Seoul guides for visitors
22 short guides to how Seoul's bathhouses, massage, head spas and restaurants work, and to booking, paying and getting around as a visitor. Each guide is written from the public sources listed on it and was reviewed before publishing.
Open the map to find places. Every place shows what we confirmed, what we confirmed as a no, and what we have not confirmed yet.
How things work
- Will they speak English, and what to do when they do not
This is the most common worry we see, and the honest answer is that it often depends on the individual person standing in front of you, not on the business.
- Finding a place when you cannot read the name
The workflow visitors describe is usually the same.
- Maps, taxis and transit as a visitor
Getting to the place is usually the part that decides whether you go at all, so here is the short version.
- Holidays, late nights and early arrivals
According to the Korea Tourism Organization's public holiday page (checked Sep 2026), some businesses close for several days in a row around Seollal and Chuseok, and posted opening hours often do not show this.
- How a jjimjilbang visit actually works
A jjimjilbang is a Korean bathhouse with a shared, heated sauna floor.
- Korean restaurant basics
A handful of conventions explain most of what surprises people at a Korean table.
- What you wear at a jjimjilbang, and where the towels are
A jjimjilbang has two dress codes in one building.
Etiquette and house rules
- Will they let me in? Bodies, devices, kids and being foreign
A lot of people are not asking where to go.
- Jjimjilbang manners, and what nobody tells you
Most jjimjilbang manners come down to a few habits: wash before you get in the water, keep the small towel out of the pool, leave your phone in the locker, keep your voice down on the shared floor, and do not overdo the heat.
- Tattoos at bathhouses, gyms and pools
The national hygiene rules for bathhouses say nothing about tattoos, and we know of no national rule about tattoos in gyms.
What it is
- Seshin, the Korean body scrub
Seshin is the scrub.
- What is a Korean head spa?
A head spa is a scalp and hair service you book at a salon or at a shop that does nothing else.
- Can you trust the reviews?
If you have looked up a salon or a bathhouse here, you may have noticed that the reviews often look uniformly glowing, and that this makes them less useful rather than reassuring.
Booking
- Booking by Instagram message
Some small salons, head spa shops and studios take bookings through a direct message on social media.
- The Korean phone number wall
Some Korean services ask you to prove who you are with a Korean mobile number before you can book.
- How restaurant reservations actually work here
Restaurant bookings here run through four kinds of channel, and a restaurant often uses only one of them.
Money and paying
- Nobody expects a tip
Tipping is not a custom here, and service staff do not expect it.
- Paying: foreign cards, cash and the small places
Whether an overseas card goes through can depend on the place and the terminal, and some small counters still want cash.
Where we draw the line
- Anma: Korea's licensed massage profession
Anma is a massage profession that Korean law reserves for visually impaired practitioners.
- Visiting a Korean clinic as a foreign patient
Factual information only, not a medical recommendation.
- What the word massage covers in Korea
One English word, several different things.
- Why we don't recommend clinics
Factual information only, not a medical recommendation.