Why Bathhouses Are Worth the Trip (Plus: Top U.S. Picks)

From Turkish hammams to Korean jjimjilbangs, travelers soak in budget-friendly, centuries-old rituals

A country’s bathing culture belies its values, from social Roman bathhouses to solitary American showers to ornate Turkish hammams, like the one pictured here.

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Berit Thorkelson,

AARP

Published February 11, 2026

Looking for a fast track into another culture? Try experiencing the way its people bathe. Take it from author and filmmaker Mikkel Aaland, 73, who’s been studying worldwide bathing culture for more than half a century. His 1978 book, Sweat, was revisited as a TV series in 2024 called Perfect Sweat, which took him into smoke saunas, steam rooms, cold plunges and hot springs around the world.

For perspective, he says, consider that the Romans valued leisure. That’s reflected in their bathhouses: beautiful social hubs with baths and rooms in a variety of temperatures, as well as attached libraries, gardens and theaters. Now fast-forward a millennium to Americans, who typically favor a quick shower — efficient and individual.

Trying out a country’s traditions lets you step into its collective mindset. “You’re getting an insight into that culture that probably wouldn’t come from any other single place or institution, or any kind of a tourist spot,” says Aaland. “You get it one-stop shopping in the bath.”

You’re reaping myriad health benefits, too, largely because all these experiences involve heat.

“Anything it touches ... heat transforms. And when you go into a heated bath [or sauna], you’re basically transforming yourself,” Aaland says. Specifically, he calls out improved circulation, skin health and mood. Institutions, such as the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Buffalo, back him up. They add even more pros to the list, including benefits for adults 50-plus, such as reduced anxiety and stress, relief of muscle and joint pain, reduced cholesterol levels, improved lung function, better sleep and overall longevity.

The global bathing experiences below are listed from the least to most intense, heat-wise and overall experience. Since they’re community-inclusive, they’re also intrinsically budget-friendly. The most expensive in-country starting admission fee on the list is $15.

For each, we’ve included a standout U.S.–based option as well. Those are more expensive, with an average admission fee of around $50. The U.S. options also cater to more modest American sensibilities. (Read: Nudity often not required.)

A couple of final caveats: Don’t do anything that feels uncomfortable. And if you have any underlying health conditions, speak with your doctor beforehand.

men sitting and laying in a steam room at a turkish bathhouse

Mellow steam rooms paired with a one-on-one exfoliating scrub define the classic experience at a Turkish hammam, like this one in Istanbul’s Küçükçekmece district.

Yasin Akgul/AFP via Getty Images

Turkish hammams

Turkey’s Islamic community built upon the leisurely Roman bathhouses to produce the steamy, mellow hammam, focused on relaxation, cleanliness and hands-on body care. The ritual historically unfolds gently inside an ornate domed, steam-warmed community space designed for resting, rinsing and receiving a one-on-one invigorating, thorough scrub plus olive oil-soap massage. “It was phenomenal,” says travel coach and writer Heather Markel, a 56-year-old New Yorker, who visited her first hammam in Istanbul. “I felt emotionally, and also body-wise, just, like, things being scrubbed away. It was just so different from any experience I’ve ever had.” The session ended with tea and a Turkish sweet, plus she received the exfoliating mitt, called a kessa, that was used for her treatment. When Markel uses it at home, it brings back memories of her Turkish bathhouse trip.

Entrance to basic neighborhood hammams starts around $14, while the indulgent session at a luxury Istanbul hammam that Markel enjoyed costs around $100.

Where to experience it in the U.S.: Last year, 20,000-square-foot Hürrem Hammam opened in Miami with a variety of saunas, pools and treatments, plus rooms ranging from steamy to chilly. Day passes start at $85.

an outdoor bathhouse with a waterfall in the background in japan

Japanese bathing tradition favors natural spring-fed hot tubs called onsen, like this one at Sansuiso Hotel in Tsuchiyu Onsen, north of Tokyo.

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Japanese onsen and sento

Setting is the key difference between Japan’s two types of public baths. Onsen are natural, geothermally heated hot springs found in the Japanese countryside. They’re often paired with ryokan, or inns, to accommodate travelers seeking a relaxing, cleansing soak. Sento are neighborhood bathhouses, originally built before Japanese homes had baths of their own.

Both experiences require a thorough shower, then relaxing into a long, quiet and very hot soak. Sento costs as little as a couple of bucks per person in Japan, while the more vacation-focused onsen sometimes cost a few times that.

Typically, both are gender-segregated and bathing-suit-free, and they often prohibit tattoos, long associated with punishment and criminals in Japan.

A soak topped 53-year-old Canadian resident Jessica Dickson’s Japanese bucket list, though two of the four in her travel group are inked. After hunting online, she found a tattoo-friendly, hotel-based sento in Kyoto. “It’s like a very hot hot tub, and it’s just quiet and serene, kind of like a spa … lightly lit, very relaxing,” she says. “We did that every evening.”

Where to experience it in the U.S.: Onsen Bathhouse in San Francisco reopened last year after a five-year COVID-related hiatus, including an ownership change. Two-hour bath sessions cost $50 per person, with an option of a multicourse seasonal California-meets-Japan meal afterward, for an additional $70.

people lounging in a communal relaxation room at a bathhouse in south korea

A communal relaxation room with a hot stone floor is at the center of South Korean jjimjilbangs, like this one in Seoul.

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South Korean jjimjilbangs

While technically the name for a relaxation room with a hot stone floor, jjimjilbang (pronounced JIM-jill-bahng) now also refers to the entire bath-and-sauna-filled wellness complex those rooms anchor. Evolved from South Korea’s centuries-old public bathing culture, the current version was popularized in the late 1900s. Jjimjilbangs often feature cafés, napping lounges and plenty of themed heated rooms. “It was like a spa city,” says Markel, who visited a jjimjilbang in Busan.

After changing into spa-issued shorts and a shirt, Markel navigated some of the more than 30 baths and saunas, dipping her feet in outdoor mineral footbaths in between. “You have different temperatures, ones with salt, ones with meditative light, music. Tons of different experiences,” she says.

Then, it was clothes off for the gender-segregated bathing portion, in the company of Korean girls and women, soaking in spring-fed pools of varying levels of warmth. “Modesty-wise, I was less comfortable in the bath area, but it’s still a wonderful experience after you’ve gone through all the saunas … to just dunk in these pools and have the sensual experience of the different water temperatures, and that real clean sensation.”

Jjimjilbangs typically cost between $10 and $20. Markel’s several-hour experience ran her about $18.

Where to experience it in the U.S.: Specialty features at Gangnam Spa in Houston include an oxygen therapy lounge, a Himalayan salt room and Korean Bul-Ga-Ma rooms, which are wood-fire-heated and infused with natural herbs. Day passes start at $40.

people getting into a hot sauna in finland

Here, Finns in Vaasa take part in the country’s longstanding bathing tradition of chasing a hot sauna session with a dip into chilly waters.

Olivier Morin/AFP via Getty Images

Finnish saunas

When the Finns settled in North America starting in the 1600s, they brought their sauna culture with them. Now considered a trend, luxury or fitness add-on here, saunas are a deeply rooted way of life in Finland, which has the world’s highest number of saunas per capita. Around 90 percent of Finns report using one regularly. They’re fixtures in homes, hotel and resort stays, downtowns and even bars. Public options typically cost anywhere from about $6 to $32 per session.

Years of consistent use have preserved the process, centered on a wood-fired stove that heats a small wood-paneled room, at times as hot as 212 degrees. At the heart of the tradition is löyly (pronounced LOH-loo), the therapeutic steam created by ladling water over stovetop stones, which Finns consider the spirit of the sauna.

That intense heat is often offset by jumping into a snowbank or lake. If it’s frozen, they’ll cut a hole in the ice and plunge away. “It’s cold up there, and everything’s more harsh … more extreme. So the bath is more extreme,” Aaland says.

Accessories include felted bell-shaped hats, to insulate and protect heads from the heat, and bundles of young birch branches, dipped in water and whacked against the skin to stimulate circulation.

Where to experience it in the U.S.: Sauna sessions at Cedar & Stone in Duluth, Minnesota, include a sauna guide and a plunge into perpetually chilly Lake Superior. They start at $49 per person.

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Berit Thorkelson is a travel writer and editor for aarp.org. She has also written for publications such as National Geographic Traveler, Better Homes & Gardens and The Minnesota Star Tribune’s travel section.