Aurora Bangkok

Aurora is about as close to the Skytrain as a shop in this guide gets: 110 metres from BTS Phrom Phong, on Soi 24. thainuru.com lists a standard course in a shower room from ฿2,100 for 40 minutes to ฿3,000 for 90, which is ordinary money for this stretch of Sukhumvit.

It suits Japanese-speaking visitors in particular. Google reviewers often mention staff and therapists who speak Japanese, and a Japanese owner turns up in one review. It also suits anyone who likes to choose from a lineup; several reviewers praise the selection. Skip it if you want nuru as the main event: on the listed prices, nuru only appears in the two-therapist sessions. One reviewer thinks the 90-minute price could be lower.

The listing places Aurora at 3 Sukhumvit Soi 24, in Khlong Toei, one of the shops in the Phrom Phong district. It's typed as a happy ending massage shop, with a lineup to choose from and Japanese spoken.

Its website opens with an 18+ entry notice and keeps a cast page with a schedule of who is on shift, so you can see the lineup before leaving the hotel. Reviewers fill in the rest: one describes the rooms as new, large and clean, and several say the selection is wide. One reviewer notes that the women didn't all match their photos, though the service made up for it.

Aurora's prices aren't published on its own site. They are as listed on thainuru.com:

• Standard course, shower room 40 min: ฿2,100
• Standard course, shower room 60 min: ฿2,500
• Standard course, shower room 90 min: ฿3,000
• Two therapists, free jacuzzi or nuru 60 min: ฿5,200
• Two therapists, free jacuzzi or nuru 90 min: ฿6,000
• Two therapists, free jacuzzi or nuru 120 min: ฿8,500

The solo course steps up by ฿400 from 40 to 60 minutes and ฿500 from 60 to 90. The two-therapist lines throw in either a jacuzzi or nuru at no extra charge. One Google reviewer calls the pricing transparent; another thinks 90 minutes could be cheaper. Shops that sell two-therapist sessions are collected in the four-hands list.

Booking is by LINE or phone, according to its website. One reviewer recommends booking in advance and says the manager's suggestions can be trusted.

BTS Phrom Phong is 110 metres away, about two minutes on foot. BTS Thong Lo is about 19 minutes' walk, and MRT Queen Sirikit National Convention Center about 21.

The door stays open until 01:00, every day, from an 11:00 start. That's an hour past the last train, so an evening that runs late ends with a taxi from the soi. The Phrom Phong volume lists the other shops a short walk from the same station.

The reviews suggest a regular crowd from Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and several reviewers say they come back on every trip. If a Japanese-speaking front desk matters to you, few shops make it as easy.

If price is the deciding factor, ฿2,100 for 40 minutes is mid-market rather than cheap; the cheap list goes lower. And if you came for a full nuru session for one, look elsewhere in the Top 20.

Aurora holds a 4.4 Google rating from 138 reviews, and the recent ones are almost all five stars.

Three themes repeat. The first is language: several reviewers mention staff and therapists who speak Japanese, and one mentions a Japanese owner. The second is choice. Reviewers often mention a wide, attractive lineup, and one says the selection beats neighbouring shops on the same street. The third is service at the desk, described as good, kind and transparent on price, with a manager whose recommendations one reviewer calls reliable. Several reviewers say they return on every trip.

Complaints are mild and scattered. One reviewer found the women looked different from their photos, one calls it an average parlour, and one thinks the 90-minute price is a little high.