TRAVEL + LEISURE / MARCH 2016On the fi rst night of my recent
stay at Amanera, the new Aman resort
in the Dominican Republic, a crab
scuttled across the fl oor of a walk-in
closet the size of an extravagant
Brooklyn bedroom. Like everything
in this fertile part of the world—
the ferns, the fruits, the cigars—he
was big. Bowling-ball big. And he was
also a reminder that at a resort on 2,000
acres of dense jungle, by a coastline that
looks like it hasn’t changed since
Christopher Columbus declared it the
most beautiful in the world, there will
be wildlife, and lots of it. (The very large
crab was swiftly removed, amid shrieks
and with good humour, by the staff .)
Aman’s arrival signals that the
Dominican Republic—a destination
better known for its popular
all-inclusives—is ready for a higher
level of luxury. Unlike resort-studded
Punta Cana, in the easternmost
province of the country, the area
around Amanera, on the northern
shoreline, is more subdued. In 2007, a
developer partnered with Aman to
build on a plot of dense jungle near the
town of Río San Juan. The location
came with its own set of challenges:
while Amanyara, its Turks and Caicos
sister hotel, off ers a postcard-perfect
beach experience, the water here can
sometimes be too rough for
swimming, so the focus is on the
property’s jungle slopes and activities
like surfi ng and kayaking.
The resort was designed by architect
John Heah to be integrated into the
environment, so it sometimes appears
invisible. A main building, the Casa
Grande, houses the lobby, restaurant,
and infi nity pool facing the beach, and
is all glass and concrete and Indonesian
teak. Twenty-four casitas (and one
two-bedroom casa) sit in an
amphitheatre formation facing the
ocean. Amanera lies at one end of Playa
Grande, a mile-long, crescent-shaped
beach that has a rare, wild beauty. At the
other end is Aman’s closest neighbour:
the equally chic Playa Grande Beach
Club, a boutique hotel with colourfulinteriors by Celerie Kemble and
a clientele that also values seclusion.
Amanera is luxuriously laid-back,
but it isn’t lacking in things to do.
There’s no offi cial list of activities—
just a deeply knowledgeable and
obliging team, ready with suggestions
and gently scented towels, willing to
withhold judgment when you sleep
through a Pilates session and wake up,
instead, to the trill of grey kingbirds at
11 am. It is possible for the casita to
become a fort of sorts—one day, I had
a sprawling breakfast with fresh
pineapple juice by the private pool,
followed by an in-room massage. No
one need know; the spacious,
minimalist casitas, with glass walls
that allow you to observe the ocean’s
moods, are utterly secluded.
Venturing out, however, is the only
way to fully appreciate the natural
setting. The beach is straight out of
Robinson Crusoe, with soft golden sand
fringed by bowing palms. There’s an
open-air dining area for eating lobster
rolls while kids splash in the pool. And,