Luxury in Style

Fantasy Island

Avoiding any Caribbean cliches, Amanyara pays homage to the rugged beauty of the Turks and Caicos Islands while keeping its trademark Asian hospitality. Amanyara is the newest addition to the Aman empire and signifies an audacious move into the West Indies.

Eight years in the making, the result is nothing short of spectacular and caters to the stimulus-saturated urban elite looking for the ultimate escape. Imagine, if you will, being shipwrecked with your own personal entourage – the 40 guest pavilions and 33 two- and three-bedroom villas are each equipped with private quarters for the chef, housekeeper and caretaker provided for your stay, and the resort’s designers have delivered a signature blend of Southeast Asian tradition design – teakwood tables from Bali, lush Jim Thompson silks from Thailand – overlaid with a local complexions.

Deliberately skirting the heavily developed Grace and Parrot Cays, Amanyara’s clandestine location is part of its most treasured appeal and is key to the Singapore-based Amanresorts group’s overall philosophy, which is to provide their guests with unsullied peace, coupled with unobtrusive indulgence and superb service – this is, after all, a company that has beaches sprayed with cool water to ensure the comfort of tender-footed guests, and where all the staff can greet you by name.

A British crown colony located southeast of the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos (or TCI) comprise some 40 islands and cays, only eight of them inhabited. Travellers come for superb diving (on the world’s third-largest coral reef) and impeccable white-sand beaches.

Nearly 300 square miles of TCI are given over to protected parkland and wildlife sanctuaries and from the bustling marina on Provo you’re only a short boat ride away from a sand-fringed cay whose only residents are iguanas and migratory birds.Amanyara sits on Provo’s undeveloped western shore, inside a 5,000-acre nature and wildlife reserve called Northwest Point.

Reaching this remote corner entails a 30-minute ride from the airport, past the drowsy Blue Hills settlement. Soon the buildings fall away and the road becomes a rough gravel track, winding through a rolling expanse of pine and palmetto that’s surveyed by the occasional osprey or pelican.

To compliment the rugged natural beauty of the location, architect Jean-Michel Gathy, a previous partner in Aman-i-Khas (Rajasthan) and Amanwana (Indonesia), created a network of tranquil ponds throughout the property and a reflecting pool at the heart of the resort. The public buildings are mostly low-slung pavilions constructed of kapur and balau wood, with shingled roofs of slate-grey African wallaba. Several are open-walled, creating a pleasing flow between indoors and out, while others have tall louvered shutters that swing open to the sun and the air.

The guest quarters are built atop reflective ponds or nestled on the rugged coastline of the Northwest Point, peering out to the vast turquoise sea. The entire property has been built as a stage for the island’s spectacular natural attributes, and the indoor and outdoor spaces blend seamlessly into one another – to swim in the infinity-edged pools is to be absorbed into the ocean’s horizon. Each room is surrounded with floor to ceiling glass panels, but each residence is perfectly situated to conceal your very existence.

Even the wildlife seems yet to have noticed their new inhabitants. Perhaps the most impressive attribute of the resort lies in its ability to cater to your every whim while remaining unobtrusive. Even speaking starts to become worryingly redundant with a team who seem to intuit your needs – procuring answers, drinks or one of the resorts hoby cats for a sailing trip – before the wish has been expressed.

Before sinking into complete sybaritic splendour, it is worth noting that the Amanyara is just a few feet away from one of the dramatic marine parks and underwater walls that make Turks and Caicos the premier destination for dive aficionados. Less than one mile offshore, the seafloor drops 7,000 feet along a wall inhabited by curious crustaceans and ogling groupers.

For those preferring life above water, the resort boasts Asian-inspired spa treatments (for now offered in-room until construction of the spa is completed in 2008); cocktails served on a bar made of crushed mussel shells sitting at the epicentre of a stunning 45-foot temple to teakwood; meals delivered to you beside symmetrical ponds that reflect nature’s autonomy; private yoga instruction overlooking waves beating away at rugged cliffs; and the only movie theatre on the island.

This secluded piece of Aman paradise is surely one of its most accomplished properties and is certain to please even the most fussy of travellers. Its stunning architecture, leisure and culinary offerings, and pandering staff – all coalesce to guarantee you depart with a slower swagger and an addiction to luxury.

Pavilions start from USD 1,350 not including taxes. 

Address: Northwest Point, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, British West Indies Tel: +1 649 941 8133, For further information visit [email protected]

By Denielle Sachs

Courtesy of lifestyleandtravel.com