I did the research (eight treatments in six days, phew) so I could recommend to you five leading spas for a Thai massage in Bangkok, Thailand. Plus, my two picks in the nearby resort town of Hua Hin.

Spa Botanica at the Sukhothai

As well as being an exquisite hotel, folded into buildings of The Sukhothai Hotel is Spa Botanica. The gently calm waiting room seems to breathe with happiness-inducing air and staff are an extension of this environment.  

My therapist, Pai, unluckily received my just-off-the-plane body, which should have been a hopeless cause, but instead she pressed certain points, used her forearms to smooth out grumpy muscles, and stretched ligaments that were complaining of jetlag. Her thorough pressure and unyielding stretches were the best way to settle into the country.

• Overall rating: nothing short of heaven. Price: $130 CDN for 2 hours of a Thai Massage.

Thann Sanctuary

Not many tourists that venture into the high end Grayson shopping centre are planning to get a Thai massage, and not from a company that specializes in natural skin care products. I was sceptical before I walked into Thann Sanctuary, but after sitting in the tiny waiting room with moody lighting and dark green walls decorated with orange fish, and being shown to my room down a dimly lit hall with sleek sliding doors on each side, I was certainly won over by the aesthetics of the space. Would the massage match? 

This treatment followed the same traditional technique of the Sukhothai spa’s but focused more on deep, assisted stretching. My arms were pulled behind my back and over my head; my torso was pushed down over my outstretched legs. (On a side note, all the therapists here are minimally certified in Reiki 1.)

• Overall rating: a very pleasant surprise. Tip: walk next door to the retail store and café, both with quirky décor and design. Price: $49 CDN for 1.5 hours of a Traditional Thai Massage with herbal compress.

S Medical Spa

The name sounds intense and that’s for good reason: S Medical Spa treatments are serious business. An uber spotless interior featuring lots of white is smattered with rooms filled with interesting machines: the colon hydrotherapy machine removes toxins from your digestive system; the seven-in-one hydrotherapy tub is for treating illness and pain with water; and many of the rooms are for non-invasive laser treatments. There’s a balance of wellness, medical and beauty services available.  

Here they offer a Royal Thai Massage, which has been used on the royal family and aristocracy for generations and uses deep tissue techniques while remaining smooth. My therapist, Yupin, began by targeting the usual pressure points and separating my muscles, but it was even deeper and much more intense then the other massages. I heard in the change room afterwards from two other women who had just had the Royal massage say, “That was the best massage of my life, better than my chiropractor’s treatment” and “That was hardcore back bootcamp.” 

• Overall rating: intense goodness, if you can hack it. Tip: have a bite to eat in the café afterwards, as the menu was created without dairy products, coconut milk, white sugar and barely any oil in order to complement the health treatments of the spa. Price: $115 for a 1.5 hour Royal Thai Massage.

RarinJinda

Split over two floors in the Grande Centre Point Hotel Ratchadamri, a luxury furnished apartment hotel, this petite spa is another one you’d never know was there if you walked by. Deep red-painted walls and a line up of circular water fountains and pools are a nice welcome down the eighth floor hallway to RarinJinda. 

My therapist here was intuitive and worked on my tight neck until the muscles finally surrendered. The stretching we did targeted the parts of my body that were the most uptight. She finished with a blistering hot herbal compress that put any tension left over on notice.

• Overall rating: intuitively specific. Tip: their Chiang Mai location is a resort spa and looks lovely, while a new location in Phuket just opened. Price: $49 CDN for a 2 hour Classical Thai Massage.

i.sawan Residential Spa & Club at the Grand Hyatt Erawan

The i.sawan Residential Spa & Club has spa facilities in private rooms. Your therapist takes you there while holding a little yellow sun umbrella over you along an outdoor path. There are also residential spa cottages for those who want to live and breathe pampering. 

My masseuse had just returned from training other therapists in Delhi, where the Hyatt is opening a new hotel. Her experience showed: she was the most communicative of all the therapists I had (she also spoke the best English) and because the spa is results-driven, she worked hard to limber up any stagnant blood flow and pressure points along my sen lines until they had to release. I left feeling like a whole new sea of blood had been flooded into my veins.

• Overall rating: a nice mix of Thai and western philosophies. Tip: try out their oxygen machine for a refresher. Price: $114 CDN for 1.5 hours of a Traditional Thai Massage.  

Hua Hin, 191 km southwest of Bangkok

The Barai

Although the most famous wellness centre in the resort town of Hua Hin is Chiva Som, The Barai comes awfully close in the amount of attention it gets. 

Designed by Thai architect Lek Bunnag, the property allows clients to enter deeply into another world, and in doing so, peer more deeply into themselves. Every design feature is used with a purpose: stepping stones at the entrance remind you to take things step by step, the next too-dark corridor takes your focus off of your daily stresses and into the space you’re walking through, and spontaneous patterns are drawn into sand gardens for contemplation. There is 1,800 square metres of sand all over the property and a gardener comes in everyday specifically to create new patterns.

After entering into this other world, I was met by Ploy, who helped me decide which of the four elements I wanted to focus on. I chose fire and my freshly made herbal compress (see video below), music and scents were all customized to match. This massage was much smoother and gentler than the others I had before and I left with a softer sense of relaxation. 

• Overall rating: outstanding atmosphere. Price: $127 CDN for a 1.5 hour Compress Massage.

Six Senses Earth Spa at Six Senses Hua Hin

A simple and luxurious enviro-conscious resort, Six Senses Hua Hin outdoes itself with its Six Senses Earth Spa, an open air “village” with nine buildings made from natural materials that sit on a lily pad-filled pond and are connected by a wooden boardwalk. It is the perfect earthy spot for healing. 

The spa specializes in what it calls “skin food”, meaning that “nothing should be put onto the skin that [can]not be eaten.” For my treatment, I chose the Coffee Body Scrub, an aromatic concoction of coffee, clay and grated carrot smeared all over my body. It might not have been traditionally Thai, but it sure felt tasty.

The closest treatment to a traditional Thai massage is the Oriental. This full body massage uses Thai technique and blends it with other oriental methods. I promise, though, that the skin food is too delicious not to try.

• Overall rating: eco luxury perfection. Price: $95 CDN for an 80 minute Coffee Body Scrub and $118 CDN for an 80 minute Oriental massage.

What was the takeaway from all this spa research? It’s possible that all inner conflict can be resolved with a week of Thai massage treatments. World leaders take note.