the women's bath. See the families guide.
In the sauna and the hot rooms
Towel on the head. Many people wear a small towel on their head. Folded into a shape like a sheep's head, it is the yangmeori (양머리, "sheep head"). We found no reliable source for where the fold came from.
Short and often. Keep each sauna or hot-room session short, and rest and drink water between them; the health guide has the numbers. Do not fall asleep in a hot room. Leave if you feel dizzy, sick or weak. By law every sweat room has a thermometer inside; read it rather than guessing.
In the lounge
Wear the outfit, always. The law requires sweat clothing in any mixed-gender sweat room, so the cotton shirt and shorts are not optional. Keep them on from the moment you leave your changing room until you return to it.
No photos of other people. The phone ban covers the locker rooms and bath halls. In the clothed hall, check the signs, and never photograph strangers. If you want a picture of yourself, ask a friend or a staff member.
Please take a photo of me. Check that nobody else is in the frame.
Food rules vary. Some places ban outside food; Sparex bans outside food and alcohol. Read the notice at the entrance and buy from the counter, which charges your wristband.
No smoking anywhere. The whole facility is a no-smoking zone under the National Health Promotion Act. A separate smoking room may exist; if not, you go outside.
Floor space is shared. Sit on your own towel on the floor, and tidy your spot when you leave.
Minors after 22:00. At 24-hour facilities, people under 19 may not stay between 22:00 and 05:00 unless they are with a parent or guardian, carry a guardian's written consent, or are with a supervising adult. Sparex prints this in its rules.
In the sleep room
Quiet. Do not talk loudly in the sleeping area, and set your phone to silent. Bring earplugs for other people's snoring.
No beds, by law. Operators may not provide bedding for overnight stays, only large towels and pillows.
Valuables in the locker or on you. Keep the wristband on while you sleep. Unwanted touching in sleeping areas has happened: a Korean legal site published a 2025 case in which a drunk man touched a woman sleeping in a jjimjilbang. Where there is a women-only sleeping room, it is the safer choice. See the overnight guide.
Please keep it down. Say it softly.
The few things that are actually law
| Rule | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Bath and changing rooms run separately for men and women | Facility standards under the Public Health Control Act |
| Opposite-sex children aged 4 (48 months) and over may not enter | Enforcement rule, in force since 22 June 2022; the limit was 5 before |
| Sweat clothing required in any mixed-gender sweat room | Enforcement rule |
| No bedding for overnight stays; large towels and pillows only | Enforcement rule |
| Minors restricted 22:00–05:00 at 24-hour facilities without a guardian, consent form or supervising adult | Enforcement rule |
| Entry refused to people with an infectious disease and to the very drunk | Enforcement rule |
| Scrubbers and staff in the bath hall must be the same sex as the bathers | Enforcement rule |
| No filming in changing rooms; no entering them for sexual purposes | Sexual Violence Punishment Act, Articles 14 and 12 |
| No smoking anywhere in the facility | National Health Promotion Act, Article 9 |
| Thermometer and health warnings at the sweat room; price board at the counter | Enforcement rule |
We checked the enforcement-rule items against a legal reference site's copy of the text, not the official gazette. There is no law about tattoos; rules on them are house policy, and the tattoo guide explains how to ask.
If you get it wrong
Other bathers may point out a mistake before staff do. A foreign swimmer in Gwangju wrote in 2018 that, after a quick rinse in a pool shower room, an older woman told her to take off her swimsuit and soap her whole body, and that dripping water on the locker-room floor drew a stern word from the cleaner. Take it as help, say the word below, and do what they ask.
I'm sorry. 괜찮아요 (gwaenchanayo) means "it's okay".
Staff get involved for the rules that cost them. An operator that breaks the bathhouse rules, for example by letting in an opposite-sex child, faces a warning, then suspensions of five and ten days, then closure. If the counter turns your child away, it is protecting its license. For the camera rule the penalty is yours, and it is criminal.
Read the first-visit guide for the order of the visit, and the phrases guide for the signs you will see on the wall.