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What to do at Spa Land in Busan, South Korea, from body scrubs to plunge pools
Spa Land in Shinsegae Centum City is a high-end South Korean bathhouse that offers saunas, traditional treatments, food and lots, lots more
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Shinsegae Centum City in the South Korean city of Busan is the world’s largest department store, with nearly 700 shops across 16 floors. But I’m not here for retail therapy. I’m here for Spa Land.
From just 17,000 won (US$12), visitors to the high-end jjimjilbang – traditional South Korean bathhouse – can enjoy saunas, steam rooms, a salt room, plunge pools, baths, a restaurant and more. But what every hardcore spa-goer comes here for, are the ajummas’ body scrubs, for which a South Korean auntie loofahs every single inch of a person’s body with a precision equally feared and beloved.
More on that later.
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South Korea’s natural hot-spring-fuelled jjimjilbangs have a long history. For more than a millennium, for example, the waters in Daejeon city’s Yuseong district have been celebrated for their healing properties and are purported to ease muscular pain and skin ailments.
Jjimjilbangs are an intrinsic part of Korean culture, with Spa Land exemplary of the inclusively welcoming attitude that modern Busan wishes to convey.
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