When people book for the first time, almost everyone picks 60 minutes. It makes sense — it’s the “standard” massage, a round hour, and nobody wants to overdo it. And then, at the end of the treatment, we often hear the same line at the Runway Massage studio in Vračar: “Just as it started to let go — it’s over?”
That isn’t a complaint about the therapist. It says something about how the body takes in a massage — and why length is not only a question of price and free time. Here is how to work out how much you need.
A massage doesn’t start at full strength, and it shouldn’t. For the first ten to twenty minutes the therapist warms up the muscles, “reads” where the tension sits and checks how much pressure your body will accept. Meanwhile your nervous system shifts from alert to rest: breathing slows, shoulders drop, and the muscles stop defending themselves against touch.
Only then can the work go deeper. A tense muscle doesn’t release on command — under strong, fast pressure it tightens even more. That’s why a good massage builds up gradually, and gradually takes time.
When the whole body is massaged, 60 minutes is split many ways: back, neck and shoulders, arms, legs, feet. Take away the beginning and the end, and each area gets about ten minutes. That’s enough to relax and feel relief — but not enough to work patiently on one spot until a knot really gives.
If one specific thing bothers you — say your neck and upper back after a day at the computer — an hour is easily spent right there, and the rest of the body gets only a few strokes. With 90 minutes you don’t have to choose: there is time both for what hurts and for the whole body.
Two hours are for people who already know massage suits them and want nothing to happen afterwards. They are most often chosen by people who come rarely and “merge” two visits into one, or by those treating themselves after a hard month. For a first visit it’s usually more than you need.
A longer slot costs more, but not proportionally: for all our massages, 90 minutes costs less per minute than 60. Exact prices for every length are in the price list.
If you can’t decide, book 60 minutes — when booking you can add 10, 20 or 30 minutes, so the massage lasts just as long as you need.
The simplest rule: if you come to relax and do it regularly — 60 minutes. If you come because something hurts, it’s been a long time, or you want firm pressure — 90. And if you’re not sure which massage to choose either, read how to choose the right massage.
Every treatment, short or long, comes with a warm drink, slippers and a complimentary foot massage. The only difference is whether you get up from the table feeling there could have been more — or that it was exactly enough.
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