Luxury Hotels - Trip planning: Amanruya or Sveti Stefan

Am planning a 6-night trip with the wife toward the end of this month. We've narrowed down the options to Turkey or Montenegro, which at heart boils down to Amanruya vs Sveti Stefan. We've never been to either country before. If we do Turkey, we'll probably end up staying 3 days each at Istanbul and Amanruya (or perhaps 2 days one place and 4 another). I haven't done much research on Montenegro, but we'd probably end up doing 5 or 6 nights at Sveti Stefan. I've read several trip reports on these properties on TA and here, but am still confused.

So which property do people here recommend more highly? We love relaxing, beaches and nature - all of which both the resorts seem to provide. While Sveti Stefan looks to be a unique-r property than Ruya, the latter looks nicer and seems to have better rooms.

Here are some more specific questions that'll help us decide:

1. Is there much to do in Sveti Stefan outside of the hotel? I know Bodrum has a sufficient number of interesting things.

2. Any other must-do cities for a first trip to Montenegro?

3. Is 5-6 days too much or too little for Sveti Stefan?

4. This question is not specific to this trip. Do people out there get significantly sweeter deals at Amanresorts than, say, what Virtuoso provides? I'm just curious to know.... just once or twice, I've gotten a two-level upgrade at an Aman property through one manager's recommendation to another, but I don't particularly like asking for favors. Please feel free to private message me on this.

Thanks a ton.

1. Is there much to do in Sveti Stefan outside of the hotel? I know Bodrum has a sufficient number of interesting things.

2. Any other must-do cities for a first trip to Montenegro?

3. Is 5-6 days too much or too little for Sveti Stefan?

4. This question is not specific to this trip. Do people out there get significantly sweeter deals at Amanresorts than, say, what Virtuoso provides? I'm just curious to know.... just once or twice, I've gotten a two-level upgrade at an Aman property through one manager's recommendation to another, but I don't particularly like asking for favors. Please feel free to private message me on this.


We stayed two weeks at Sveti Stefan (+ one night Dubrovnik at the end) and 10 days at Amanruya (+ 4 nights Istanbul before this). Did not get bored! :p As I wrote in some other thread, it is not really possible to compare the two resorts as they are very different. You are right that Sveti Stefan is uniquer since it is a historical site. I would add that Sveti Stefan offers better beaches and more variation in terms of F&B. Amanruya on the other hands has far better pool and far better villas (unless you take the Sveti Stefan suite at Sveti Stefan).

If you want to know about what to do outside the resorts, ask them to send you their activities guides.

For Sveti Stefan: It might be less to do outside of the hotel compared to ruya, but the hotel itself offers really a long and is a huge area with restaurants, beaches etc. to explore. Of the activities we did I would say that Kotor and Perast (can be combined in half a day trip from Sveti Stefan or can be visited on the way to or from Sveti Stefan) are worth leaving the resort for. In addition we loved the boat trip they organised while Skadar lake (unless they have a better boat now) and Budva was not worth while. No restaurants close to the hotel (or in Budva which is not too far) worth going to, but the choice is more than sufficient at Sveti Stefan so that was really no problem. Very different menus and venues.

For Amanruya: Again ask them to send activities guides. We did the pottery visit, carpet village visit (both with picnic or farm style breakfast or lunch) plus went out with the boat and visited Bodrum. Enjoyed all of it a lot, really Aman style excursions. Because of the heat of the summer and relatively long drives, we did not go to see any historical sites nor did we do any hiking. Take weather into consideration when looking at what there is to do. Something is just not nice in the summer because it is very hot! For restaurants it is more of a limited choice at Amanruya, not that food is limited (large menu and no problem to order other things), but there is only one venue with different places to sit.

In terms of how long to stay, I would say that we loved to stay 10 and 14 nights at ruya and Sveti Stefan. I would have minimum of 4 nights for Sveti Stefan, just to be able to try out all the restaurants and go to different beaches. At Amanruya you could stay shorter, but I wold not recommend it. I would say that 5-7 nights atveach is ideal if you really want to enjoy everything fully.

I agree with Musken on this.

As for Aman deals/upgrades - the best way is to contact the GM direct, or, as you say, go via another Aman GM.

Am planning a 6-night trip with the wife toward the end of this month. We've narrowed down the options to Turkey or Montenegro, which at heart boils down to Amanruya vs Sveti Stefan. We've never been to either country before. If we do Turkey, we'll probably end up staying 3 days each at Istanbul and Amanruya (or perhaps 2 days one place and 4 another). I haven't done much research on Montenegro, but we'd probably end up doing 5 or 6 nights at Sveti Stefan. I've read several trip reports on these properties on TA and here, but am still confused.

So which property do people here recommend more highly? We love relaxing, beaches and nature - all of which both the resorts seem to provide. While Sveti Stefan looks to be a unique-r property than Ruya, the latter looks nicer and seems to have better rooms.

Here are some more specific questions that'll help us decide:

1. Is there much to do in Sveti Stefan outside of the hotel? I know Bodrum has a sufficient number of interesting things.

2. Any other must-do cities for a first trip to Montenegro?

3. Is 5-6 days too much or too little for Sveti Stefan?

4. This question is not specific to this trip. Do people out there get significantly sweeter deals at Amanresorts than, say, what Virtuoso provides? I'm just curious to know.... just once or twice, I've gotten a two-level upgrade at an Aman property through one manager's recommendation to another, but I don't particularly like asking for favors. Please feel free to private message me on this.

Thanks a ton.

We did both Aman Sveti Stefan and Amanruya in July. You could easily do 5-6 days at either resort. The two resorts are completely different, but we loved them both.
We spent 5 days at Sveti Stefan and 7 at Amanruya. We could have easily spent more time at both resorts. I think Musken has done a great job describing the difference. I would perhaps choose based on flight convenience as you will probably want to try both at some point!

Thanks for all the feedback. We had decided on Amanruya, but it turns out that both Ruya and Sveti Stefan are completely full for our trip dates. We're now going for a week to the UK, where we'll be staying at Chewton Glen.

Chewton Glen is totally different thing! But nonetheless a nice property. Just not so sure for 5-6 days! Have you thought about other resorts like Villa Feltrinelli? On a lake, not the ocean, but a gorgeous property as well! Or the new Amanzoe in Greece?