Will they let me in? Bodies, devices, kids and being foreign

외국인 입장과 몸에 관한 조건

A lot of people are not asking where to go. They are asking whether they will be turned away at the door. Here is what is a rule and what is just a shop's decision.

Reviewed 2026-09-27 · Updated 2026-09-28 · Written from the public sources listed below

The written rule that matters here

Public bathhouses have to keep the bath and the changing rooms separate by gender, and from the age of four, or 48 months, a child counts for that purpose. So a four year old cannot go into the opposite sex changing room or bath with a parent. Below that age it is allowed. Whether children are welcome at all, and from what age, is still up to each place.

The same national rules also tell bathhouses not to admit someone with an infectious disease, or someone too drunk to use the place normally.

Everything else is the shop's call

Scars, surgical marks, a large body, a medical device such as an insulin pump or a monitor, a headscarf, being visibly foreign: the national bathhouse rules we checked say nothing about any of these. Policies differ from place to place, and so do the reasons. A small bathhouse with one staff member may say no to something a large place allows.

Some travellers report being turned away for being foreign. We cannot say how often it happens, and we are not going to pretend it never does.

How we handle it

We record what each venue told us and when they told us. If a place is not marked, we have not confirmed it, and we would rather leave it blank than generalise from one visit.

The practical move

Ask first, at the counter, before changing or paying. Showing a written question in Korean removes most of the awkwardness.