Amandari
A ridge above the Ayung gorge, built as a village and set inside a real one it never fenced out.
Amandari stands on the lip of the Ayung River gorge at Kedewatan, ten minutes above Ubud. The land is a ridge of rice terrace and jungle slope falling to the river, and Peter Muller laid the resort out as a Balinese village on it: paras stone lanes, walled compounds, gateways, free-standing pavilions under alang-alang thatch. The boundary is the collection's most unusual. A path runs through the property and down the valley to three shrines and a pool of holy water at the river, and the village of Kedewatan sits alongside rather than outside. The gorge does the enclosing; the village side was deliberately left open.
The resort opened in 1989, the second Aman built and the first in Bali, and the count is published as thirty and as thirty-two free-standing suites. Each has a walled courtyard, which is where the privacy is delivered, since the compounds sit close in the village manner. The pool, a green rectangle shaped to a rice terrace, is widely called the first infinity pool in Bali. Most of the staff come from Kedewatan, the resort takes part in the village's ceremonies, and the arrangement has held for more than thirty-five years.
A boundary drawn on one side only. The gorge closes the property to the west absolutely. To the east there is no line at all, and the register should say so plainly rather than imply an enclosure that was never built.
Land read vertically. What Amandari holds is a rim and the slope under it. The measure is depth into the gorge and the drop to the river, not the width of any frontage.
Who it is not for
Amandari is wrong for travellers who want a sealed estate: the village is adjacent by design and a public path crosses the land to the river. It is wrong for anyone who wants the sea, since this is inland Bali and the water is a gorge. It is wrong for guests who dislike the effects of age in a tropical building, because the thatch and stone have weathered for thirty-five years and are meant to. For a coastal Aman on its own cliff, Amankila is on the same shelf.
Sources
- aman.com and the property's public record - opening in 1989 at Kedewatan above the Ayung River gorge, designed by Peter Muller, laid out on the plan of a Balinese village
- MICHELIN Guide - thirty free-standing thatched suites, each with a private courtyard; a path runs through the resort down to three shrines at the river
Verification
- Official source
- Not yet checked
- Sources disagree
- the suite count is published as thirty and as thirty-two; Amandari is described as both the second and the third Aman built.
- Property confirmation
- Pending
- Last verified
- —
Booking
Private Resorts arranges each stay on request, quoting the rates available for the resort and dates. No benefit should be assumed unless it is confirmed in writing for the individual reservation.
Request a proposalClassified by The Resort Collection House · The Register · Edition 2026 · LHL-E-127
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