Kanya Massage

Walk the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew properly and your feet will hate you by mid-afternoon. This is the fix. It's a straightforward massage studio in Talat Yot, deep in Phra Nakhon, built around traditional Thai massage and therapeutic bodywork rather than scented candles and a robe you have to give back.

Don't come expecting a hotel spa. There's no plunge pool, no lengthy menu of wraps and facials. What you get is trained hands, a quiet room and an hour of someone working out what the old city did to your calves. That suits me fine, and it clearly suits the steady mix of locals and travelers who keep the place busy.

The late closing is the useful part. Doors stay open until 11pm every day, so you can sightsee until dusk, eat, then walk in for a session afterwards rather than surrendering your prime temple hours to a treatment table.