prudentbear

Planning on a Bhutan trip in next few months. Any experience with Uma Paro or Amankora??

miki13331

is uma paro open yet?

prudentbear

Supposed to be open in October 2004. They are confirming reservations for Nov.

BA Loyal

Aman for sure. They have a tour of the country with 3 or 4 hotels.

Mark345

The Financial Times' monthly 'How to Spend it' magazine had a feature on these resorts last week. I'll try to post it tomorrow

Mark345

Spoke too soon. How to Spend it is not posted on ft.com and i know they don't, or didn't, circulate the magazine in North America

rc3hk

Which hotel did you pick ?

We are going to Uma Paro next week for 5 nights
What is recommended to do in Bhutan ?

Ericka

The way I understand it, the Aman only has one property open in Bhutan right now but has plans for others. So, they are currently putting together packages that involve the Aman, but then send you on to other non-Aman resorts in Bhutan.

We are thinking we will wait until more Amans are open in Bhutan as we would prefer to have an all-Aman stay in Bhutan.

Have you heard otherwise? Are we misunderstanding?

Hong Kong Fooey

Ericka,

As of August that is correct. We spent 7 nights on the Aman tour. This included the first two nights in the only Aman yet open, then four nights at 2 'local' hotels which were fine but unremarkable, then the last night at AmanKora again.

The upside to going before all the Aman properties are open is that it is cheaper. The downside is that the substitute hotels are just the more basic places that used to be available before Aman and Christina Ong came in.

We saw the site of one of the other Amans near Thimpu as well as the Uma, but I'm not sure which are now open.

sgtpepa

I just returned from UMA Paro. What a wonderful place. The people are very professional and as accomadating as possible. The food is excellent. Matthew who heads up the food and beverage did a tremendous job in the food preparation. Eveything was great except the coffee.

UMA Paro is not yet fuly opened, and they limited the number of guests while thay are getting things right. I think this was a good idea as there were still a few kinks in the hotel, but by March when the full opening is done, they will be right. I am not associated with the Hotel. Just happened to stay there for 3 nights in January.

Here are some words of advice to anyone travelling to Bhutan.

You do not have to use a Bhutanese government travel agency. If you do, you will get screwed as we did. We paid a ridiculous amount when we booked for Uma Paro last summer thru one of the official agancies.

You can go to their web site and book directly with them at the published pricing. They will also arrange airport pickup, and guides and tours for you. They can even do your Visa work to enter the country. Many still think that you must be on an official tour thru an official tour company. This is not true anymore and Uma can handle everything for private travel.

The problem now in Bhutan is that there are not enough quality places to stay. Once you leave Paro, it is open frontier.

We were put in the Riverview Hotel in Timphu and when we got there, there was no hot water. I do not think they turned on the boiler till after we arrived. There were no other guests there at the time, or if there were, they did not bathe. We refused to eat there, and fortunately had eaten in Paro before leaving for Timphu.

The towels looked and felt like they were washed in the river. Instead of going on, we went back to Uma Paro and had them arrange tours for us in Paro. There is plenty to do if you like to hike, and tour.

In time, they will have other hotels will so that you can travel in first class thru Bhutan.

It was a very interesting country, with interesting sights, good hiking, beautiful scenery and friendly people.

rc3hk

I was in Uma last month as well. The food is really excellent and we had a good guide to show us around, however we ended up staying inside as it was snowing a lot. We didnt expect that.

We took a day trip to Thimpu but did not like it there as well. Not worth visiting.

prudentbear

I apologize for the delay in posting. We spent 5 nights in Uma Paro in mid Nov. The hotel has just opened and still working out some kinks. Service was excellent and our comments and suggestions were most welcome.

We visited Amankora for dinner and got a small tour or the resort.

In my opinion, Amankora has a resort feel. It is located a fair distance from Paro with gorgeous views of the mountains. In contrast, Uma Paro has a efficient feel of a city hotel with all luxury amenities. In addition, Uma Paro offers a better selection of activities to suit the guests. This was important to us. When we expressed interest in archery, they set up an archery target including equipment next door.

If you are looking for relaxation with some sightseeing Amankora is the place. If you are looking for activities (especially hiking) Uma Paro might be a better choice.

(We missed Cameron Diaz and Eva Mendes by a day..)

moose62

Did you end up going to Bhutan. I am heading out over Christmas and was interested in your thoughts. I am staying at the Amankora and a number of their new lodges in Gantey.

doc

If it says Aman, I'm in! Aman, for sure. And yes they typically are away from whatever crowds there might be.

Mark