A wonderful stay at Amanbagh--and an extraordinary excursion to Pratapgarh Fort
Feb 25, 2017, 1:27 pm
Amanbagh
NH 11A, Near Ajabgarh Fort, Alwar Ajabgarh, Rajasthan 301410 IN
A wonderful stay at Amanbagh--and an extraordinary excursion to Pratapgarh Fort (58 Photos)
Amanbagh
My husband and I stayed 4 nights at Amanbagh after previous stops in New Delhi (The Lodhi), Jodhpur (Taj Umaid Bhawan Palace), Udaipur (Oberoi Udaivilas), Varanasi (Taj Nadesar Palace), and Agra (Oberoi Amarvilas). We were thrilled to be ending our time in India at Amanbagh.
We really loved Amanbagh...but were not as blown away by this property/experience as so many others have been. We totally enjoyed our time but found the food/beverage choices to be sorely lacking--especially considering the greater variety for both Indian and Western options found even at the 10 room Taj Nadesar Palace!
On the other hand, the Pratapgarh Fort excursion turned out to be our 2nd favorite activity/site for our entire time in India--behind only Varanasi and its Ghats along the Ganges. Karin, the GM, told us this excursion has only been offered for the past 6 months--and we say it's about damn time! That blew us away.
I think our having spent so much rural time in India already on our trip--on the drive between Jodhpur and Udaipur, on the outskirts and in the countryside out of Udaipur, and in and around Varanasi--meant that the rural time at Amanbagh wasn't quite as new or surprising to us as it likely is for most who visit Amanbagh. The famous cowdust tour, for example, was a little bit of a letdown for us.
That being said, Amanbagh is clearly special. For those who haven't experienced rural India, you really must--and Amanbagh is a magical place to enjoy that rural India experience.
Check In
Check in was quick and easy, as is usually the case with any Aman property. We met Karin, the GM, a number of members of the team, and then were quickly led to our Pool Pavilion where we completed our registration process.
Room
The Pool Pavilion is wonderful.
The bedroom:
The view from the entry area to the backyard pool and garden:
The incredible bathroom:
Storage area 1:
Storage area 2:
Pool deck and garden:
The Pool Pavilion was worth every penny! It was spacious, extremely comfortable and well thought-out, and the air con worked like a charm! The only negative was lighting, especially in the bedroom, as can be true with so many Amans.
Service
Service was extraordinary. We really had no service misses here, to be honest. Everyone was happy to help in any way they could, no matter what the request.
I had mentioned my disappointment with the menu's diversity of options for lunch and dinner. I did order off-menu a few times, and that was never a problem.
Dining
My biggest issue with Amanbagh. The dining options for lunch and dinner simply weren't diverse enough for my tastes. There was only a single fish dish for either menu, and there never seemed to be enough different chicken or lamb dishes--just one of each. There were amazing shrimp dishes at every other hotel at which we stayed in India...but not a one at the Amanbagh. For both Indian and Western variety, there just wasn't. The Western menu, not something I ordinarily would care about, was even more limited than the Indian menu--giving me no other options even there. It was disappointing, and we mentioned this to Karin.
Otherwise, the food we did have was very good...though the Western menu gnocchi was pretty bland.
Aman is not known for its incredible food...but this was for us about as low a point as we had at Aman Summer Palace. Even Amangiri's menu and food were better IMO.
Location
A sublime location. We loved it. It was about a 3 hour drive from Agra (but we stopped at Fatehpur Sikir en route to break up that drive) and about a 2 hour drive to Jaipur.
Pratapgarh Fort excursion--our 2nd favorite thing in India!
We decided to try the Pratapgarh Fort excursion on our first full morning...and boy, are we glad we did. This fort turned out to be our 2nd favorite sight in all of India, behind only Varanasi and its crazy Ghats.
Just 20 km from Amanbagh (but 45 min drive!) is the Pratapgarh Fort on the border of Alwar and Rajasthan provinces, built in 1561. It was a very steep climb, but we were rewarded as the only people on the site for the entire time we were there. Unbelievably wondrous.
The climb is very steep, so you'll want to be fit and definitely adventurous for this excursion. But the reward is vast:
It is a VERY steep climb.
But the views:
Our amazing guide for our time at Amanbagh:
Literally, the only living things we saw on our trek at Pratapgarh:
Unbelievable.
After seeing the Fort, we went down into the village to check out the sights. Another beautiful, remote village to enjoy...
And then a caravan of camels on our way back to Amanbagh--of course!
Bhangarh excursion
Just 12 km away from Amanbagh is the abandoned and supposedly haunted city of Bhangarh. We did this excursion on our second morning. Between the ruins, monkeys, cows, goats, dogs, snakes, birds, and possible leopard, it was quite a morning...and quite hot!
Camel ride and cow dust tour excursion
We'd heard all about the cow dust tour...but still had no idea what it was about. And Karin and my husband pretty much talked me into the camel ride beforehand--which was pretty fun.
And then the cow dust tour. Others mentioned going to the local fort and local temples, but we were never afforded that opportunity. So it was a little bit of a letdown for us. But we enjoyed seeing the local life.
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Overall
We loved our Amanbagh stay, and it provided us our 2nd favorite sight in all of India with the Pratapgarh Fort--a real surprise. Though food/beverage were not our cup of tea, and that did disappoint us, we still had a fabulous time and highly recommend the property to everyone who can afford it.
Feb 25, 2017, 2:06 pm
Feb 25, 2017, 6:22 pm
The pool pavilion we were in was very private. But the monkeys (macaques?) knew how to open the patio doors so you had to keep them locked at all times. They would come in and raid the cookie jars.
Feb 25, 2017, 6:32 pm
The pool pavilion we were in was very private. But the monkeys (macaques?) knew how to open the patio doors so you had to keep them locked at all times. They would come in and raid the cookie jars.
The best was watching the monkeys stealing food from the locals at Bhangarh. Hilarious.
Feb 25, 2017, 6:56 pm
I'll write the review shortly, but the pool pavilions are spread across the two sides of the property. I was in #29 (next to Bhrubin's though not at the same time - ha!) - you're right that the pavilion is completely open on one side. Lots of monkeys, didn't see people (except for staff walking to clean up) though.
The pool pavilions on the other side are much more private, but as a result enjoy a much smaller backyard.
@bhrubin - I actually found this to be one of the better lit Amans! We thought it was poorly lit as with many Amans as well, but once you look around there were tons of hidden lamps and switches that, once turned on, made it a decently lit space. In any case, my comparison point is Amanfayun where it was nearly pitch black at night.
Feb 26, 2017, 8:55 am
This was actually our first Aman hotel that we ever went to and it was superb. We went during Diwali and they put out a lot of lights, brought a religious man for a ceremony, did it up despite extremely low occupancy. After the hustle and bustle of larger cities it was a nice respite for us.
We did the Chatri (sp?) dinner and I didn't find it to be that great. Especially since I don't enjoy sitting on the floor.
Jan 11, 2018, 11:33 pm
1) We also loved the fort tour, and we had a private yoga session on top, which was amazing (the yoga instructor at the resort is great)
2) This was our only countryside hotel in India, but we really loved all of the old ruins (the ghost town, the 3rd-century hindu temples, etc.) which had so few tourists
3) We did not do the cow dust tour because a) we walked through the village in the morning, b) we were always dusty from our excursions and c) the hotel had camel polo on xmas day, so we got to ride camels already
4) We were in pavilion #23 , which is on the far end of the property. For those going in the cooler months, I would highly recommend this area since we had direct sun from at least 9:30 - 4pm, so it was warm enough to swim, otherwise it can be quite cool
5) I am not sure if it was because they were busy over Christmas or what, but I think from a service perspective, this may have been one of the weakest Aman's we can remember, especially coming from Aman-i-Khas. A few examples: 1) Even though I told the central reservations and the people at check-in that my wife is allergic to dairy, every guide only brought masala chai tea with milk and many room service orders came with dairy (in things you would not expect there to be), 2) When my wife went shopping in the small town after the fort village, our guide just completely disappeared at some point for about 10 minutes. Then, when I asked him to tell the shopkeeper that we only had xxx INR on us and would only pay that much, his response was "you pay that now and you can give me the rest at the hotel" - which I thought was pretty sketchy, 3) Our AC unit was very loud, and at check-in they promised to fix it, but never got back to us, 4) we would come back from excursions around 6 and then shower and go to dinner, but they did not refresh our rooms when we were at dinner, 5) The snacks in the room were only replenished once even when I clearly left the glass jar open on the desk, 6) I had asked if I could buy the do no disturb sign. The person said yes and they would give it to us at check-out. Since they were driving us to Agra, I just assumed they put it in the car, but it turned out they just forgot to get it for us.
Overall, we enjoyed our stay because of how relaxing the property is and the interesting sights we were able to see while there. but coming from Aman-i-khas where our mind basically went on autopilot, I found the service to be fairly weak.
Jan 12, 2018, 3:22 am
1) We also loved the fort tour, and we had a private yoga session on top, which was amazing (the yoga instructor at the resort is great)
2) This was our only countryside hotel in India, but we really loved all of the old ruins (the ghost town, the 3rd-century hindu temples, etc.) which had so few tourists
3) We did not do the cow dust tour because a) we walked through the village in the morning, b) we were always dusty from our excursions and c) the hotel had camel polo on xmas day, so we got to ride camels already
4) We were in pavilion #23 , which is on the far end of the property. For those going in the cooler months, I would highly recommend this area since we had direct sun from at least 9:30 - 4pm, so it was warm enough to swim, otherwise it can be quite cool
5) I am not sure if it was because they were busy over Christmas or what, but I think from a service perspective, this may have been one of the weakest Aman's we can remember, especially coming from Aman-i-Khas. A few examples: 1) Even though I told the central reservations and the people at check-in that my wife is allergic to dairy, every guide only brought masala chai tea with milk and many room service orders came with dairy (in things you would not expect there to be), 2) When my wife went shopping in the small town after the fort village, our guide just completely disappeared at some point for about 10 minutes. Then, when I asked him to tell the shopkeeper that we only had xxx INR on us and would only pay that much, his response was "you pay that now and you can give me the rest at the hotel" - which I thought was pretty sketchy, 3) Our AC unit was very loud, and at check-in they promised to fix it, but never got back to us, 4) we would come back from excursions around 6 and then shower and go to dinner, but they did not refresh our rooms when we were at dinner, 5) The snacks in the room were only replenished once even when I clearly left the glass jar open on the desk, 6) I had asked if I could buy the do no disturb sign. The person said yes and they would give it to us at check-out. Since they were driving us to Agra, I just assumed they put it in the car, but it turned out they just forgot to get it for us.
Overall, we enjoyed our stay because of how relaxing the property is and the interesting sights we were able to see while there. but coming from Aman-i-khas where our mind basically went on autopilot, I found the service to be fairly weak.
FDW
Jan 16, 2018, 8:01 am
FDW
Essentially, the actual experience was probably one of my weakest Amans. Yet, it's in a stunning location (and the resort itself is fantastic too) with interesting activities and excursions around. It really should be competing with something like Amanjiwo. And I can see how that would have been the case under someone like Harish, and probably from where the Amanbagh legend arises.
Jan 18, 2018, 8:30 pm
But, the weakest link is the reservation team. Correspondence pre-arrival was dismal. An utter waste of time trying to line things up in advance, then at checkout there was a billing error in their favor. I don't appreciate being in the position of needing to scrutinize the bill and having to insist on corrections. It makes one depart on a sour note. Pity.
Jan 22, 2018, 9:31 am
But, the weakest link is the reservation team. Correspondence pre-arrival was dismal. An utter waste of time trying to line things up in advance, then at checkout there was a billing error in their favor. I don't appreciate being in the position of needing to scrutinize the bill and having to insist on corrections. It makes one depart on a sour note. Pity.
Feb 3, 2018, 2:27 pm
