King Spa and Sauna, Niles, IL - Review

When you walk into King Spa and Sauna, it is clear this is a Korean owned and operated facility. The first clue? Signs are in Korean, with English translations. It's like you've left America and entered a portal to a Korean sanctuary...

This is a review of King Spa and Sauna located in Niles, IL, a Chicago suburb. I go to this sauna regularly, almost monthly.  I've been to its sister facility in Dallas once, and haven't been to the NJ sauna yet. Let's begin with ratings. Here is how I would rate the Chicago facility in each of these ten categories (five stars = excellent):

1 / Website
2 / Feeling of safety in the spa
3 / Cleanliness
4 / Organization of facility
5 / Signage in spa

6 / English language capability of:
General and service staff 
Front desk staff 
7 / Service providers (promptness, competence and professionalism)
8 / Quality of services
9 / Quality of saunas and amenities
10 / Quality of overall experience


This place is what Koreans call a Jjimjilbang - a large, gender-segregated public bath and sauna complex. Maybe the closest kind of American establishment would be a day spa. Jjimjilbangs are everywhere in Korea. They are furnished with showers, hot tubs, Finnish-style sauna rooms and massage rooms. Jjimjil comes from the word meaning heated bath.  [Note:  Many facilities like this exist in Japan too; some are public baths while others offer reasonably priced sauna and massage services.]

Sauna Room

Jjimjilbangs in Korea typically have male-only and female only locker rooms and an adjoining room with several pools or baths, showers, a steam sauna, and a service area for wet body scrubs. In addition to the male-only and female-only locker rooms and baths, there is a large public area. It has a food court, a wide-screen TV, lots of lounge chairs, themed sauna rooms decorated with unique motifs, and heated floors. Some have exercise rooms. Usually Jjimjilbangs will have various rooms with different temperatures. The decor incorporates earthy materials like wood, salt, amethyst, quartz and charcoal that give the spa a natural, calming ambiance.

Public Area

Most Jjimjilbangs are open 24 hours. Why does the facility offer recliners and mats that allow you to stretch out and take a nap or even sleep overnight? In Korean city centers, where a great number of these facilities exist, people working or celebrating late stay overnight at Jjimjilbangs after mass transit has stopped running and they can't get back to their suburban homes. This facility is an affordable option for a short term stay that offers a bath or shower, a place to rest, even a meal.

Dining Room

So everything I've just described as a typical Jjimjilbang is what you'll find at King Spa and Sauna. Enter this domain and simply leave the world outside for awhile. You can bathe, get an acupressure massage and/or body scrub, zone out in the sauna rooms, watch some TV or movies, and have something to eat and drink at the food court. King Spa has a nice variety of hot made-to-order Korean and Chinese dishes, Japanese bento boxes, and fresh fruit smoothies.  (Water is free at all times.) Feeling like you need to catch up on sleep? Take a nap, or doze off for a good long time if you want to. If you'd like to stay overnight, you can. Special services and food will cost extra but are optional.

The mostly Korean staff is polite and friendly. Your best English exchange will be at the front desk, where they have one or two young people with excellent English skills ready to extend a welcome and check you in. After that though, English communication can be a challenge. Be ready to receive very little English language help, directions or explanations.

Asian culture greets you everywhere in this establishment. Once you've paid the $25 entry fee, good for 24 hours, you receive a plastic bracelet with a number on it and a key attached. The number is important. Your personal lockers have this number on it. You'll also use this number to "charge" any food or special services you buy. You'll settle up your bill at the front desk as you're about to leave.  [Note:  Beginning on October 1, 2013, the admission fee will be raised from $25 to $30]

Gender-Specific Locker Room

Bracelets in hand, men and woman go their separate ways to a gender-specific locker room. Before entering, select your King Spa uniform, a cotton shirt and long shorts that come to the knee. Different sizes (S, M(/L), XL) are available. You will then lock up your shoes in a shoe locker, using the key on your bracelet to secure it. The key also opens a similar numbered locker in the locker/changing room. In the locker/changing room you will see an attendant standing by a computerized reservation desk. This is where you book "wet bath" spa services such as a full body scrub.

If you book a wet full body scrub, they will tell you the time your service will start. It is usually within a half hour of the booking. If you want to enter the wet baths first, you will disrobe completely, lock up your belongings in your numbered locker, grab a small towel and enter the adjoining wet bath room. You will take a shower with soap, as is the rule before entering the baths.  You may want to bring a small bag with your own soap and sponge. Otherwise, just use the soap dispenser at each shower bay. You can then spend time soaking in the hot jetted pool or in one of the warm or cold pools. Take some time to sit in the steam sauna if that better suits you. A staff attendant finds you when it is time for your body scrub.

Wet Baths

Walking around and soaking in the wet baths naked can be a strange experience, especially if you're shy or not used to this.  But remember, you are around your own gender only. Just let it go. Keep this advice in mind too when it's time for your scrub. Surrender yourself to the service provider, who gets to work deep cleansing you from neck to toe, while you're totally naked, with exfoliator padded gloves. The end result is smooth soft skin, rejuvenated and glowing - so the temporary awkwardness (and borderline pain!) is worth it. The service lasts about 45 or 50 minutes, longer if you get a wet towel massage after. When this is done, you take another shower and return to the locker/changing room.  Proceed to the the co-ed public area. Walk over to another reservation desk if you want to book an acupressure massage. Usually they can take you right away, but you may be asked to wait a short time, maybe 30 minutes. Check in at that area at the appointed time.

As for my experiences, I highly recommend one of the deep tissue massages, either 60 or 90 minutes.  Any of the massages are excellent. The facial is nice but the young woman who performed mine was less experienced and got some product in my eyes several times.  I have also tried the reflexology session - it is just wonderful. The wet body scrub is very good but I wouldn't call it relaxing. To me that is worth doing once or twice a year. Posted signs in English state costs for these services.

Guests Relaxing in One of Nine Sauna Rooms

Keep in mind there is no set routine or sequence for any of these spa activities. You are free to do these things in any order you like, pass on any services that don't interest you (thankfully, no one tries to sell you anything!), take a shower after the dry saunas and request a new dry cotton uniform before your massage if you prefer, and go in and out of the saunas as many times as you wish. No one is keeping track. The only "tracking" aspect is that when you order food or a paid service, your bracelet number will be swiped and charges added up accordingly.

This is my list of favorite things about King Spa and Sauna in Niles:

Base Rock Room

1. The dry saunas--all of them. There are nine wonderfully quiet cocoons of warmth that promote relaxation and release of tension. (Wait! Not all are warm. One room is cold, and one or two others are very hot. One of the latter is the base rock room. It is of Japanese design and quite unique. Using a special towel, you lie down on hot stone tiles, and feel the heat penetrate your muscles, not only from the air but from the floor.  Experiencing the base rock room requires a $5 surcharge for the day. Photo at right shows cotton spa outfits all guests are required to wear in the public area and dry saunas. (Towel headwraps are optional. They make for  interesting promotional photos, but not too many guests wear them in the Niles facility.)

Each sauna room has a name and theme. Based on its theme, a sauna room is constructed and decorated in a beautiful and precise way inside and out, using special natural earth stones or elements that are known to have healing properties. (Charcoal, salt, quartz crystal, and amethyst, for example.) The walls of the amethyst room have beautifully inset amethyst stones. You will see small and large amethyst stones everywhere you turn in the public dry sauna area.

2. The movie theater. The screen is huge, full sized, with surround sound, and the theater has big reclining chairs to sink into.

3. The upstairs has a large room with full size loungers for all guests.There is another room just like this for women only. 

4. The wet and dry massage services. The people providing these services are competent and professional. You will come out feeling relaxed and refreshed.

Just two minor issues: 1) if more of the service staff spoke better English, it would be helpful; and 2) the public lounge area is a space that does not encourage quiet relaxation (and this is not likely to change). The centralized, family friendly co-ed public area can become boisterous and busy, where men and women gather and talk, children run around without restraint, and a TV airs Korean dramas or news all the time with loud audio. It is almost funny because it is such a contrast to the absolute solitude inside the soundproof dry sauna rooms.

The solution to the latter situation is to be selective about the timing of your visit: mornings and afternoons on weekdays are usually more quiet, less crowded than on evenings and weekends. Whenever you choose to visit, it's bound to be a pleasant surprise. By the time you leave, you are feeling incredibly relaxed. I love this place and highly recommend it.

I hope in time more people discover what King Spa is all about. I realize this can be a cultural thing; some people are more comfortable with public baths than others.

In total there are two almost identical King Spa and Sauna locations in the U.S. This one and one in Dallas, TX. Instead of trying to describe all of the different rooms and amenities in the Niles and Dallas spas (they differ somewhat), click this link to visit their website(s).

There is a facility in Palisades Park, NJ called King Spa and Fitness - it looks interesting. This establishment seems to be a hybrid of the traditional Korean King Spa style of Jjimjilbang and an American fitness club. The website is very impressive -- that facility looks great. I think we need to make a pilgrimage!! Other cities like Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington DC have similar Korean-style facilities.

Naturally Jjimjilbangs are thriving in Korea and Japan; probably in many other countries too. Wherever you are, you can decide on your own next sauna/spa destination by searching on Spafinder or Saunascape.

King Spa welcomes patrons of all ages and backgrounds; sometimes entire families show up. As mentioned above, it can become something like a social circus in the co-ed public sitting and eating areas. If noise bothers you or if you want to take care of business while relaxing, you can bring your phone, tablet or even laptop (they have free wi-fi) and noise-cancelling ear buds  into those public spaces.  Electronic devices are not allowed in the sauna rooms, though.  They don't want you to make phone calls inside the locker rooms, either.

Here is an nteresting blog about a regular guy who writes about spending the night at the NJ sauna:
Sleeping in a Public Bath House: A Night at King Sauna

Cash and most credit cards are accepted.

Contact Information:
809 Civic Center Dr. Niles, IL 60714
Tel : 847-972-2540 / Fax : 847-972-2541
Business Hours : Open 7 days a week, 24 hours a day
http://www.kingspa.com