At 2 AM, Alone at the Airport Coming out of the arrivals hall at Incheon Airport, both the limousine bus and the airport railroad had already stopped running. The first bus isn't for hours. But the Korean person sitting next to me isn't flustered at all, just looking at their smartphone. Where could this person be going? The answer is a jjimjilbang. ## Why jjimjilbang is the answer Korea has long had a culture of ondol heating and public bathhouses. Jjimjilbangs are a bigger version of that, built from the start to stay open 24 hours. People who drank all night and missed the last train, people who came from the countryside to catch the first train—they all catch a few hours of sleep here before heading out. Hotels have fixed check-in times and you have to pay the full night's rate even if you only sleep a few hours, but at a jjimjilbang, one admission fee covers the bath, the sauna rooms, even sleeping on the wide floor, plus there are lockers for your luggage. So having nowhere to go at dawn isn't something to panic about—it's just the long-standing national solution. ## Things you can use right away Near Incheon Airport there are separate sauna facilities for airport users. If you search "찜질방" (jjimjilbang) or "사우나" (sauna) on Naver Map, you'll see places marked as open 24 hours. Exact prices keep changing, so it's more accurate to check the apps or reviews that show up in the search results. Just know that inside the bathhouse, going naked—not wearing a swimsuit—is the norm, so if it's your first time, knowing this beforehand will keep you from being surprised.