Cheoksan Hot Springs Sokcho

"This was my first Oncheon experience. From other reviews I already knew not to expect anything luxurious, but overall it was a very good experience. When I was there, I was the only foreign visitor, but nobody cared. Since most of the signs are in Korean, here’s a small guide:

Buy your ticket at the kiosk or the counter. There‘ll be a number in the receipt. This is your locker number. Take off your shoes and put them in the locker with your number on it. Take out the bracelet to lock it. Go upstairs (or downstairs if you’re female) and find the locker with your number. Use the bracelet to open it. Fully undress (everyone is naked). Proceed to the area with the plastic stools, take one of those blue and grey washcloths and give yourself a good cleaning and scrubbing. You can also pay somebody for a scrubbing. After this you can enjoy the different tubs, pools and sauna.

The staff knew barely any English, but they tried to help me as much as possible when I had questions. Overall a good experience Rand with 11,000 KOW not too expensive. I recommend!"

Jonas Kremer

"A basic hot spring but does the essentials well. Everyone is naked, men and women fully separated. Not geared for foreigners but they don't mind having you there if you're polite.

Catch the #3 bus to the nearest stop, then walk 5 min down the hill to the spa. Pay 10,000 won at the front desk and receive an entrance card and a couple of small towels. Use the card to get through the turnstiles (men left, women right) to the change rooms, strip and leave your gear in a locker, head through to the washing area, grab a stool and scrub yourself well (2-10 min) before you go near a pool. The locals have buckets of toiletries; I used one of my towels as a wet scrubbing towel / cooling face towel. Option to pay extra for someone to scrub you down on a table.

After scrubbing, enjoy the pools: one hot 40°C, one really hot 45°C, one really cold (maybe 5-10°C?), and a steam room.

Change rooms offer hair dryers, moisturiser, drinking water.

Locals were friendly and curious, but there was a language barrier so we couldn't chat as much as we wanted.

Had a lovely time here after hiking all day. Would recommend it for anyone who is willing to put in a little extra effort to do it the local way, with limited English."

Jessie Burns

"Ok this is a very simple spa but I gave it 4 stars for a couple of things, is it truly a 4 star spa, depends on what you like.

Yes, very simple 3 baths hot, warm and cold. There is a sauna.

Plenty of parking and it doesn’t seem to be very crowded, I can tell a lot of locals come here. The cost is 10,000 won so not to high.

It does what it’s supposed to do very traditional compared to other spas that I’ve been to.

Why 4 stars? First, the hot isn’t anything special 47.8 but the cold it has to be one of the coldest I’ve been in, there was no temp gauge I could see but it was very cold. Second, location right across the street is the foot bath spa and you are also really close to hiking trails. Third there is a story to this place you can read about it in the pictures I posted, it’s been around for a little while and has some history.

Overall not a bad place if you just want to take a shower and relax but don’t think it’s going to flip the bill if you’re looking for something extra special, no Jimjilbang only shower but I recommend going across the street to the foot spa when you visit only 1,000 won."

David Dahlstrom