Amanruya

We were at the resort for seven nights. Normally, this would be a bit long for us, since our normal vacations consist of pretty much doing nothing. For this trip, however, we took part in a number of activities. Given this, seven nights ‘felt right’.

I spoke to the reservations team extensively prior to arrival. Communications were always prompt and clear. Given that the resort was so new, that we were planning a number of excursions and that the package we booked had a number of inclusions, there was quite a bit of communication back and forth prior to arrival. Everything was handled perfectly. The resort did ask for a pre-pay (one night up front and the remaining a few days prior to arrival). I did this by credit card and the appropriate documentation (i.e. receipts) was always emailed right back to me.

We were met at the airport, after baggage claim and transported to the resort via one of the resort’s Mercedes cars. Getting from the Bodrum airport to the resort took less than 30 minutes. On arrival at the resort, we were met by seemingly everyone (most of the management staff, including the GM as well as a good number of employees). We were presented with cool towels and a welcome drink and then taken on a short tour of the resort with Gabriel, the GM. Check in was done in the cottage. We were then given a short tour of the room. There was a welcome note in the room, but no other welcome amenity. However, there was always a never-ending supply of various dried fruits and baked cookies (both sweet and savory) and water in the room.

The resort has four dining pavilions which offer indoor seating as well as numerous places to eat outside. There also a number of relaxation areas, both inside and out.

Interior relaxation area

Honestly, prior to arriving I was not overwhelmed with the look of the cottages based on what I’d seen in pictures and in the youtube video, but we really, really liked our cottage (24). The design of the cottages makes more sense when you look at it in the context of the design of the rest of the resort (and up until recently, pictures of the resort itself were hard to come by so we had no way of knowing this). I’m not going to describe the cottage since the video on youtube gives a pretty good idea of what it looks like, but here are some things that I wanted to mention: All of the cottages have different outdoor configurations. The basics are all the same (pool, bale, lounge chairs, dining table, outdoor shower), but the layout (and pool size) is different. Cottage 24 is a ‘first row’ cottage (important to me since I HATE looking at rooftops) with a 12X4 meter heated pool (which I think is one of the largest private pools in the resort). The only drawback is that while it is ocean view, the view of the ocean was somewhat far away. This didn’t bother me at all, and I actually like the ‘pastoral’ feel of the view from our cottage. Our cottage was very private and although we had neighbors on both sides, we never heard them. I found the living space (both inside and out) both very comfortable and well designed. Clearly, the intent was to make the cottage feel like a little home, and I think they succeeded. The flashiest part of the internal space is the bathroom, with its large freestanding tub, double sinks and skylights. The outside space was very well designed, spacious and comfortable. If I had to complain about some minor things, I would say: the outside shower never got hot, so it was more for rinsing than showering; the a/c was very good and cleverly concealed in the top of the bed canopy, but there was no unit in the bathroom, so that could get warm; the floors are marble, which looks lovely, but could be slippery when wet, so be careful; and finally, the bed was comfortable, but VERY firm and the resort could not provide a mattress topper to make it more plush.

I think I’ve made this pretty clear in the pictures, but the resort is designed as to mimic a small village, and the design really works. I loved just walking around the place (even though I kept getting lost, which was actually part of the fun). I am glad that while the owners actually own all of the land around the resort, they decided not to overbuild. The result is that you have a feeling of both intimacy and also space, which I think is a very difficult thing to get right.

The resort has one dining ‘room’, which is made up of four separate indoor dining pavilions as well as several outdoor areas for dining. Again, the same design theme seems to be in play here in that since each dining area is made up of no more than 5 tables, they all feel intimate, but since they are all separate, there is a feeling of space as well. In addition, there are numerous areas set aside for relaxation. Actually, I was amazed at how many (some indoor and some outdoor) there were. I cannot imagine that the resort would ever feel crowded, even if it was full up. The only drawback I can see to this design is that there is no ‘reception area’ to go when you want to eat, so one just ends up wandering around until a staff member sees you and escorts you to a table. This wasn’t really an issue with us since the resort was relatively empty when we were there and someone always greeted us within a minute of our arrival, but I can see how they will have to be very diligent to make certain that people do not feel ignored when it gets more crowded. All of the pavilions order off of one menu, which contains Turkish, Western, Thai and Indonesian food. We often have to order off menu since we don’t eat meat, but with the Asian items on offer, it was easy for us to order from the menu (I could pretty much eat Pad Thai or Nasi Goreng every day). I did try a couple of Turkish offerings and they were all excellent. Overall, I would say the food was good to excellent, so no complaints there. Breakfast was a la carte and was fine – the selection on the menu was not large, but what was there was very well done. Boris, the F&B manger was also very hands on and really worked with us to make sure we were treated well (and ate well).

I may be in disagreement with some on this board, but I have to say that the main pool really did not work for us. Yes, it was a large (50 meter) pool with a nice infinity edge, but in my opinion, it was too large for the space that it was in and frankly, just felt cramped. There was not a lot of space for lounge chairs and certainly not enough space for any relaxation bales or beds. I think that the designers should have scaled the pool down by 20 meters or so to allow for more relaxation space around it. I did not find the view from the pool to be very compelling – nearly 1/3 of that view is actually of the back of one of the buildings. Plus, the pool is located right in the middle of all of the dining and relaxation pavilions and I felt ‘on display’ every time I was there. I really prefer a pool that is located in its own area and not so crammed into the rest of the resort. Plus, it is not heated, so for the first half of our stay (when it was cooler outside), the water was too cool to lounge in. I think that, outside of the core summer months this is going to be just a large water feature. Having said this, we enjoyed spending time in the heated private pool so much and it was so spacious, that I didn’t even miss lying out by the main pool.

Main Pool

This surprised me in how nice it was. The beach is very small and rocky, but the water is crystal clear and lovely (if a bit cool while we were there). The entire area is designed wonderfully, with several private areas that contain lounge chairs, a central ‘relaxation area’ with large cushions and a nice, small restaurant with outdoor seating. I also like how the whole area was integrated into the existing environment – instead of just removing all of the trees and putting in a generic ‘beach’, Aman maintained the character of the area and also made it very comfortable.

This was the most disappointing part of the resort. To put it frankly, the ‘spa’ is just not acceptable at this level. The two ‘spa pavilions’ are actually housed in a roughly 50sq meter building. There is a hall that leads from the entrance and at the end of the hall is a small reception desk. To either side are the two spa rooms – which are both very small and have no facilities to speak of (no bathroom, no showers and no changing area). I do have to say that our actual massages were both excellent. Having said this, the whole process of getting the massage was anything but relaxing in that it was not made clear where we were supposed to change (we thought they wanted us to change in the hall), we were not told what to expect from the treatment and we were really not greeted in any acceptable fashion. The whole thing was very ‘get in, get naked, lie down’, which I found very unnerving. Gabriel told us that there are plans to build an extensive spa, and that this would possibly be done by next summer. The gym was small, but perfectly acceptable for a basic cardio workout. It consisted of two treadmills, a bike and an elliptical machine, as well as a set of free weights. Nothing fancy, but perfectly fine. I assume that when the real spa is built, a larger gym will also be built.

I love (well done) resort libraries and this is among the (if not the) nicest one around. It is housed in a three storey building, with the first two containing many, many books (and some DVDs). The third storey is what I would call an ‘observation’ room, with a seating around the perimeter of the room and four walls of windows. The views up there are so wonderful that it’s hard to concentrate on your book. Other than our private pool, this was probably my favorite space in the resort: fantastic.

We did quite a few (for us). All were quite enjoyable and very well designed. The Bodrum Castle and town tour was excellent. We enjoyed seeing the castle and walking around the town. I advise that you go early to avoid the crowds (the castle opens at 8:30am) and see the town ‘waking up’. The Ephesus tour was fantastic. Be aware that it is a longish (2.5 hours) drive to the site and some of the roads can be a bit rough. The Aman appointed guide was wonderful: very knowledgeable and quite a lot of fun to hang around with. On the way back, we also stopped at place where carpets are made, which was interesting. The horseback riding was also very fun – it was quite interesting to ride horses through a small village. Of course, the highlight of this was being able to eat breakfast on top of one of the hills, with an amazing view of the countryside. Finally, the afternoon on Amanruya I was our favorite activity. The captain and his assistant were gracious hosts. Aman prepared for us a nice cold lunch to enjoy on the boat. And we got to see the most amazing sunset and travel with a school of dolphins for a bit. Although time on the boat is a bit pricey, it was well worth every penny.

Again, this handled perfectly. We were sent off by several managers and staff members. Aman allocated the perfect amount of time to get to the airport and check in. It was nice that both a driver and another employee went with us in the car and the second employee offered to go into the airport with us to show us around and help with luggage and check in.

This is where the resort really shined. Although having only been open roughly six months, I can honestly say that the service we experienced was some of the best ever, anywhere. Although we have been to several Amans, I feel like I’ve had my first ‘Aman Experience’. We were always greeted by name; never asked for a room number; we’d step out of the cottage to always find it refreshed; management was always around and clearly very concerned that we were enjoying ourselves; the staff was warm and seemed genuinely caring. There were a few instances where we just mentioned that something ‘would be nice’, and it was done (for example, one evening we mentioned to Gabriel that the private pool was tiny bit cool, but still perfectly fine – and of course, the next day the temperature was adjusted up a couple of degrees). After having stayed here and experienced what we did, I can see why so many on this board are so loyal to Aman. In the past, I’ve had experiences at Aman resorts that range from really poor to good but not great, but if I continue to have experiences similar to that at Amanruya, count me as an Amanjunkie. The only area of improvement with service is that some of the staff members are still a bit shy. I believe that, with time (and some more experience), even this minor issue will go away. I am certainly no stranger to luxury resorts but I still cannot believe how excellent the service was and how much all of the employees at the resort made us feel welcome.

One thing that warrants mentioning is that there is some kind of flying beetle in the area that is everywhere. They do not bite or sting, but just kind of swarm, hover and land. So, this was more of an irritant than anything. But I did find that the prevalence of the bugs was such that it made us less likely to enjoy the outdoor space and outdoor dining (and no amount of repellent or coils would seem to repel them). I hope the resort finds some way to resolve this. I do admit that I have a low tolerance for insects (and for having a dozen of them crawling on me at one time), but I was clearly not the only guest bothered by them and when I mentioned it to the staff, it was clear that I was not the first to do so.

We had a fantastic stay and would definitely return once they have a real spa (and assuming the bug issue is resolved). I hate to use this term, but I think the resort (and the employees who work there) really are ‘special’. From the GM, Gabriel all the way down the line, everyone is wonderful and are well on their way to creating what I think will be one of the best resorts in the world.

This report has gone on far too long and I still feel like I’ve had to skip many important details. So, to sum it up in one simple word, what I will say is: GO!