Amanpulo

From the first moment I contacted the Amanpulo team to discuss our reservation, preferences and activities; I felt that this would be a great holiday. Nothing was a problem; everything was taken care of in a very professional, warm way with great service all the way. All we had ever asked for in several emails over a longer period of time during planning of our stay was taken care of upon arrival.

The Aman driver met us at Peninsula and took us to the Amanpulo lounge. The Amanpulo lounge was small but nice and we were welcomed, served drinks and canaps + cakes while waiting for the flight departure. We travelled with only one more family, so there was no problem to bring excess luggage (there is a limit of 20 kilo per adult and 10 kilo per child). The red carpet was rolled out and we boarded the small plane, and after a little bit more than one hour, we were landing at Pamalican Island where Amanpulo is. By landing we were greeted by senior staff (GMs were away for holidays, so we met them only later when they were back). We were taken on a small trip to see the main areas of the island which was very nice and informative. Drinks were served at the spa, at the clubhouse and at the beach club, before we arrived at our beach casita. More great welcome drinks and some snacks, both for adults and kid, were awaiting us there and the paperwork was done very quickly.

We were slightly worried based on pictures that we had seen, that the casita would look at bit old, but were really very positively surprised. Maintenance is excellent and the design fits perfectly into the setting of this paradise island. It is really not very easy to show on a picture how nicely done and beautiful the casitas are, one has to be there to experience it. The combined living room/bedroom has a very comfortable bed (we had asked for a double mattress topper to be put on the bed to make it softer since we know that (some of) other (older) Aman beds are quite hard, and this worked really well). There is also a writing desk, two daybeds, a round table with chairs for in room dining, mini bar, TV with DVD player, mini bar, coffee-making facilities and storage space. The bathroom is very large with large bathtub, good, separate shower, separate toilet, double vanities, a table, and plenty of space for our luggage. My hair and body very much liked the toiletries provided. One of the daybeds had been made up as a comfortable bed for our son. This bed was later moved to the bathroom where it was plenty of space for it. We prefer it like this since we are then able to use the living room also after he is asleep. Outside the casita is a large terrace with daybeds from which we had a wonderful view of the beach. Down some stairs there is a very comfortable hammock and a little sand walkway down to our beautiful private stretch of beach where our sun beds and umbrellas had been set up.

After 7 nights in a beach casita, I was surprised with a move to a villa for the last 5 nights. My husband had organized this secretly with help of the wonderful Aman staff. One of the staff came to say that he wanted to show us some villas after breakfast one day (which I had mentioned that I wanted), and when we came into the 2nd one, I suddenly noticed that all of our things had been moved over there while we were having breakfast. Wow! While the casita was great, the villa was absolutely stunning. In addition to the two bedrooms (same as casitas), there was a living room with sofas and chairs, a large flat screen TV and a wine fridge, a dining room and – best of all – a huge terrace with very large private pool, loungers and a sala with daybeds. From the villa, a path lead down to a beach, passing an outside shower. Sun loungers and umbrellas were set up at the beautiful beach. And finally: All villas come with private chef and butler who could not do enough to fulfill all our dreams and wishes. We hardly left our villa after moving into it, and felt like very special living in it. A real highlight. My recommendation if you want to splurge, would actually be to split stay between beach casita and villa as we did. Enjoy beach and all of the island during your time in the casita and stay in to fully enjoy your villa and private pool when you move over there.

Design is very natural and timeless, not at all modern, but very well kept, perfectly fitting with the island. Atmosphere is very private and very laid back, no need for shoes except flip flops and no need to dress up even for dinner (you can if you like, of course, but we saw mainly casual guests rather than dressed up ones). Most of the time I felt that we were alone on the island, we saw few other guests, and when we saw them, they would mainly not spontaneously engage in a conversation. The personnel in restaurants or activities/beach team are very open and nice chatting to if you like. Senior management goes around talking to guests, we were chatting with them once or twice every day, typically before or after meals. All personnel felt to be really extremely well aware of our preferences and always made sure that things were how we wanted them to be, or even better. Little things like sweetener for the coffee or loads of extra chopped chilies with my husband’s meals was always remembered, no matter which restaurant we ate in. Also in terms of activities or special requests we had, we never experienced any kind of communication problems or “sorry, I have to check and call you back”, really excellent.

You can have breakfast in your casita/villa, at the beach club and at the main club house – or in one of the special salas. The menus vary and selection is best at the main club house, but everything (and anything else you might prefer instead) can be had wherever you are. The items on the menu were all really good - some Spanish specialties were offered at the beach club, while the club house had Pilipino/Asian and Japanese breakfasts as well as the wonderful tropical bircher muesli and tropical fruit, several really tasty sweet dishes in addition to egg in any form, salads, jams, juices, great croissants and other bread. Breakfast was a real highlight I would say. The personnel would always remember our preferences and serve us with a smile. Lunch is served in villa/casita, at main club house, in the pool salas, at beach club or pizzas at the picnic cove. We are not really eating a lot for lunch, but really enjoyed the pizzas and smaller snacks options in room or at the club house. There are three locations for dinner in addition to in room dining and the special dinners that they offer; The beach club for wonderful tapas, paellas and other Spanish dishes as well as fresh seafood, the Lagoon Club for very tasty Vietnamese cuisine, in addition to international and Asian specialties (Indian, Thai, Philippine) in the main clubhouse. We were more than happy with the food quality and choice, even for our 12 nights stay, we did not get to try everything. Our preference for extra spicy food was always remembered, and my husband got to try loads of different chilies that really made him sweat! Great! We mostly ate Asian food during our stay, so I cannot really comment on the international dishes. Very beautiful sunsets with pre dinner cocktails at the beach club, star gazing at the main club house. After we moved over to the villa, it was possible to enjoy all meals in the villa, prepared by own chef, served by butler. Our chef were able to cook us Indian, Thai, Italian and Mexican food and the most wonderful own catch fish lunch + great little salads and snacks whenever we felt like it. We would just tell him what kind of food we liked to have, and let him surprise us for the rest, which was always sucessful. Our table was beautifully set up inside or outside dependent on our wishes and the meals very good and enjoyable. The very best dinner experience we had during our stay, was the private beach BBQ. We got to choose between different menus (or add own wishes) and the food was cooked by private chef and served by private butler at the beach and everything was just beautifully set up with loads of candles, a bonfire and comfortable seating. Very good, very romantic. A must do!

While Amanpulo is a wonderful place to do nothing at all, they have a number of excursions and activities on offer as well. We went out for snorkeling (two complimentary trips per day), went with a boat to see the neighbor island and have picnic lunch at a beautiful sandbar (amazing!), we had cocktails and snacks at the kawayan (floating) bar (fun!) and went for sunrise fishing (chef prepared out catch for lunch afterwards) in addition to exploring all parts of the island by foot and buggy and water sports, of course. All excursions were truly Aman style always with some extra luxury touches; for example we asked for just some croissants take along to eat during the fishing trips since we would have full breakfast later, and found coffee, tea, croissants, butter and marmalade beautifully set up in the boat when we entered it very early in the morning. Another example is the treasure hunt for our son, the island map had been made to look old like a real pirates map. Final example: when coming back from the beach BBQ there were hundreds of candles and floating lights at our villa pool. Amazing!

I visited the spa three times, for a pulo signature massage, for a full body treatment (steam, scrub, soak and massage) and for a facial. All great treatment and a very skilled and friendly team at the spa. Beautiful view from the spa as well. Husband and son played tennis every day. There are four tennis courts, two of them with lights at night, great pros. We did not visit the gym a lot (laaaazy holiday feeling), but it is very well done with good equipment. Also yoga and pilates offered (but again did not try).

The beach is the best I have seen, white, fine, soft sand, crystal clear turquoise water. The main pool was the only thing I would not rave about. Too much concrete around it, not as tranquil as many other pools I have seen. Salas around it were, however, great, and the water nice and warms, drinks cold and service good, so we enjoyed spending time there in spite of the design.

The best service I have ever experienced after having been at 8 Amans, 11 FS resorts (most Asia) and several other luxury hotel. The most relaxing holiday I have ever been on. A beautiful island with dream beach and wonderful people. Just go!