Amandayan

Situated on top of Lion Hill, Amandayan arguably has the best location in all of Lijiang, offering a panoramic view over the Lijiang Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage site. While I'm not a big fan of the Old Town, as it's very commercialised with tacky shops selling mostly the same things, it's still worth checking out and is just a short descent downhill. The hotel offers a highly recommended free morning tour to Zhongyi Market, an open-air food market in the Old Town frequented by locals. My biggest gripe with the hotel was the rooms. Amandayan is built in the style of a Nakhi village, the indigenous people of the region, and the 35 guest rooms are clustered into courtyards consisting of around 4 rooms. The base room is on the ground floor with direct courtyard access, while the Deluxe Suite is on the 2nd floor with views on both sides instead of one. Both room types have the exact same layout. We were upgraded to the Deluxe Suite, but unfortunately did not get one with the mountain view. The room was spacious (72m2) and gorgeously designed. But there were some major problems with the room, which were honestly very unfortunate and severely impacted our stay: - The wooden floor was extremely slippery, especially with the hotel slippers. I would literally glide on it. - For some reason, all the toiletries you would get were off-brand crap that were usually seen in 3-star hotels. - There were no universal sockets anywhere in the room, and the adapter the hotel gave me was also bad in quality. Charging was a pain throughout my stay. - No master switch by the bed: turndown service switched on all four lamps, which I then had to turn off manually, one by one. - Last but not least, a lot of guests reported that the music from bars in the Old Town could be heard late into the night. It was so loud that I could still hear it with earplugs on, although to be fair, it wasn't loud enough that I couldn't sleep. It would stop at around 12:15am. I also, in general, did not have a single night of good sleep there due to the high altitude (~2400m). I'd wake up multiple times throughout the night. The climate there was also very dry despite the humidifier placed in our room by the hotel. I woke up one night at 5:30am with a blocked nose that turned into a horrible nosebleed. This was not the hotel's fault of course, and when told them this they were horrified and gave me another humidifier, but it's an important point that future guests should consider. The breakfast had a good combination of Western classics and a ton of local dishes. The local dishes were intentionally toned down in terms of flavours and salt level to cater to a broader clientele, as per the hotel staff, which I'm not sure if I enjoyed. I'd typically love to try local dishes for breakfast whenever I travel, but I found myself gravitating towards pancakes and waffles for breakfast at Amandayan, which were outstanding. It's not that the Chinese dishes themselves were bad - we tried a rice noodle place recommended by the airport transfer chauffeur, and it was phenomenal. One of the best rice noodles I've had anywhere. The hotel's version was just too plain. The coffee there was really good though. We also had dinner at the hotel's Chinese restaurant and had the cured pork ribs hotpot. It was very good with outstanding service, but one set meal plus a drink ended up running us $200 USD, which was insane considering a similar meal would be at most $30-50 elsewhere. The biggest criticism of Amandayan online was that the service is not up to the usual Aman standards. This is my first Aman stay, so I can't benchmark the service level against other Amans. I found the service to be excellent but lacked personalisation. For example, the staff would not remember our names and preferences despite staying there for 4 nights (they did, in general, recognise us). Nevertheless, we were not difficult guests, and these things in general do not concern us. If the hotel can do it then it would be a nice surprise, no biggies if they can't. We were upgraded and checked into the room by 10:30am despite a more or less full house, which was nice. The hotel also had 24/7 butler service on WeChat/WhatsApp - I'm not sure if all Amans have this, but compared to other luxury properties from other brands, this is definitely a plus whenever a hotel has it, especially for introverts like us. Maybe our bars are too low, but if I drop the undue expectations that it's an Aman property and just benchmark the service against other luxury properties I've stayed in the past, the service deserves a 10/10. I also liked the fact that the hotel employed a lot of minorities who were local to Lijiang. Value is subjective, but for one of the cheapest Amans in their portfolio, the value was through the roof. FHR had a 4 for 3 promotion, and we paid about $700 USD per night. Granted that Amandayan is significantly more expensive than other local brands, I like the structured service that you can expect from international brands. Chinese brands can be a hit or miss in terms of the hard product and service level. Apart from Yangyun, the other 3 Chinese Amans have been getting some flak in recent years, and Amandayan is no exception. It's perhaps the least well-known/popular property in Aman's portfolio, judging by the number of followers they have on Instagram. I've very much enjoyed my 4-night stay at Amandayan, and would consider it a solid property despite its age and one of the top hotels in the whole of West/Southwest China.

What a beautiful hotel in an oasis of calm in Lijiang. Sitting on Lion hill and with a temple in the grounds, it’s a wonderful escape from the bustling streets of the old town. We were able to visit the temple early before it opened to the public, which was an amazing experience. Staff were unfailingly friendly and helpful with everything, including helping us book tickets for attractions. We were staying on the gateway to Shangri-la package and had a fantastic day trip to Shangri-la and the tiger leaping gorge. The rooms were very well appointed in traditional buildings around a very quiet courtyard. From the outside decking of the hotel bar you could hear the nightlife of Lijiang down below (which we loved actually because it felt like you were experiencing it without having to push through the busy streets below) but we could not hear anything from our room. We were made to feel very welcome and comfortable our whole stay. We would have loved to stay longer. We definitely have the Aman bug now!

The setting of this hotel and the area around it is absolutely stunning. The architecture of the rooms blends Chinese design with Aman standards, and makes for the perfect blend. When we went, there was no GM but the staff were still very well organized, willing to attend to all our needs and fixed all our complaints very very quickly. I cannot even express how impressed we were at how above and beyond the staff went for us. A very memorable experience!

We had a fantastic three nights at Amandyan to start our Yunnan holiday. We were primarily looking to relax and were able to do just that - the rooms were comfortable, pool relaxing and the service top notch. The hotel is located off of Old Town Lijiang - about a 5 minute walk down the hill. We found the food at the restaurant very good. The concierge was very helpful and will arrange day trips. They connected with us by wechat upon arrival, so making requests and communicating was quite easy. We ate at the restaurant for most meals and found the service and food quite good - they would even save a table for us with a good view :). One night it was a bit busy and things suffered a little, but not a big deal. Our package included a day trip and they let us just trade it in for a driver and car for the afternoon so that we could explore on our own. When my husband asked about buying one of the hats in the room (realizing he forgot one), they even offered for him to just keep it. Loved it and looking forward to going back soon!

We are among the Aman junkie tribe, but whether you are a fellow tribesperson or not, the Amandayan is worth going out of your way for. It is in a fantastic location right next to the ancient and incredibly beautiful, charming city of Lijiang. The facilities are designed to be in keeping with the Lijiang architecture, while also being elegant, luxurious and quiet. The staff are excellent and have a delightful new general manager. The food and restaurant or also top notch. The Amandayan ranks up there with the best that the Aman experience offers.