by Clarke Bowling

As school picks back up again after a restful spring break and stress begins to set in again, perhaps your body will start to crave another week of relaxation. Well, with that not coming for another month or so, there’s one option here in Prague that could help ease those tight muscles.

Thai massage parlors here in Prague are, if nothing else, numerous. Maybe you have passed by them on your way to class with flippant skepticism, seeing their generic advertisements depicting luxurious massage techniques being performed as perhaps nothing more than a front for a more illicit operation. While the legitimacy of all of these establishments cannot be vouched for, here are two that I’ve found that are worth trying out:

In the weeks leading up to spring break, I gave two different Thai massage parlors a try. The first is found closer to Wenceslas Square at Na Můstku 1, Praha 1. Located on the second floor of an apartment building next to a gyro stand––no wonder you were skeptical!––the aptly titled Thai Massage Prague is a humbly decorated parlor. A thirty-minute full-body traditional Thai massage cost 360 CZK and a full-hour was priced at 600 CZK. I opted for the half-hour and was led into a large room partitioned by flimsy curtains. I had a friendly female masseuse who knew limited English and inquired only once at my comfort with the massage. After my massage, I was offered a complementary cup of tea in the waiting room.

My second encounter with a Thai massage parlor was at Nam Jai (15 Kaprova, Praha 1). My springy mattress and lumpy pillow had left my back and neck feeling about fifty years older than they are, thus I opted for this parlor’s cheapest offering: a thirty-minute back-and-head massage that set me back 500 CZK. Nam Jai has a much more extensive menu than Thai Massage Prague, however for those interested in the full traditional Thai massage, no half-hour option exists at Nam Jai: only sixty minutes for 950 CZK with ninety-minute and two-hour options also available at 1300 and 1600 CZK respectively. As for its location, this parlor is certainly closer to school, making it perfect for those between-class rubdowns, and straddles its massage suites between two well-appointed former apartments across the hall from one another. Their office was a bit larger in size and had an overall more professional atmosphere. At this parlor, I was assigned to a male masseuse who asked multiple times whether the massage was too painful and spoke quite decent English. Again, after the massage, I enjoyed a cup of tea in the main area in the parlor. Overall, although the massage was more expensive, it seemed worth it for the more professional atmosphere.

When choosing where you want to enjoy your Thai massage, it ultimately depends on whether professionalism comes before cost for you. While Nam Jai had a much more professional masseuse and was a much more exotic setting, Thai Massage Prague certainly got a fair share of knots undone at a much more soothing price point.