Outcall massage on Ratchada
Ratchada is the office spine of north east Bangkok, with the courts, the cultural centre and a long run of corporate towers along one road.
- Arrival
- 30 to 50 minutes
- Hours
- 24 hours, every day
- Therapists
- Licensed, named first
- From
- THB 900, pay after
The office spine of the north east, and it empties at the weekend.
Ratchadaphisek Road runs north to south through the eastern half of Bangkok, and the stretch between the Thailand Cultural Centre and Sutthisan is what people mean when they say Ratchada. The MRT runs underneath it for the whole length.
What Ratchada books most
Ordered by what people here actually choose, rather than by our menu. Every one is worked on your own bed with sheets and oil the therapist brings with her.
Office syndrome massage
Targeted work on the neck, shoulders and upper back for people who sit at a desk all day. The one to book if your pain has a laptop-shaped cause.
DetailsDeep tissue massage
Slower and heavier than an oil massage, aimed at the knots underneath rather than the surface. Say the word at any point and she eases off.
DetailsTraditional Thai massage
Stretching and acupressure along the body's energy lines, worked through clothing without oil. Firm, and on tight muscles it can smart. Worked on your bed, so there is nothing to clear.
DetailsRelaxing oil massage
Long, even strokes with warm unscented oil. The most straightforward thing on the menu, and the one to pick if you simply want the tension gone.
DetailsAromatherapy massage
The same slow work as an oil massage, with a scented blend chosen for what you need. Lemongrass to wake up, lavender to sleep. Most people book this one at night.
DetailsCoconut oil massage
Cold-pressed coconut oil rather than the standard blend. Lighter on the skin, absorbs rather than sitting on top, and it is what most Thai therapists use on themselves.
DetailsThis is an office district rather than a retail or residential one. Corporate headquarters, the Criminal Court and other judicial buildings, the Stock Exchange nearby, and the Thailand Cultural Centre itself, along with the Esplanade complex beside it.
The accommodation is a mixture of business hotels serving the office traffic and a very substantial run of condominium towers built along the MRT line. Those towers house a largely Thai professional population working either here or in the central districts.
Behind the main road it turns residential quickly, with older housing, small markets and the ordinary fabric of a Bangkok neighbourhood that has nothing to do with the corporate frontage on the road.
For us it is a weekday district with a sharp evening peak and a genuinely quiet weekend, which is unusual this far from the traditional business areas.
A business district that is not in the business area
Most people assume that districts outside the Silom and Sathorn core are residential and therefore busiest at the weekend. Ratchada is the exception, and the pattern here looks much more like the old business district than like its own neighbours.
Monday to Friday the evening peak is sharp. From six the towers empty, the road becomes almost impassable, and our bookings cluster between seven and ten. Those are the most contested slots in this district by a wide margin.
At the weekend it drops away. The offices are shut, the courts are closed, and what remains is the residential population in the condominium towers, which is a much smaller number of bookings. Saturday and Sunday here are among the easier slots in the city.
That makes the advice straightforward. If you work here and want a weekday evening treatment, book it in the morning. If you live here and can move your regular booking to a Sunday, you will get a better choice of therapist and a shorter wait.
Silom empties at the weekend and everybody knows it. Ratchada does the same and almost nobody expects it.
The evening peak, and why it is so bad
Ratchadaphisek between five and half past seven on a weekday is one of the genuinely difficult roads in Bangkok, and it is worth explaining why so the estimate makes sense.
The road is a major north to south artery with limited parallel alternatives, it carries expressway traffic joining and leaving, and the office towers along it empty their car parks into it at the same moment. There is no clever route around it.
The MRT underneath is unaffected, which is the saving grace and the reason our arrivals here hold up as well as they do. A therapist coming by train reaches the station on time; the variable is only the last few hundred metres.
That is why the address matters so much here. A tower directly above or beside an MRT exit is quick at any hour. A building a kilometre down a soi is at the mercy of the same road as everybody else, and in the peak that is a real difference.
The buildings along the line
Four kinds of address take bookings here and the split between them is roughly even, which is unusual.
Condominium towers
The condominium towers along the MRT are the largest group. Modern buildings with proper management, visitor registration and card-controlled lifts, and no difficulty beyond the usual couple of minutes.
Business hotels
Business hotels serve the office and court traffic and are formal and predictable in the way business hotels are everywhere.
Serviced apartments
Serviced apartments house corporate stays of a month or more and are the easiest buildings in the district.
Behind the road
Behind the main road are older apartment blocks and houses, cheaper and quieter, with a guard rather than a desk and occasionally no lift. Those addresses need a soi number.
What Ratchada books
Office syndrome and deep tissue lead
Office syndrome and deep tissue together take the majority of what this district books, which puts it alongside Silom and Chong Nonsi rather than alongside its residential neighbours. The complaint is uniform: neck, upper trapezius and the area between the shoulder blades, from people who have been at a desk since eight.
Traditional Thai in the residential blocks
Traditional Thai holds a solid share and comes from the residential towers rather than the offices. The population here is largely Thai and the stretching is the default preference where the room allows it.
Oil massage, the general choice
Straight oil massage is the general purpose choice and it sells steadily across both groups, particularly at the weekend when the bookings are residential rather than corporate.
Aromatherapy, and the Friday pattern
Aromatherapy peaks on Friday evening, which is a pattern specific to this district. The working week finishes, nobody has to be up early, and the treatment chosen shifts from corrective to pleasant.
The cultural centre, and event nights
The Thailand Cultural Centre hosts concerts, performances and conferences, and on a night when something substantial is on it changes the district noticeably.
The effect on the road is the obvious part: arrivals and departures around the venue add to an already difficult evening, and the half hour before and after a performance is the worst of it.
The effect on bookings is less obvious but real. Hotel occupancy nearby rises on event nights, and a share of those guests book a treatment afterwards, which makes the late evening busier than it would otherwise be.
If you are staying nearby and there is a performance on, book earlier in the day rather than deciding at ten. It is the one predictable thing that tightens availability in this district outside the ordinary weekday peak.
Therapists who cover Ratchada
Every one of them trained in Thailand and holds a Ministry of Public Health licence. You get told who is coming before they knock.
Booking around a working day here
A large share of what we do in Ratchada is for people who work in the towers along this road, and the advice is much the same as any business district with one local wrinkle.
Book in the morning for an evening slot. Seven to ten on a weekday is the contested window and deciding at half past six is how people end up without a therapist.
Consider booking for later than you would elsewhere. The road is at its worst between five and half past seven, so a nine o clock booking will both arrive more reliably and get you home first.
Take office syndrome rather than a general massage if the problem is your neck. It is the treatment built for the complaint this district generates and an hour spread over the whole body is a wasted hour.
Use the weekend if you live here. Saturday and Sunday are quiet in this district and a same-hour booking is usually straightforward, which is not true at all on a Wednesday evening.
Say if you are in a tower directly at an MRT exit. It genuinely shortens the estimate and we would rather quote you the accurate number.
The residential streets behind
Away from the corporate frontage this is an ordinary and rather pleasant part of Bangkok, and a growing share of our work here comes from it.
The sois east
The sois running east off Ratchadaphisek reach toward Pracha Uthit and the expressway, with a mixture of housing estates, apartment blocks and small markets.
The sois west
The sois west run toward Sutthisan and Din Daeng, older and denser, with more walk-up buildings and narrower lanes.
Older housing
The housing behind the road is a generation older than the towers on it, largely Thai households, and books traditional Thai far more than the office population does.
Access
Access is straightforward everywhere but the addresses need describing: soi number, building or house number, and a landmark. The lanes here look alike and the numbering is not always sequential.
Friday, and the one evening that behaves differently
Every business district in Bangkok has a Friday pattern, and in Ratchada it is more pronounced than most because so much of the population here works a conventional week and lives elsewhere.
The road empties earlier than on other weekdays, from about half past four, as people leave to beat the weekend traffic. That makes a five o clock arrival more realistic on a Friday than on a Tuesday, which is the reverse of what you would expect.
The bookings shift too. Aromatherapy overtakes deep tissue on Friday evening in a way it does not on any other night here, because nobody has to be up early and the purpose of the treatment changes from repair to pleasure.
The late window is the busiest of the week. Between nine and midnight on a Friday this district books harder than at any other time, so if that is when you want somebody it is worth asking earlier in the day rather than at half past eight.
Where Ratchada ends
Northward along the road it becomes Huai Khwang, which is a completely different proposition of night markets and nocturnal hours despite being one stop away.
Southward it reaches Rama 9 and the newer business district around it, and then continues down toward Phetchaburi and the Makkasan area.
Eastward the sois run out toward Pracha Uthit, Lat Phrao and the ring road, and the arrival window lengthens considerably in that direction.
Westward it heads toward Din Daeng and eventually Victory Monument, denser and older the further you go.
The MRT is what defines this district rather than any boundary on the ground, so the nearest station is the most useful thing you can tell us about where you are.
Price, and what the weekend changes
One price list applies across the whole city and it does not change by district, by building or by day of the week. A Sunday treatment costs exactly what a Wednesday one costs.
What the weekend changes is availability rather than price, and in this district that is a genuine advantage worth using. The same nine hundred baht buys you a shorter wait, a better choice of therapist and a more relaxed booking on a Saturday than it does on a Wednesday evening.
Being at the far end of a soi changes nothing about the treatment price, and there is no minimum booking anywhere in the district. We ask for nothing up front and hold no deposit, whatever time you book for.
Payment is at the end, in cash, by card or by PromptPay, and it is whatever the confirmation message said it would be.
Everywhere we go in Ratchada
Find yours below. If it is not here we almost certainly still come, so send the building name and we will confirm in a minute.
Stations
- MRT Thailand Cultural Centre
- MRT Huai Khwang
- MRT Sutthisan
- MRT Phra Ram 9
- MRT Lat Phrao
- Airport Rail Link Makkasan
Streets and sois
- Ratchadaphisek Road
- Soi Ratchadaphisek 7
- Soi Ratchadaphisek 17
- Pracha Uthit Road
- Sutthisan Winitchai Road
- Thiam Ruam Mit Road
- Din Daeng Road
- Rama 9 Road
Landmarks
- Thailand Cultural Centre
- Esplanade Ratchada
- Criminal Court
- Stock Exchange of Thailand
- Central Rama 9
- Fortune Town
- Huai Khwang Night Market
Buildings we travel to
Listed as places we deliver to. We have no arrangement with any of them and nothing here should be read as one.
Hotels
- Grand Mercure Bangkok Fortune
- Amanta Hotel Ratchada
- Bangkok Cha Da Hotel
- Swissotel Bangkok Ratchada
- Emerald Hotel Bangkok
Condominiums and residences
- Noble Revolve Ratchada
- Chapter One Eco Ratchada
- The Base Central Ratchada
- Life Ratchadapisek
- Rhythm Ratchada
- Ideo Ratchada Huai Khwang
Who books in Ratchada
- Office tower workers
- The largest weekday group. Neck and upper back, booked from six, and competing for the seven to ten window.
- Court and legal staff
- The judicial buildings nearby. Conventional hours and a sharp Friday finish.
- Condominium residents
- The towers along the MRT. Largely Thai professionals, and the weekend booking population.
- Serviced apartment tenants
- Corporate stays of a month or more, and the easiest buildings in the district to enter.
- Event night guests
- Hotel occupancy rises when the cultural centre has something on, and late bookings rise with it.
Questions about Ratchada
- Is this district quieter at the weekend?
- Considerably, and it surprises people. Ratchada behaves like a business district rather than a residential one, so Saturday and Sunday are among the easier slots in the city here while Wednesday evening is one of the harder ones.
- When is the worst time to book?
- Between five and half past seven on a weekday. Ratchadaphisek is a major artery with no useful parallel route, expressway traffic joins it, and the office car parks empty into it at once. The MRT underneath is unaffected, which is why our arrivals hold up better than the road does.
- Does it matter if my building is right at an MRT exit?
- It genuinely shortens the estimate, so tell us. A tower directly above a station is quick at any hour because the last leg is a two minute walk. A building a kilometre down a soi is subject to the same road as everyone else.
- Which treatment for neck pain from a desk?
- Office syndrome. It spends the whole hour on the neck, shoulders and upper back rather than distributing it over a body that is otherwise fine. It is the complaint this district generates more than any other and the targeted treatment does noticeably more.
- There is a concert at the cultural centre. Will that affect my booking?
- A little. The road around the venue is worse for the half hour either side of a performance, and hotel occupancy nearby rises on event nights so late bookings get busier. If something substantial is on, put the booking in earlier in the day rather than deciding at ten.
- I live on one of the sois behind the road. Anything different?
- The address needs more detail: soi number, building or house number, and a landmark. The lanes back there look alike and the numbering is not always sequential. The arrival window is also a little longer than for the towers on the main road.
- Is a Sunday treatment more expensive?
- No. One price list covers every district and every day, so a Sunday costs the same as a Wednesday. What the weekend buys you here is a shorter wait and a better choice of therapist for the same money, which in this district is worth having.
- Is Friday different from the rest of the week here?
- Noticeably. The road empties earlier, from about half past four, as people leave to beat the weekend traffic, so a five o clock arrival is more realistic on a Friday than a Tuesday. The nine to midnight window is then the busiest of the whole week, so ask earlier in the day if that is when you want somebody.
- How is this different from Huai Khwang one stop north?
- Almost completely. Huai Khwang is nocturnal, driven by a night market, and busiest after midnight. Ratchada is corporate, busiest between seven and ten on a weekday, and quiet at the weekend. They are one stop apart and run on opposite clocks.
Near Ratchada
Huai Khwang
The night market district. Genuinely awake at four in the morning, unlike anywhere else.
Rama 9
The newest business district in Bangkok. Everything here was built this century.
Din Daeng
The flats, the expressway junction, and the densest housing in Bangkok.
Lat Phrao
One road with sois numbered past 130, and the number is the only part of the address that helps.
Victory Monument
A roundabout with four hospitals and several thousand students around it. This district is never quiet.