When we arrived at Amanbagh, its consistent good taste exposed minor infelicities in the other places we’d stayed. Every other resort had greeted us by dotting our foreheads with a red paste bindi—something we’d marginally appreciated at first, but that also felt a bit forced and clichd. But at Amanbagh, no dotting of the forehead; instead, a welcome hymn was sung and a bracelet tied around our wrists. And the simplicity and elegance of the staff uniforms, and the saffron saris in particular, suddenly made it seem as if the staff’s uniforms at every other place had been fussy and garish in comparison. But the most overwhelming impression upon leaving the rough road to Ajabgarh to pass through the gates of Amanbagh is: “How is it possible to create such luxury in a place with absolutely no infrastructure to support tourism of any sort, let alone luxury travel?” I’ve felt that at the best of Aman resorts—at Amankora in Bhutan in particular—this ability Aman has to conjure up the most luxurious of travel experiences in the most unlikely of places. Because Ajabgarh is definitely off the beaten path of travelers in India. It’s a challenge to get there. But the opportunity to interact with people, villages, and sites that have the authenticity and warmth and generosity of those in this area was in many ways the highlight of our trip to India, and I feel absolute gratitude to Aman for having created this sort of experience.

Check In

We arrived in the transition between General Managers, with Robin and Manav just leaving for Aman New Delhi, and Tim Weiland from Amanjena recently having arrived. A quick tangent regarding Marrakech. I asked Tim what he thought about the new luxury properties opening there, and here is his take on them: - Mandarin Oriental Marrakech: pure kitsch, nothing good to say about it - Four Seasons Marrakech: making incredibly rapid progress, and will be very, very nice, particularly for families - Royal Mansour: unbelievably gorgeous, with a huge budget to ensure the best of every piece of stemware, cutlery, furnishings. Utterly amazing. Perhaps because of the change in management, the excursions and experiences provided by Amanbagh were just slightly less special than has been my experience at other Aman resorts—the timing was off so we missed sunset on the sunset tour, for example, and they weren’t able to arrange any of the sort of special experience dinners that are one of the highlights of a stay at an Aman resort—instead, they set up dinner on their roof for us, which is not something I would recommend, as it’s not substantively different than simply eating downstairs in their restaurant, and you have to pay a hefty set-up fee.

Accomodations

And while I suppose I’m in the minority on this, I’m not crazy about the design and dcor of the accommodations, which look a bit tacky and dated to me. We stayed in Terrace Havelis, which have some strange features, including little tiny balconies with doors that are almost too small to go through. After the craftsmanship of the Oberoi hotels, and the historic grandeur of Umaid Bhawan, these accommodations were less impressive to me, and of lower quality in materials and craft.

Activities

So those are the minor negatives. But again, experiencing rural India – as made possible by Amanbagh -- was the highlight of our trip. The morning walk to neighboring villages was a superb outing, giving us the opportunity to interact with the locals and see their daily lives. And Amanbagh has a sort of understated elegance, beauty, and generosity that made it an absolute pleasure. Given that such a high percentage of Indians live in rural communities, and that over the course of the next few decades much of rural India will move to cities, it felt really valuable to be able to experience the India of Amanbagh. For other excursions, we visited the ruins of Bhangarh, and another day went to the ruined Jain temple of Neelkanth and then had breakfast in a skiff on a nearby lake. Neither sight was especially impressive, but the chance to travel through rural India and to interact with local villagers at each sight provided a really worthwhile experience.

Dining

The food was of very high quality, and the pool is every bit as beautiful as it looks in the pictures.