Cupcake Spa

Phatthanakan Soi 30 is a long way from the Sukhumvit neon, and Cupcake Spa doesn't pretend otherwise. Its card is short and plain: aroma massage at ฿2,000 for an hour or ฿2,500 for 90 minutes, with a jacuzzi for ฿500 more. Walk-ins are taken, and the door stays open until 02:00.

It suits someone who lives or stays out east and wants a simple, published price. Skip it if you're coming from the BTS: the nearest rail stop, the Airport Rail Link at Ramkhamhaeng, is over two kilometres away. Skip it too if a 3.4 Google rating from 12 reviews gives you pause. Reviews split sharply, between a clean, friendly room and complaints about rushed service and photos that flatter.

According to its website, Cupcake Spa is one of seven branches of the Sweet Rooms chain around Bangkok. What it sells here is aroma massage, in 60- and 90-minute sessions, and the listing adds private rooms and a jacuzzi. The website notes that the jacuzzi, a whirlpool bath, is only available at some branches; it appears on this shop's card.

The website also says you can choose your therapist in person at the shop. Payment is cash only, on the listing, and no languages are given. A hiring notice for female therapists, with daily cash pay, sits on the same site.

Its rate card lists:

• Aroma massage 60 min: ฿2,000
• Aroma massage 90 min: ฿2,500
• Jacuzzi add-on (no duration listed): ฿500

The extra half-hour costs ฿500, the same as the jacuzzi. The website also advertises three discounts: 10% in your birthday month, 5% for leaving a Google review, and ฿100 off per person for pairs. Ask which one applies before you sit down, since the site doesn't say whether they can be combined.

LINE is the published booking channel, and walk-ins are accepted. One Google reviewer complains that extra charges were expensive, without saying what they were for. For a wider spread of prices, the cheap list collects shops that start under ฿2,500.

The address is 1144 Phatthanakan 30, Suan Luang, filed under the Ramkhamhaeng district in this guide. The nearest rail stop is ARL Ramkhamhaeng, 2.27 kilometres away. That's a 37-minute walk on the map, which in practice means a taxi or a motorbike from the station.

The late close helps if you're already out this way. At 02:00 it outlasts the trains by a couple of hours, and the late-night list has others that do the same.

A local, or someone staying on the eastern side of the city, who wants a known price and a room with a jacuzzi option. A pair who can use the ฿100-per-person discount. Someone who'd rather walk in than book.

It works less well for the visitor on the Skytrain. For shops a short walk from a station, start with the near BTS and MRT list or the Top 20.

Cupcake Spa holds a 3.4 Google rating from 12 reviews, and the recent ones split almost evenly between five stars and one.

On the positive side, reviewers often mention clean rooms and friendly staff, including the person at reception. One longer review, two years old, praises a simple, no-nonsense place that states its prices and keeps to them, and one recent reviewer calls it a regular stop.

The complaints are just as specific. Two reviewers say the staff looked less like their photos than expected. One describes the service as rushed with a request for a tip, though that review is four years old. Another calls the service painful and the extra charges expensive, and a third calls the staff snobby. With so few reviews, the pattern is mixed rather than settled.