Mr & Mrs Smith

Amankora

Bhutan, Bhutan

Himalayan exploration doesn’t have to involve Gurkhas, tents and yak-hair blankets; thanks to Amankora you can now make the journey across Bhutan’s cloud-crowned, pine-lined peaks in boutique hotel bliss. With five luxurious lodges, each with its own dramatic natural backdrop, Amankora offers untouchable tranquility, jaw-plummeting views and a smug sense that you’re the only person you’ll ever meet who’s had this unique experience.

Need to know

• Rooms Each of the five lodges has between eight and 24 suites, with 72 in total.
• Rates Double rooms from $1400.00, excluding tax at 20 per cent.
  Prices have been converted from the hotel's local currency ($1,400), via XE.com, using today's exchange rate.
• More details Rates include all meals and house drinks, laundry, return Paro airport transfers and visa processing. Guests staying seven nights or more will also receive a spa treatment, a private car with driver, and long road and monument permits.
• Facilities Paro: library, spa with sauna, hot stone baths and yoga area. Thimphu: spa, dining deck. Punakha: tea pavilion, yoga room, steam room. Gangtey: massage rooms. Bumthang: spa, library. In rooms: bukhari wood-burning stove, terrazzo-clad bath.
• Check-out Midday, although some flexibility is possible depending on Druk Air's departure times.
• Children The Amankora experience is more suited to adventurous couples.
• Eco-friendly Amankora's lodges recycle extensively, including donating organic materials to pig farmers, and processing waste water. There's also a reforestation programme in place, and all power is hydroelectric, where possible.
• Also You don’t have to stay at all five lodges, the hotel will help you put together a bespoke itinerary.

Food and drink at Amankora

• Hotel restaurant Each lodge’s dining room serves a choice of two set menus for every meal, featuring either Bhutanese cuisine, or Western, Indian or Thai. The glass-enclosed space overlooking the valley at Gangtey is the most impressive.
• Dress code Travel attire with a spritz of evening elegance.
• Top table The tables at most of the lodges are large and communal, but, at Paro, ask to sit outside on the patio so you can gawp at the plunging mountain vistas while you eat.
• Last orders Each lodge's restaurant is open between 7am and 11pm, although early risers can ejoy breakfast out-of-hours.
• Room service The full restaurant menus are available in rooms during opening hours.
• Hotel bar Each of Amankora’s outposts has a communal lounge where a selection of drinks is laid out in the evening and Bhutanese musicians sometimes play. Simply take what you fancy or mix yourself a cocktail and sit back to soak in the sunset.

Amankora Administrative Office Near Kuenga Chhoeling Palace, Upper Motithang PO Box 831, Bhutan, x