I was amazed, impressed and utterly seduced when I read magazine articles about the opening of the Aman hotel group’s latest venture in China in April 2018, Amanyangyun, near Shanghai, and decided I just had to stay there during my first ever ‘mini tour’ of China in August 2018.  Wary of air pollution and the extreme summer heat China is infamous for, I thought it would be good to stay away from central Shanghai, and this new resort set in a camphor forest of 10,000 relocated tress sounded perfect.

The hotel features fifty Ming and Qing dynasty buildings rescued by a billionaire philanthropist from a village in Fuzhou which was to be flooded by a new dam (along with the 10,000 trees). Striking, modern buildings were blended with the re-built ancient ones to create a spectacular hotel run by the highly regarded (and high end) Aman group.  This was to be my first time in an Aman property and I couldn’t wait to get there!

I’d arranged for a hotel Mercedes to meet us at Shanghai Hongqiao airport (“SHA”), which is mostly used by myriad domestic Chinese flights, plus a small number of international ones, and it’s right next door to the major Hongqiao railway station too. The journey to the hotel was smooth and only about 30 minutes long. Shanghai Pudong International airport (“PVG”), which is used by most European, American and other international airlines is a lot further away, over an hour from the hotel.

My first visual impressions of Amanyangyun were just incredible – no magazine photo could capture how big this place is, spread over 9 hectares in an ‘upmarket’ residential area on the outskirts (20 minutes drive) of the enormous 27 million population Shanghai. Yet within this large space are just 24 suites and 13 villas, and we often felt like we were the only ones there, so it’s very noticeable how high the staff to guest ratio is.

We were given a warm and friendly welcome by Alex, the GM, and his team, then led on a short tour of the facilities before being taken to our room.  I’d booked a Ming Courtyard Suite with king bed (twins are available) through Amex travel services at CNY6000++/night (circa £670), but GM Alex very Kindly upgraded us to a Ming Pavilion Suite.  It was a wonderful room, which, along with just a couple of neighbours, was part of a modern and stylish development within the private grounds of one of the re-built Ming dynasty villas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upon entering the suite is a sitting room area with a fireplace, work desk and sofa, which is where they left fresh fruit and night time chocolates. Walls to the exterior were all wood-panelled and interior walls and ceilings were brilliant white.  Internal floors are wooden, apart from the bathroom which had limestone floors. A’French window’ opened into a small open courtyard. Through the sitting room was the bedroom with a low-slung super king bed with was very soft but also supportive, a big TV opposite and a high ceiling. The little courtyard could once again be accessed through a French window and on the other side of the bed we could access another courtyard which contained a square stone bath-tub and an outdoor shower.  There was a good-sized dressing area with two wardrobes and plenty of drawers for clothes between the bedroom and the bathroom – the latter having a wash-basin on each side of the room, an ottoman in between and another stone bath-tub, plus a granite-tiled shower room. It was a huge space covering 115 square metres, all beautifully designed and fitted out in the clean, sophisticated, almost minimalist style synonymous with Aman hotels.  Everything worked properly; the aircon, plumbing, lighting etc and everything was clean and ‘show-home’ smart – a truly lovely place to stay!

During our stay I got a look inside a Ming Courtyard Suite and found it to be almost identical to the Ming Pavilion Suite, except it was 99 sq.m and it didn’t have the indoor sitting room. But these rooms are in two modern terrace rows near the wellness centre/spa, not in the compound of an historic pavilion/villa.

Each time we left our room we were greeted by our Ming dynasty villa, in which was a shared lounge area, along with a suite you can stay in, and next to which was a pool which would be private for those guests or shared between the 3 suites outside it (like ours) if that suite wasn’t occupied.  Entrance to each Ming villa compound is restricted (by key) to those staying there.

“Golf” style buggies are available to drive you within the hotel complex, if needed, but we always chose to walk. 2 minutes walk away was a larger Ming/Qing villa called Nanshufang, which was Amanyangyun’s ‘cultural’ hub where one can join workshops on things like Chinese caligraphy, incense, tea making, painting and musical instruments. The main building is magnificently recreated as a scholar’s studio from the 17th century.  The ‘boss’ of Nanshufang was an American lady, fluent in Mandarin and bursting with passion for the ancient arts of her adoptive home.  We joined her in the Insense workshop which was both interesting and relaxing.  Outside Nanshufang was a lawned area featuring a large old tree, which they call the “Emperor Tree”, which guests are encouraged to water to bring good luck (“nourishing the past will enrich the future”).

On the southern side of those lawns is the lobby building, through which we passed to reach the three restaurants on site. Arva is an Italian restaurant, where breakfast is also served. A large space with big windows looking across a river to the camphor forest. It has enough space to showcase a good breakfast buffet, but to my surprise Amanyangyun chooses to only offer a la carte, which led to us waiting 20 minutes for a bowl of muesli. My current favourite hot breakfast dish, eggs Benedict, wasn’t on the menu, but the friendly (Italian) restaurant manager said they could make some for me.  It was a decent, flavoursome effort, but not the best: I say, practice more and put it on the menu. 4/10  Eating in Arva in the evening was ‘unusual’ in that we had the whole place to ourselves. But the food was good (try the very rich ‘carpaccio with butter sauce’) and service was attentive, friendly and professional. 8/10

We had a very good dinner in their Japanese restaurant, called Nama, but again we were the only diners. I guess that’s what happens if a 37 room hotel has three restaurants! We sat at the wooden counter to watch the chefs construct our Kaiseki (multi-course) meal. It was all very good quality (they have fish delivered from Tokyo twice a week) and very authentic in presentation and taste, apart from them serving miso soup near the beginning of the meal, and not having an end of meal rice and pickle course. I was told this was down to customer preferences. 8.5/10

We didn’t try the hotel’s Chinese restaurant, called Lazhu, because it seemed to be too authentic for me (think shredded jellyfish, simmered lake fish head, pork intestines etc). I’m game for most new things, but sometimes Chinese menus just scare me!

Another modern building is home to the hotel bar and lounge where you can take afternoon tea. In the evening it’s much darker; seductive and romantic, where we enjoyed a few cocktails before and digestives after, our meals.

To get a full dose of the dramatic clean-lined modern skandi styling associated with Aman hotels, you must visit the spa, which they label the “wellness centre”. It’s a huge facility, but oh so calm and calming, with an indoor and an outdoor pool.  I had a wonderful Asian style massage from a man who normally works at Aman’s hotel in Siem Reap (Cambodia).

One afternoon we took a walk across the bridge over the river to see the 10,000 relocated tree camphor forest, which wasn’t as impressive I was hoping for, but it smelt wonderful! What did really impress me though was that the river was crystal clear and had fish in it; I had been led to think that all rivers in China were horribly polluted!  That was just one of many misconceptions I had about China. If you go to China today you’ll see an amazingly advanced, modern country with incredible infrastructure, where everywhere is clean and tidy, there’s abundant greenery and where the people you meet are very warm and friendly.

Amanyangyun is amongst the most expensive hotels in China (I paid CNY6900/night including taxes; roughly £766 B&B), but I doubt there are many other hotels which give you so much space, and I felt it was worth it.  The blending of old and new, the sense of space, all the greenery, the stunning modern designs, and the excellent service delivered by so many staff (90% of whom spoke good English) made this a superb introduction to China in the 21st Century.  It was a truly amazing and most memorable stay. 9.5/10

PS Amanyangyun provides free and fast wi-fi, and because they have a VPN you can actually access Facebook, Instagram, Google and international news websites, which is very unusual in China!

Some people (not Avgeek me) might be perturbed that the hotel is right under the flight path for Shanghai Hongqiao airport.  If you’re outside this is no more then a distraction, but inside the suite we didn’t have any disturbance at all.

PPS Amanyangyun pre-arranged a half day tour of Shanghai for us for CNY2640 total, inc tax.  We had a private BMW and a guide who spoke good, clear English. She took us to the ancient (1577) Wu Gardens, which were attractive but very crowded with (mostly Chinese) tourists.  Then we had a private tea class, which was very interesting (and refreshing).  After that we visited The Bund, the long promenade along the banks of the Huangpu River which hosts many top hotels, banks and trendy western boutiques. Across the river is the Pudong part of Shanghai, which features many architecturally stunning skyscrapers.

After the Bund we were taken to the near-by French Concession, an older less developed part of town with shops, restaurants and bars.  It was a very hot and humid day, so we didn’t spend that long walking around, but long enough to get the feeling that central Shanghai is a modern, safe and vibrant place.