Massage near Lancaster Gate and the top of Hyde Park

Lancaster Gate is where the park meets the hotels — the long white terraces on Bayswater Road, the Italian Gardens across the road, the Serpentine ten minutes further in. Guests from here are, more than anywhere else, people who use the park: runners doing the loop before work, cyclists, walkers who have overdone it, and hotel guests who came for the park and left with a sore back from the flight.

Deep tissue is the most-booked session from this side. Hamstrings and calves after a long run, hip flexors after cycling, the lower back after a week of both. The pressure is set out loud and built gradually; a runner’s legs two days before a race get a different session from the same legs two days after.

The studio is eight minutes north on foot — a straight line up Westbourne Street, across Sussex Gardens, and into the streets behind Praed Street. If you are staying on Bayswater Road, it is closer than most of the hotel spas and a good deal quieter.

Getting here from Lancaster Gate

From Lancaster Gate station, walk north up Westbourne Street, cross Sussex Gardens and continue towards Praed Street — eight minutes. From the park itself, leave by the Lancaster Gate or Marlborough Gate exits.