Zhongli’s massage houses are the other face of its working day.
The shoulders from the industrial park, the feet of the department-store staff, the backs of the commuters — every night they walk, separately, through some door on some road. This piece follows the roads: downtown, the rear of the station, Neili, and only then Xinwu.
Money and hours first
Foot massage NT$600 to 800 for 40 minutes. Full body NT$1,000 to 1,300 for 60. Thai, around NT$1,200 for 90. Big houses and small parlours differ by a hundred or two, and the difference is in the fittings and the tea, not the hands. Every shop posts its own board; read the price list at the door and go by what is posted.
The hour matters more than the price.
Nine to eleven at night are the two fullest hours in all of Zhongli: people who have just finished dinner, overtime and karaoke arrive at the door together. On weekdays you get a bed before seven, and things loosen again after eleven. On Friday and Saturday between nine and eleven the big houses run a thirty-minute wait at least. Do not tough it out.
Downtown: the big-house belt from Zhongfeng Rd to Zhongmei Rd
The density of Zhongli’s foot-massage houses is all pressed into this one line.
謙和足體行館-中豐店 at 369 Zhongfeng Rd has over 5,700 reviews at 4.9 stars, the most-reviewed massage house in Zhongli; 豪足足體養生會舘 at No. 305 on the same road has 3,600-plus, also 4.9. A few dozen house numbers apart — when one is full, people simply walk to the other.
Toward the station, 謙守足體按摩行館-中央店 at 73-75 Sec. 1 Zhongyang W. Rd is close to 2,800 reviews, and 太上皇泰式按摩養身館 at No. 131 has 1,300-plus: one foot-massage house and one Thai house on the same stretch.
Zhongmei Rd is another segment. 謙守足體行館-中美店 at 75 Sec. 2 has 2,700-plus; Eunice SPA 中壢中美館 at 5 Sec. 1 has 1,800-plus and runs the aromatherapy-spa line, a price tier up. 路人養生館 at 61 Datong Rd, 1,800-plus reviews and a perfect score, is a small room — phone ahead on weekends.
The block behind SOGO deserves its own paragraph. 芸水閣養生館 on the second floor of 132 Xinsheng Rd has 3,000-plus reviews; 大師姐足體養生館 at No. 269 has 800-plus and sits right at SOGO’s back door, opposite the FarEasTone shop. Too many people drift upstairs after the department store, and after eight on Saturday and Sunday nights a queue at these two is the norm. If you want them, go on a weekday, or a weekend afternoon.
Behind the station: Jianxing Rd, one minute from the exit
Out of the rear exit of Zhongli station, Jianxing Rd is at your feet.
中壢足旅養生行館 at No. 8 has 500 reviews and puts “one minute from the rear station exit” in its own name; walked, it is one minute. Glamxury Spa 媚思麗 at No. 6 has a perfect score and nearly 500 reviews; 天泰足體養生館 at No. 58 and Thai sabai massage 泰舒服按摩館 at No. 78 are Thai parlours, a hundred-odd reviews each, perfect or close to it.
The advantage of this strip is the last train.
If you are catching the TRA service before midnight, walk in before ten, finish forty minutes of foot work and there is still margin to get back to the platform. If you have missed it, the rear side is quiet late and easy to park, and a taxi comes fast. The station supper piece already covers the two kinds of night on either side of the last train.
Neili: Huanzhong E. Rd, the on-the-way-home stop
Neili’s massage does not form a belt; it is scattered along Huanzhong E. Rd.
竹云足湯推拿 at No. 199, 400-plus reviews at 4.9, is the most-reviewed in Neili. Alice Thai massage & Spa at 332 Sec. 2 and 翩翩有約泰式（古式）按摩養生館 at No. 840 are small parlours with a few dozen reviews each and perfect scores — few therapists, so an evening visit is a gamble. 宸悅足療按摩spa館 at 247 Rongmin Rd has around 160.
A size smaller than downtown, and suited to the people on the Neili after-work route: clock out of the industrial park, step in for forty minutes, go home. Driving over from downtown on purpose is not necessary.
Further out in Qingpu, 全壘打尊爵養生館 at 265 Sec. 2 Gaotie S. Rd has 1,600-plus reviews and 愛按摩 - 精油芳療足體養生館 at 165 Sec. 2 Linghang N. Rd has 300-plus. Those are for people arriving by high-speed rail or sleeping in a Qingpu hotel, about fifteen minutes’ drive from downtown Zhongli.
Xinwu: do not make the trip
Xinwu has no foot-massage house.
Of the handful on record, two are bone-setting: 安安整復所 at 33 Lane 766 Sec. 2 Fulong Rd, a hundred-odd reviews at 4.9, specialises in old injuries and takes bookings only; 修整復元 at 11 Lane 68 Ren’ai St has fifty-odd. The other two are facial spas: 澄熒SPA at 228 Xinrong Rd and 芯悅美學SPA at 4 Bade St — faces, not feet.
For foot massage, take Highway 66 toward Zhongli, about 25 minutes. Xinwu’s night was always quiet; this is no exception.
One honest line
Massage involves no alcohol, so the ride home should not need a designated driver. But plenty of people come to be massaged after they have been drinking.
The downtown houses are all within ten minutes’ walk of the bar strip. You walk out loose; do not mistake loose for sober. Taxis are flagged at the station front and a designated driver is a few hundred dollars. The full list with map is on Zhongli massage and spa, and the whole district in one read is the Zhongli guide.