Amanbagh

Stayed 6 nights in a pool villa. Full board including house wine and sprits, laundry, some activities and transportation included.

Pre arrival
2,5 months before our planned arrival, the team at Amanbagh went on strike. I was extensively in tough with the GM during this time, and was extremely happy with his efforts to keep me updated about progress as much as possible and to assist me in making an alternative plan, including bookings in other hotels, for the case that the strike would not have ended before our holidays. Luckily, I got a happy email around two weeks before arrival informing me that the strike was over meaning we could continue planning our stay the way we had wanted. All activities, special meals, spa treatments and other requests were confirmed before arrival, still leaving last minute changes possible as they are very flexible with regards to everything.

Arrival
We arrived with the Etihad flight direct from Abu Dhabi to Jaipur in the middle of the night. The Amanbagh driver was waiting for us with a comfortable car full of pillows and blankets plus drinks and snacks to ensure that we would be able to enjoy some more rest on the way to the resort. The wonderful GM Harish and other members of the team were ready to greet us when we got to Amanbagh. The beautiful welcome ceremony made us feel very welcome and in our pool villa they had put fresh juices and pastries for us to enjoy before we jumped into the comfortable beds to get some more sleep. Paperwork was taken care of in the villa almost without us noticing it – all done to ensure that we would have a smooth arrival.

Accommodation
We were in pool villa 22 which was a corner villa with a huge garden, I think the largest of all gardens was the one around our villa. Very quiet and private, the only visitors we had there were groups of friendly monkeys who passed by now and then plus a number of beautiful birds. The villa is very comfortable and no matter how many pictures I had studied before arrival, the size and beauty of it impressed us. It was heated, included floor heating, to a very comfortable temperature during the relatively cold nights and cooled down with good air condition during the heat of the day. Bathroom was beautiful and very large with separate rooms for two wardrobes, shower and toilet plus two wash basins and a large marble bath tub in the middle. Lots of storage space. Great pressure in the shower, but the bath tub took some time to fill, mainly because of its size. Very comfortable bed – we had requested a mattress topper. The day bed had been converted into a bed for our son. Exits to pool and private garden from hall, living/bedroom and bathroom. Heated private pool and comfortable loungers and Japanese dining table outside.
Wifi complimentary and available in villa and everywhere at the resort was not stable all the time, but good enough for us.

Service
Service was the warmest, friendliest and most personal we have ever experienced at an Amanresort (and we have been to 17). We really got to know the team, including the GM, our waiter, our guide and driver, the chef and all the other wonderful people working there. Since we were also visiting during Holi, we got the chance to celebrate and play with them as well, meaning we really got to know them and felt sad to leave. They prepared so many little wonderful surprises for us (will not tell, rather let it be surprises for you as well if you go), they just knew what we wanted (hot water bottles in the beds after a cold evening, masala tea during excursions and so many other little touches that made us feel taken care of all the time). Great housekeeping as well, always making sure our villa was made up or turned down when we were out or having meals plus freshened up if we would leave it in between these two main housekeeping visits. – leaving everything clean and fresh for us to return. Nice little surprises like a flower bath with lots of candles and turn down gift for all three of us every night. Turn down gifts were, however, rather quantity instead of quality at Amanbagh, more souvenir like small things, but still nice memories to take home. Excellent laundry as well, delivered back several times a day. We came home with suitcases full of clean clothes instead of the normal pile of dirty laundry.

Food
We loved the food at Amanbagh and the menu was so varied that we did not get through it even after 6 days! My husband really enjoys very spicy food and they managed to prepare dishes that made him sweat or almost cry (out of happiness and satisfaction, I mean). Equally they were able to adjust spice levels for our son when he ate Indian food or to prepare his favourites from home when he felt like something more familiar. We loved their naan and other breads, the fresh vegetables from their organic garden, the special dessert they prepared for Holi (still dreaming of that dessert – the best ever), the donuts with vanilla sauce for breakfast etc. etc. The wonderful chef would always come around at dinner time to check if there was something special we would like him to prepare and also showed us lots of tricks on how to prepare Indian food at home during our cooking class (see below), let our son visit the kitchen and just chatted with us. I must also mention that we really enjoyed one of the Indian white wines included in the full board package – I was sceptical at first but it was really tasty with the spicy Indian food.

Pool and spa
Pool is just beautiful, but we actually only used our own private pool since this is just so nice and private. I enjoyed one massage at the spa which was good, but not like the best ever. I also received very good service at the spa after HOLI when parts of my hair was still coloured pink (colour faded away eventually, but it took a bit longer than I expected – at first I was shocked about this, but afterwards I just laughed about it and it was definitely worthwhile for the Holi experience).

Activities
In addition to enjoying just doing nothing at the resorts, the activities were a big highlight.

We did:

- Cow dust tour: Driving around to see surroundings and village life in an open jeep. All the time being greeted by local children and people working with animals or at the fields. Beautiful nature, a fort, several temples and a surprise visit to the home of our Amanbagh waiter where we met his family, got to see his house and were served masala tea. A must.

- Neelkanth temple town. Driving around 45 minutes to get there, including a steep and bumpy road at the end to get up to the mountain plateau where the temple town is located. Rewarded with a great view of the surroundings and thereafter seeing the ruins of all the temples. On the way back a stop at a lake with lots of birdlife. Go if you stay for a longer time, otherwise Bhangarh is more recommended.

- The ghost city of Bhangarh: A short drive from Amanbagh. Very impressive ruins visited mostly only by locals and inhabited by lots of monkeys. Picnic breakfast in a stunning location (no monkeys there). Must do!

- Trek so Somsagar lake: Early morning walk from Amanbagh along a lake and up in the mountains through a gorge. Beautiful lake with lots of bird life. Very peaceful and quiet. Also beautiful picnic breakfast location.

- HOLI: If you ever have a chance to visit Amanbagh during HOLI – just do it. A wonderful and fun celebration, starting evening before with Holika Dahan including a ceremony with burning of a fire and then on the day of HOLI, playing with the colours together with the other guests and the Amanbagh team while being served street-food and local, Indian cocktails. So much fun, such a great experience. A life-time memory.

- Camel ride: Only our son did this while we relaxed at the resort. They took him on a 45 minutes ride which was very memorable.

- Cooking class in a traditional Guwaadi (hut): We have been chopping and cooking ourselves at several Amanresorts in the past. This class was more of a cooking demonstration with less work done by us. We were met at the reception by the Amanbagh chef, who showed us everything starting with the Amanbagh organic gardens, then looking at, smelling and tasting some of the many spices whereafter the chef showed us the preparations of several dishes, including telling us about lots of possible variations for at home. After the cooking the delicious food was served to us in the Guwaadi. Very tasty – very special.

- Special dinner in off site chhatri: A beautifully decorated chhatri, not far from Amabagh. A waiter, two cooks and a traditional flute player. Delicious food with recipies that were previously only served to the maharajas. A memorable outside dinner. Quite windy this evening so the candles decorating the chhatri were not burning all the time, but very very special.



Overall:
For us one of the best Aman experiences we have ever had. New friends and memories for life in a part of India where very few tourists are coming - making it possible to experience local rural life while enjoying the beautiful Amanbagh garden oasis.