Review of Amanpuri

Amanpuri (Sanskrit for “place of peace”) is suitably located on an isolated west coast peninsula of the island of Phuket, set amidst a coconut plantation and lush tropical vegetation, flanked by a stretch of pristine Pansea Beach overlooking the Andaman Sea. 

The azure waters are awash with cruisers waiting to take you island hopping, fishing or scuba diving while on land, there are a number of Buddhist temples nearby to visit. A short taxi ride will take you to Phuket Town to enjoy the colourful markets, sample traditional Thai food, watch the street performers and source local handicrafts, clothing and souvenirs to take home. 

For golfers, there are five great courses nearby spread over a variety of landscapes including coconut plantations, coastal cliffs and landscaped gardens. These include the acclaimed Blue Canyon Golf & Country Club, a PGA tournament host that is home to two championship courses. Residents can enjoy complimentary use of Amanpuri’s golf clubs. 

Amanpuri is a 30 minutes’ drive from Phuket International Airport.

Cascading down a hillside overlooking a private stretch of Phuket’s west coast, the accommodation is split between Pavilions and Villas, the former offering elegant and spacious living areas whilst the latter offers the utmost in privacy and shaded private terraces. With a silhouette echoing the distinctive tiled roofs of ancient Ayutthaya, each space offers a clean, contemporary living area, showcasing beautiful wooden floors and panels, individually decorated with curated antiques and art. 

Pavilion categories range from garden to sea view, the more expansive and clear the view, the higher the rate. The Garden Pavilions at 115 square metres of space are positioned to maximise their privacy with secluded sundecks and private outdoor lounging / dining salas. Tropical ferns and foliage surround the space, with luxuriously spacious bathrooms with deep soaking tubs and twin vanities, dressing areas and large windows cleverly blurring the lines of where the forest stops and the accommodation starts. All offer crisp, white luxury linens, Wi-Fi, iPads, televisions, safes and personal bars. The natural Thai wood furnishings and earthy colour palette contributing to its serene attraction. The Partial Ocean and Ocean Pavilions are sited further up the hillside to enjoy that turquoise view over the Andaman Sea. The Premium Ocean View and Deluxe Ocean Pavilions have larger, sprawling, palm-shaded terraces to make the most of those unbeatable views. 

The Premium Pool Pavilions – both garden and ocean – are much larger at 200 – 230 square metres and offer a private courtyard with swimming pool and loungers for relaxing. The two-bedroom pool pavilion is the largest Pavilion space at 350 square metres, enjoying a private pool, sun deck, dining terrace and abundant landscaped flora and fauna making it an airy hideaway. 

For those seeking the ultimate in accommodation, head to the villas, designed to create a sanctuary that blends Thai tradition with the ancient Buddhist architecture of Ayutthaya with sliding doors opening out to splendid vistas.  Each enjoys live-in housekeepers and a Thai chef. The serene exterior spaces of the Garden Villas include swimming pools, large outdoor spaces for lounging and dining surrounded by lush immaculate vegetation whilst the Ocean Villas enjoy a similar space but with views out over the sea. If travelling with family or with a group of friends, villa sizes increase from one up to nine bedrooms with the largest villa set out on a private headland with the architecture designed around the central pool area.

The glittering waters of the Andaman Sea beckon the active into the water with a wide range of watersport adventures available. For that high adrenaline rush, the Mastercraft Star is the original high performance vessel offering wakeboard, hydrofoil or waterskiing. Taking it down a notch, there are Hobie Mirage Eclipse – a paddleboard with handlebars, Schiller Bikes, stand up paddleboarding and yoga lessons on a board. PADI courses are available for scuba diver beginners whilst seasoned divers may depart daily to the best sites around Phuket including Shark Point, Koh Dok Mai, Anemone Reef and the King Cruiser Wreck. Alternatively charter a yacht to explore the area with your own custom itinerary and timeline. 

Aman’s spa concept revolves around nutrition, movement, psychological health and bodywork with the goal of helping everyone reach their ideal balance. The Amanpuri Holistic Wellness Centre was the original and the most comprehensive of any Aman spa worldwide. It holds an open-ended holistic ethos with traditional Thai treatments and healing practices drawn from Ayurveda and other ancient wellness systems combined with more contemporary results driven oxygen treatments and Finland-style sauna therapy. 

Facilities-wise, the wellness centre offers 12 spacious treatment rooms (each with shower, restroom and dressing area) offering a range of treatments using the all-natural Aman Skincare; a sauna; a steam room; infrared saunas; Jacuzzis and cold plunge pools. There are wellness juices and cuisine curated by Amanpuri’s expert raw / vegan chefs plus movement and fitness sessions and mindfulness coaching and meditation. The spa also offers all beauty salon treatments too including a finishing salon for nails and hair. The glass walled gym is located at the resort’s highest point and features a range of cardiovascular equipment, free weights, a Pilates Studio and a Muay Thai Studio with personal trainers on hand. General group classes are also available in the open-sided salas on the hillside. 

In keeping with Aman’s ethos, Amanpuri also offers guests the opportunity to book Wellness Immersions from three to seven nights with personalised nutrition plans, movement sessions, specialised therapies and spa treatments to start or help individual’s with their wellness journeys. 

For children and teens, their adventures revolve around the Eco-Beach Discovery Centre, a sporting and educational social hub steps from the beach. There are daily activities for kiddies aged from five to twelve including Thai cooking classes, dance lessons, batik workshops and nature expeditions. On the wellness side, there is yoga, Pilates, Thai boxing, swimming and tennis with the Holistic Wellness Centre offering a range of adapted treatments for children. Other facilities include unique exploratory gardens, a nature museum, a skateboard half pipe, a climbing wall and the latest watersports kit. For teens, they can hone their sporting skills with a host of outdoor activities and watersports. The Hot Spot features a Digital Room with equipment including GoPro to make their own videos and films. 

Other facilities include The Library housing a wide selection of books – both fiction and travel – an array of board games, CDs, newspapers and magazines; The Boutique for a mix of Thai fabrics, gifts, souvenirs, antiques and jewellery plus an Art Gallery curated by Bangkok-based Lotus Arts de Vivre with one-of-a-kind artefacts and fine jewellery. For tennis lovers, there are four floodlit tennis courts with lessons available if required plus three public swimming pools – the 27 metre main pool, a secondary 20 metre lap pool at the Pool Terrace and a 10-metre swimming pool for children located next to Nama.

Phuket is where the birth of the most stylish and contemporary of resort brands was born on New Year’s Day 1988 – Adrian Zecha’s Aman Resorts - and marked the exact moment when the design and style of tropical resorts changed forever. 

With the opening of Amanpuri, the very first Aman Resort, designer and architect Ed Tuttle set the scene for the marvels to come, with his thoughtful design aesthetic of contemporary purity, clean lines and lush landscaping melding with and complementing aspects of the existing local architecture. 

Over three decades on, it still hits the high notes of contemporary living and respectful observance of the local culture – timeless in its grace, elegance and style.

There are five food and beverage venues offering a selection of Thai, Italian, Japanese and Mediterranean menus.

Arva is Aman’s signature Italian restaurant finding inspiration from southern Italy with fresh pastas and risottos, offering hearty seasonal dishes made from local organic ingredients and freshly caught fish, free range chickens and eggs.

Nama, the resort’s Japanese restaurant, serves the UNESCO-recognised traditional Washoku cuisine of Japan. Techniques can take years to perfect with exquisitely crafted sushi and sashimi in a menu that celebrates the finest seasonal ingredients.

Buabok is the main restaurant under the toque of Executive Chef Kannika Jitsangworn. Expect smooth, aromatic curries to fresh salads and perfectly balanced Pad Thai – a selection of Southern Thai cuisine featuring freshly sourced local produce and homegrown herbs and vegetables from Amanpuri’s gardens.

The Sunset Terrace is the place to sup a Mai Tai while looking over the Andaman Sea.

Seasonally open, head to The Beach Terrace for drinks and casual, relaxed dining, the menus offering local Thai specialities including wok-fried vegetables, rice and noodles alongside meats and fish marinated in local herbs and spices, fresh Mediterranean favourites alongside wood-fired Italian-inspired pizzas and refreshing salads.

As a company, Aman cares about its guests, employees, suppliers and the environments and communities that surround their properties. Their underlying ethos is a belief in the sustainable well-being of people, society and planet earth. 

Aman’s sustainability strategy consolidates all the projects of their hotels and resorts around the world and organises them through the prism of the following four pillars – local heritage, local culture, environment protection and social responsibility, as recommended by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC).

Their Environmental Protection plan respects and preserves native milieus and ecosystems with tree planting, protection of mangrove, coral and sea turtles, clean beach initiatives, and preservation of open lands. They are also committed to waste management by reducing, recusing and recycling rubbish; composting food waste; preserving water with low flow equipment and use of grey waters; using LED lighting in all properties for energy efficiency; eliminating single use plastics; providing education programmes for young guests at Aman’s Nature Discovery Centers and growing organic producing within kitchen gardens at resorts.

With local heritage, 15 UNESCO World Heritage sites are on or close to an Aman property and the group supports them actively either in kind or financially and well as protecting man-made, natural or spiritual landmarks and supporting them.

With local culture, all the hotels support local artisans through purchasing and encouraging guests to do the same. They also celebrate local cuisine in at least one restaurant in every property with cooking classes dedicated to the local cuisine; activities for guests in the kitchen gardens and at local farms where they choose the produce to cook and then eat.

For example, with Arva Restaurant, Khun Somnai, a local fisherman, brings the best of his daily catch to the Arva kitchens – snapper, soft-shell crabs, mud crabs and live grouper – caught to order. Their free-range organic chicken and eggs are supplied by a Phang Nga orphanage whilst tropical fruits, chillis and fresh vegetables come from Phuket Old Town produce markets and Amanpuri’s own gardens.

Their social responsibility programme promotes gender equality and diversity; protects children; have programmes to tackle issues for women, children, against poverty and hunger. All properties support local school programmes and orphanages and offer support for female led businesses to create economic independence. Hotel employment priority is given to locals, supporting local agriculture in culinary art, purchase of local products, fair trade and using only cage free and free-range products. All properties offer healthy, sustainable, organic, seasonal food for guests and staff as well as proving the healthcare of employees and local communities.