Teeing off

Part of the purchase seven years ago, the golf course was designed originally by Robert Trent Jones and refreshed by his son Rees as part of the current project, with 10 holes now played directly on open cliffs.

“Many of our Amanjukies are golfers, so this makes sense,” explains general manager Albert Mertz. “But whereas before you would have had around 100 golfers a day playing the course, now it’s reserved just for our guests so they can enjoy it at their own pace when they wish.”

Those golfers (who will still have to pay approx. $325 a round, despite being guests) are most probably from the east-coast of the US, where many an Amanjunkie has been known to breed, and now, being able to zip down the Atlantic for a short break to Dom Rep makes a lot of sense to them, with Mertz expecting American guests to make up 80% of the total here.

“They’ll come for three or four nights and be super-fitness focused, so biking in the morning, trek later in the afternoon, or tennis and then a massage – we don’t find them to be fly and flop visitors really,” he says.

But he adds that the Aman guest is “global” and that “everyone will be delighted by the architecture and natural feel here”. Of course, from the UK, it’s a bit more of a battle, because although Puerto Plata is only an hour away from the resort – or a 20-minute helicopter hop - there are no direct flights from the UK to that airport; British Airways flies to Punta Cana in the east, for example, but that would be nudging 4.5 hours on a transfer.

See the light

And so it was, that after a super-early start, a long flight with Iberia via Madrid to the capital Santa Domingo and a 2.5-hour transfer, I was starting to wearily wonder what could be worth this effort. But upon arriving at an artfully-lit Amanera at dusk, that question was soon answered as I soaked up the John Heah architecture and lighting by George Sexton Associates, which has lit hundreds of the world’s buildings, including the shiny bit at the top of the Shard.

And part of the Aman experience is of course feeling like a VIP. So thanks to a service that swept me through immigration at Santa Domingo and into a lounge while passports were checked and visas sorted, before I knew it, luggage was in the boot of the car and I was mopping my brow with a cold towel as we headed off.  The drive cuts up through the middle of the country, weaving past coconut plantations, rice paddies, cattle roaming the fields and farmers on horseback – there was definitely nothing high-rise or crowded about this part of Dominican Republic.

Mertz even highlights to me that among his 170 staff, 90% of them are locals - filtered from 2,000 applicants - and many were previously employed in tourism miles away in other parts of the island; now they have been able to return home to their local towns of Cabrera and Rio San Juan to work at Amanera. That seems to give them an added layer of happiness to be working here - of course hailing from the urban sprawl of London, my layers of happiness were inspired by ridiculously gorgeous sunsets that went on for miles, balmy days and just generally being in the middle of a luscious nowhere (but with the best possible wine and cuisine still to hand).

Taming the wild side

As well as the manicured perfection of the golf course, Amanera’s 2,000-acre setting includes a generous swathe of the surrounding forest which means you won’t see another soul on a two-hour hike, save for the birds, geckos and occasional spider. After covering some hilly terrain we reached a look-out spot that provided the money-shot in terms of views.

As we hiked, our guide – who also doubles as a waiter at Amanera, but is clearly very at home in the wild – had many tales about what his mother and grandmother used the various flora for and I asked what a bright yellow fruit was on the forest floor. “Chinola!” he said, incredulous as he sliced it open for me to try. “Have you never seen one?” I had – they are my favourite fruit currently. But I had only seen purple-skinned passion fruits in packets in Sainsburys and this one was on another level flavour-wise.

Dining at Amanera is of course on another level too, with the main restaurant serving a range of Caribbean, Mexican and Italian dishes as you look out over the infinity pool, resort or sit inside clinging to the air-con if the evening gets too tropical.

The other dining option is Club de Playa down on the beach, where hearty salads, fresh seafood and ceviche are prepared in the open kitchen, along with comfort food such as pizzas from the wood-fired oven; there is also a kids club down by the beach for daytime - but at night, this is a wonderfully atmospheric place to dine with your toes scrunching in the sand.

Designer lessons

As you would expect from Aman, the casitas are an exercise in luxurious minimalism, with paramount attention to detail, the finest finishes you can imagine and plenty of space for two romantic souls; but don’t expect too much decor-wise that would remind you where you are.

“Is there a typical Dominican architecture? Not really, but homes here do incorporate nature, bringing the outside in as much as they can, which I think we achieve with the natural state of the resort and the open and airy design,” Mertz counters.

The casitas tumble down a hillside and all have expansive ocean views, but still don’t feel as private as they could; however shrubbery is still bedding in and eventually the tops of the casitas will also have living roofs to help them blend in more, with nine species of plants on each.

“Every tree and plant you already see around the resort is indigenous and the idea is to make us feel like more of a seamless part of the rainforest canopy, an amphitheatre within the jungle, if you like,” explains Mertz.

Surprisingly – not all the casitas have pools, which seems strange these days when luxury resorts seem to want to shoehorn at least a small plunge pool into as many villas as they can.

Meanwhile over at the golf course, a spa has been fashioned with two treatment rooms, in one of which my local therapist administered an expert massage after my hike. Plans could also be afoot to create a spa nearer the main hotel, but these have not been confirmed in great detail yet; again, perhaps another surprise when spas are de rigueur in resorts.

The art of local life

But as much as Amanera wants people to enjoy languishing in the cocooning luxury of the resort, it wants people to get out and explore too, so a trip to Rio San Juan down the road is a must.

A distant and tranquil small town, where the emphasis is on fishing and its lagoon, Rio San Juan offers up a sleepy glimpse of life in Dominican Republic, but it’s also peppered with many super-cool murals, created as part of the ArteSano public art programme. see here for more on the project In 2014, 25 international street artists were invited to the town to paint as many buildings as they wanted; “every town needs a new start”, one of the locals said at the time; “it raises cultural awareness, unifies the communities and wakes up the youth”, added an official. It also makes a reason for tourists to visit and spend a bit of time.

Part of a Rio San Juan tour also includes climbing into a wooden boat and put-putting out through Laguna Gri Gri, past labyrinthine mangroves then to sea and a chance to marvel at crystalline waters, intricate caves with swallows’ nests and beaches such as Caleton, decorated with sculptures by Dominican artist Persio Checo, whose work is also all over Rio San Juan.

And by night – well, the local flavour can be continued by eating out at Babunuco in Cabrera. It’s an unconventional restaurant, seemingly ramshackle, but created with love out of recycled materials by owner and chef Juan Alberto Martinez, who serves up huge plates of fish and local meats with mountainous side dishes of mash potato, rice and plantain. But the best is yet to come.

A smokin tale

Cuba may have the big reputation when it comes to cigars, but those made in the Dominican Republic are said to be better, according to our host Martinez who worked for national cigar maker Arturo Fuente for 15 years, so should know his stuff.

Key to good cigars is of course the tobacco leaves – the best being aged four-five years, he tells us as he watches a young helper carefully roll some before our eyes. Rather than go to the giant that is now Arturo Fuente – Amanera asked Martinez to create their cigars for them, which come in a beautiful handmade wooden box.

And that’s not all he has to show us that night. I had to politely decline when he produced a huge bottle of Johnnie Walker, as me and whisky fell out a long time ago.

But that’s not what’s in Martinez' bottle. Oh no – this is his own brew, his version of mamajuana, a Dom Rep favourite that is concocted by allowing rum, red wine, and honey to soak in a bottle with tree bark and herbs. The taste is similar to port wine and the colour as deep a red – each maker’s concoction of herbs varies to their taste and habit and it’s drunk as a shot, with positive effects on health said to range from a flu remedy, to a digestion and circulation aid, to blood cleanser, kidney and liver tonic, even sexual potency.

For me, its positive effect was a fit of the giggles. And even Amanera has created its own version of mamajuana, which I obviously had to try for comparative reasons the following evening after dinner.

The giggles took hold again, but soon abated this time, when another ingredient was mentioned as being added to some versions of it – grated tortoiseshell, or sometimes even the unspeakable organ of a sea turtle, said to add the aphrodisiac effect. That was too sobering a thought for me, but Mertz assured me it definitely wasn’t used in his hotel’s blend.

And when I got back to my casita – all 818 sq-foot of it – there was a gift of the mamajuana mix in a bottle on the bed, which added to other turndown gifts that had been left nightly with a little story and description of their significance, such as maracas, used in Dominican music such as Bachata and some chunks of Dominican chocolate from Kah Kow to represent some of the 40,000 cocoa growers in the country.

The next morning, to shake off the night before, I finally braved the picture-perfect infinity pool, which others in my group had been telling me was very, very chilly. I jumped in and let out a pretty hearty scream, which is probably not true super-cool Aman behaviour, but who cares – it’s what the locals would do, and after a few days here, I almost feel like one. Which I think, is the point.