Massage Amsterdam after the marathon, for the runners and for the people who cheered them on
Written for visitorsOne Sunday each October the city gives its streets to runners. Whether you ran the full distance or the half, or spent the day cheering from the banks of the Amstel, the evening after the race is a natural time for a massage in Amsterdam, booked well before the start.
The Amsterdam Marathon starts and finishes in the Olympic Stadium in Zuid, and the course runs out along the Amstel and back through the city. Thousands of runners take part in the full race, the half and the shorter distances, and many bring partners and friends who follow them round by tram and bicycle. For visitors who came for the race, the evening is the one free part of the weekend, and it fills up quickly.
What the house does and does not claim
A massage here is not sports therapy, and the therapists are not physiotherapists. Nobody will tell you that an hour on the bed speeds your recovery or spares you the stiffness of the next morning, and you should be wary of anyone who does. What the evening offers is simpler: warmth, quiet and a room you do not have to leave. If the race left you with an actual injury, a doctor or a physiotherapist is the person to see; if you are simply tired, tell her so in the thread.
Booking a massage in Amsterdam for race night
Race weekend fills the city, so book ahead. Writing a few days before you travel makes it a booking more than twenty-four hours ahead, and half the fee is paid once the hour is agreed; a first booking with the house carries the same deposit in any case. Choose an hour that allows for the slow walk out of the stadium, the crowded trams, a shower and something to eat, which for most finishers means early evening. One move is free if you ask more than twenty-four hours before the hour, to a date within fourteen days, so a change of plan before race day costs nothing.
Supporters are tired too
Cheering is hard work. Supporters stand for hours at a bend in the course, then hurry across town to catch their runner again at another point, then stand some more at the finish. Their feet ache as much as anyone's by evening. Two people who came together can book together: one therapist shared between you, or a therapist each, as the couples page explains, with both of you twenty-one or over and both agreeing to it.
When race weekend meets a peak date
The race falls in the same month as the Amsterdam Dance Event, and in some years the two share a weekend. The dance week is a peak date, so in those years every booking carries a deposit of half the fee, a returning guest's same-day hour included. The peak date entry lists the dates that count, and the house will name them for any period if you ask.