Outcall massage at Ratchathewi
Ratchathewi is one stop from Siam and a fraction of the price, which makes it the best value central address in Bangkok and the one most visitors have never heard of.
- Arrival
- 25 to 40 minutes
- Hours
- 24 hours, every day
- Therapists
- Licensed, named first
- From
- THB 900, pay after
One stop from Siam, half the rent, and almost nobody knows it is there.
Ratchathewi is the station between Siam and Phaya Thai, which puts it about ninety seconds from the busiest retail district in Thailand and roughly a third of the price to stay in. It is the most underrated central address in Bangkok.
What Ratchathewi 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.
Relaxing 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.
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.
DetailsOffice 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.
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.
DetailsThe district runs along Phetchaburi Road with the Saen Saep canal beside it, and the building stock is a genuine mixture: older commercial blocks, small hotels and guesthouses, apartment buildings from several different decades, and a scattering of newer condominium towers that have gone up near the station.
There is a large student and young professional population, drawn by the same thing that draws the guesthouse traffic, which is proximity to everything at a price that leaves money over. Several universities are within a short distance.
The canal is the feature most people miss. The Saen Saep boat runs along the southern edge with piers nearby, and it is one of the fastest ways to cross this part of the city at a time of day when the roads are not moving.
For us this is an easy district to work in. Central, well connected, no serious access difficulties, and an arrival window that stays reasonable through most of the day.
One stop from Siam, and what that is worth
The single most useful thing about this district is its position. Siam is one stop south, Phaya Thai and the airport train one stop north, and the interchange at Siam puts the whole BTS network within easy reach.
What that means in practice is that a guesthouse here is a few minutes from Siam Paragon and costs a fraction of what a hotel by the mall does. A great many people who stay in this district do so having worked that out, and the accommodation reflects it.
For a booking it means the district is quick to reach and the guests here behave like Siam guests: visitors on short stays, walking a great deal, and booking in the evening after a day out.
The difference is the buildings. Where Siam is large hotels with formal desks, Ratchathewi is small hotels, guesthouses and apartment blocks with a guard. Easier to get into and considerably less predictable in layout.
Ninety seconds on the train from the busiest district in Thailand, at a third of the room rate.
The guesthouses and small hotels
Four kinds of building take bookings here and the front desk situation is different in each, though none is difficult.
Guesthouses
Guesthouses are the most relaxed places we visit anywhere. Frequently the owner is at the desk, the lobby is one room, and a visitor is simply somebody arriving. Nothing is asked and nothing is registered.
Small hotels
Small and mid-range hotels are almost as easy. A nod at reception, occasionally a signature, and up you go.
Apartment blocks
Older apartment blocks have a guard rather than a desk. He will ask who you are visiting, and that is the whole procedure. No lift in the shorter blocks, so mention the floor.
The new towers
The newer condominium towers near the station run modern systems with visitor registration and card-controlled lifts, and behave like any recent building elsewhere in the city.
What Ratchathewi books
Oil massage, and the value pattern
Straight oil massage leads here and it is a price-aware district where the sixty minute treatment dominates. It is also what a visitor who has walked round Siam all day actually needs, with the time spent on legs and lower back rather than shoulders.
Traditional Thai for visitors
Traditional Thai is strong among the guesthouse population, who are typically here for a week or two and want the treatment the country is known for. Room size is the thing to check, since guesthouse rooms are compact.
Office syndrome from the students
Office syndrome comes from the student and young professional population rather than from offices, and it is the same laptop-shaped complaint that shows up in Ari.
Aromatherapy, the late booking
Aromatherapy is the late booking as it is everywhere, and in this district it skews toward the newer condominium residents rather than the guesthouses.
The canal, and the fastest way across town
The Saen Saep canal runs along the southern edge of this district and the boat service on it is genuinely one of the quickest ways to move east and west across this part of Bangkok. Almost no visitors know it exists.
For an arrival it occasionally matters. A therapist coming from the Thonglor, Ramkhamhaeng or Pratunam direction may well use the boat rather than the road, and the boat does not sit in traffic. It is one reason an arrival here sometimes lands well inside the estimate.
The service does not run through the night, which is the caveat. Once it stops, everything reverts to the road, and a two in the morning booking here takes a little longer than a two in the afternoon one.
None of this requires anything from you. It is offered as an explanation for why the arrival time in this district is more variable than the distance from the centre would suggest.
Phetchaburi Road, and the soi numbers
Most addresses here sit on or just off Phetchaburi Road, which has numbered sois running off it in the same way Sukhumvit does, and the same rules apply.
Give the Phetchaburi soi number. It places you within a couple of hundred metres immediately and is more reliable than any building name in this district.
Say which side of the road you are on. Phetchaburi is wide, busy and has limited crossing points, so the wrong side costs real minutes.
Add the nearest station. Ratchathewi, Phaya Thai and Siam are all close and any address here is walkable from one of them, which is how she will approach it.
For a guesthouse, send the name and the soi. The names are small and not always well known, but combined with the soi they resolve immediately.
Mention the floor and whether there is a lift. A good deal of the older stock here is five or six storeys with stairs only.
Therapists who cover Ratchathewi
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 as a visitor who found the value
A distinctive thing about this district is that a high proportion of the visitors staying here chose it deliberately, having worked out that one stop from Siam costs a third of the price. They tend to apply the same thinking to everything else.
The useful thing to know is that our price does not change by district either. Sixty minutes of oil massage costs the same here as it does in a riverside suite, so there is no value calculation to make between neighbourhoods, only between treatments and lengths.
Where there is a genuine choice to make is length over luxury. If you are deciding between sixty minutes of aromatherapy and ninety minutes of plain oil massage at a similar price, the ninety will do more for a body that has walked fifteen kilometres round temples and malls. Length beats the scented blend for a physical complaint.
The other efficiency is booking with whoever you are travelling with. Two therapists at the same time in the same room costs exactly twice one treatment, with no premium for the second person, and it saves an evening.
The student and young professional side
Behind the main road the district is substantially residential and considerably younger than the Bangkok average.
Where they live
The housing is older apartment blocks and newer studio condominiums, mostly rented, and mostly by people in their twenties and early thirties working in the central districts.
What they book
The complaint is a desk one and office syndrome is the right answer for it, even though it is frequently a first booking and people default to asking for a general massage.
Budget
There is no minimum spend and nothing held as a deposit, so the sixty minute treatment is a complete service rather than a compromise. Booking it regularly beats booking ninety occasionally for a chronic problem.
Timing
The evening peak here runs later than in the family districts, from about eight to midnight, and short-notice bookings in that window are usually straightforward.
The Kasemsan lanes, and the pocket by Jim Thompson
At the southern edge of this district, where it runs into the National Stadium end of Siam, sits a small pocket of lanes that holds a surprising amount of accommodation.
Soi Kasemsan 1
Soi Kasemsan 1 runs off Rama 1 beside the Jim Thompson House and is lined with small hotels and guesthouses. It is quiet, short, and a genuine two minutes from a station despite feeling nothing like the district on the other side of the road.
Soi Kasemsan 3
Soi Kasemsan 3 and the lanes around it hold older apartment buildings and student housing, cheaper again, and with the mixed population that goes with a university nearby.
The canal end
The canal runs along the back of this pocket, and several buildings back onto it. Those are pleasant to stay in and occasionally confusing to reach, since the entrance may be on the lane rather than the waterside.
Access
Access here is easy in every case. Small buildings, relaxed desks or a guard, and short distances from the main road. The one thing worth sending is the lane number, since the two Kasemsan sois are not adjacent.
Where Ratchathewi ends
Southward it becomes Siam within one stop, and the buildings change from guesthouses to shopping centres almost immediately as you cross toward Rama 1.
Northward it runs to Phaya Thai and the Airport Rail Link, which is a short distance and covered on its own page.
Eastward along Phetchaburi the road heads toward Makkasan, the expressway and eventually Rama 9, and the character turns to larger roads and newer development.
Westward across toward Pratunam it becomes the garment market district, which is a completely different proposition despite being only a few hundred metres away.
The canal is the boundary that matters most in practice, since it separates this district from the Pratunam trade area and the two behave nothing alike.
What people ask here
The most common question in this district is whether we actually cover it, which comes from people staying in small guesthouses who assume an outcall service works only with hotels.
We do, on identical terms. A guesthouse room is a room, the therapist brings the sheet, the towels and the oil, and nothing about the treatment differs from one delivered to a five-star suite. Compact rooms are no obstacle either, because every treatment on the menu is worked on the bed and nothing has to be cleared to make space for it.
The second question is about the desk, and the answer is that guesthouses are the most relaxed buildings we visit anywhere. Nobody will ask what the visit is for and most will not ask anything at all. Where a building does keep a book, signing it takes a few seconds and the person holding the pen has seen a hundred visitors that week.
The third is price, and the treatment rate is the same everywhere: one list, nothing taken at booking, and payment at the end in cash, by card or by PromptPay. Victory Monument sits inside the seven kilometre radius, so there is no transport contribution on top of it either, which is not something we can say about every district we cover.
Everywhere we go in Ratchathewi
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
- BTS Ratchathewi
- BTS Phaya Thai
- BTS Siam
- Airport Rail Link Phaya Thai
- Saen Saep canal boat
- BTS National Stadium
Streets and sois
- Phetchaburi Road
- Phaya Thai Road
- Soi Phetchaburi 5
- Soi Phetchaburi 7
- Soi Phetchaburi 15
- Soi Kasemsan 1
- Soi Kasemsan 3
- Rang Nam Road
Landmarks
- Saen Saep canal
- Jim Thompson House
- Asia Hotel
- Suan Pakkad Palace
- Bangkok Art and Culture Centre
- Pantip Plaza
- Ratchathewi BTS
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
- Asia Hotel Bangkok
- VIE Hotel Bangkok
- Bangkok City Hotel
- Siam at Siam Design Hotel
- Golden Tulip Sovereign Hotel
- Prince Palace Hotel
Condominiums and residences
- Ideo Q Ratchathewi
- Lumpini Suite Petchaburi
- The Reserve Kasemsan 3
- Baan Klang Krung Siam Pathumwan
- Villa Ratchathewi
Who books in Ratchathewi
- Value-conscious visitors
- Chose one stop from Siam at a third of the price, and apply the same thinking to everything else.
- Guesthouse guests
- A week or two in the city, walking a great deal, and booking in the evening after a day out.
- Students and young professionals
- Older blocks and studio condominiums behind the main road. Office syndrome and a sixty minute budget.
- Condominium residents
- The newer towers near the station. Late aromatherapy bookings and modern building procedures.
- Canal boat commuters
- The Saen Saep service is the quickest way across this part of town, and it works for a therapist arriving just as well as for a resident leaving.
- Kasemsan guests
- The small hotel pocket by the Jim Thompson House, two minutes from a station and nothing like the road it sits behind.
Questions about Ratchathewi
- I am in a small guesthouse. Do you cover that?
- Yes, on exactly the same terms as a five-star hotel. A room is a room, and she brings the sheet, the towels and the oil. Guesthouse rooms around here are compact and it makes no difference at all, since everything is worked on the bed rather than around it.
- Will the guesthouse make a fuss about a visitor?
- Almost certainly not. Guesthouses are the most relaxed buildings we visit anywhere in the city. Frequently the owner is at the desk, the lobby is one room, and nobody asks anything at all. The mid-range hotels here are much the same.
- Is it cheaper here because the district is cheaper?
- No. One price list covers the whole of Bangkok and it does not move with the neighbourhood. Sixty minutes of oil massage costs the same here as in a riverside suite, so there is no value calculation to make between districts, only between treatments and lengths.
- I have been walking round Siam all day. What should I book?
- Plain oil massage with the time spent on your legs and lower back, and take the ninety over the sixty if you are choosing. For a body that has walked fifteen kilometres, length does more than a scented blend does.
- How should I write my address?
- Phetchaburi soi number first, then which side of the road, then the building and the nearest station. The soi number places you within a couple of hundred metres and is far more reliable than the guesthouse name on its own.
- Why is the arrival time here sometimes much quicker than quoted?
- The canal. The Saen Saep boat runs along the southern edge of this district and does not sit in traffic, so a therapist coming from the east may use it and land well inside the estimate. It does not run through the night, which is why a late booking takes a little longer.
- Can two of us book at the same time?
- Yes, and there is no premium for the second person. Two therapists at once costs exactly twice one treatment, and in a district where people are here on a budget it is worth knowing that it saves an evening rather than costing extra.
- My building is a walk-up. Is that a problem?
- Not at all, but mention the floor. A good deal of the older stock here is five or six storeys with stairs only, and she is carrying oil and fresh linen up them. Knowing in advance is a courtesy rather than a requirement.
Near Ratchathewi
Siam
The retail interchange. Enormous footfall, almost nobody actually lives here.
Phaya Thai
The Airport Rail Link terminus. Arrivals, departures, and a considerable number of hospital beds.
Pratunam
The wholesale garment markets. Trade hours, canal boats, and traders who start at four.
Victory Monument
A roundabout with four hospitals and several thousand students around it. This district is never quiet.
Ratchaprasong
The intersection. More hotel rooms within four hundred metres than anywhere in Thailand.