Seoul, Dongdaemoon - Haevitch (Havitz) Spa World

Guest reviewer: Cami 

This spa is on the 12th floor of the Cerestar building in Dongdaemun, right behind the Migliore building. Exit Dongdaemun station at exit 8, and walk towards the Migliore building. It will be on your right, and the signs are hard to miss. 
Equally distant is Dondaemun History and Culture Park Station (동대문역사문화공원역). Use Exit 14 (green line) and walk straight, then it will be on your left.

Haevitch Spa World is a brand new place, very modern and clean. The whole facility is one floor, and has a Korean restaurant, snack bar, noodle restaurant, noraebang, PC room, small sleeping room with beds, small workout area with treadmills, men's and women's baths, and a jimjilbang area. The baths are nothing to write home about- just warm, hot and event, 2 small cold pools, and a steam room that is super-hot. The woman working behind the counter in the women's bath speaks limited English and is very nice and helpful. It is brand new and very clean, but quite small. One interesting thing in the baths are the skin-scrubbing ladies...they are wearing...wait for it...printed bras and panties! I saw red, pink, animal print! It was wild and crazy since normally its always plain black everywhere you go around the country. 

While the baths are pretty small, the awesome thing about Spa Haevitch is the incredible view from the main jimjilbang room. It looks out over Chong-gyae-cheon stream, the fabric market, all the way up to the mountains up north. The workout room also has this great view. In the jimjilbang area are a bulgama room (pine wood), a charcoal room, a salt room (the hottest), an ice room, a gold room, and some sleeping caves and a wood room that is room temperature. To me, the jimjilbangs are not quite hot enough, but they are very clean and smell great. The main room is the best part though, try to score a mat by the windows and you can lay around checking out the view. I've been on a Friday night and Saturday afternoon, and it was not crowded and there were few children other than mine. There is a very small game room, but my kids just loved gazing out the window and trying all the nice jimjilbang rooms since they weren't too hot. The restaurant has your usual Korean fare, but also samgaetang (chicken soup) which I haven't seen at a spa before.

I highly recommend this place as a spot to warm up and relax after a hard day of shopping in Dongdaemun's many markets and department stores, or as a place to crash in the wee hours if you are out in Dongdaemun doing midnight shopping. 

Rates:

Sauna only
5am~8pm Adults: 7,000 won / Kids: 5,000 won
After 8pm (overnight) 10,000 won / Kids: 7,000 won

Sauna + Jjimjilbang5am~8pm Adults: 10,000 won / Kids: 7,000 won
After 8pm (overnight) 13,000 won / Kids: 10,000 won 

(Kids= 6 & under)

Spa Website (Korean only)

Wikimapia of Haevitch Spa World (in the Freya Tower marked on this map)

Visit Korea site on Havitz Spa World