Opening 2027

Aman

Amansamar

Name: Amansamar
Address: Wadi Safar, Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia's first Aman, an 80-key Jean-Michel Gathy resort in the Wadi Safar masterplan

Wadi Safar, Saudi Arabia

Get notified when it opens

The day it opens + our first honest verdict. No paid placements. Joins the Fat Voyage list — leave any time.

First look

Amansamar is slated for 2027 in Wadi Safar, near Diriyah on the edge of Riyadh. The plan is an 80-key resort plus residences designed by Jean-Michel Gathy, sitting inside the larger Wadi Safar masterplan. It would be Saudi Arabia's first Aman, part of the country's broader push into high-end tourism.

Not yet scored. We publish a Fat Score only once a hotel is open and real guests have stayed and written about it — this is a first look, not a verdict.

What we'll be watching

We haven't stayed yet — here's what will decide whether it lands when we do.

Whether 80 suites is actually enough to carry Aman's peace-and-privacy promise in a masterplanned community that also runs a Greg Norman golf course, polo fields and a racquet club. The amenity stack is unusually loaded for a brand that normally keeps things spare — we'll be watching whether the resort reads as an Aman or as a country club with an Aman sign.
Whether the hammam-and-banya spa program reflects anything genuinely rooted in local tradition or just imports a wellness formula onto the Arabian Peninsula. The name 'samar' leans into desert storytelling culture, which sets a real bar for how deep the cultural grounding goes.
Whether Jean-Michel Gathy's desert take holds up at close range. Gathy's work tends to photograph extremely well — Amanjiwo, Amanyara — but a Saudi site without the forested valley or turquoise sea backdrop lives or dies on the materiality and the detail. We'll find out when we visit.
Whether 2027 sticks. This is a new-build inside a large phased development, next to the Wadi Safar golf and equestrian complex that was itself still opening in stages. Masterplan dependencies are the most common cause of a slip, and the surrounding infrastructure matters as much as the hotel here.

First look · gallery

Renderings & press imagery, courtesy of the hotel — details may change before opening.

Sofie, who runs the Fat Voyage booking desk with Nicolas

Want us to get you in when it opens?

Nothing to book yet — rates usually load a few months out. We're Sofie and Nicolas; tell us roughly what you're after and we'll come back the moment Amansamar is bookable, with rates, what the rooms are actually like, and whether we'd go in the first season.

You'll be dealing with the two of us the whole way through, which is why we only take on a handful of trips at a time — if we're full, we'll say so. We reply by email, usually within one working day. The hotel pays us, not you: your rate is the same as booking direct, and the perks come on top.

Before it opens

When does Amansamar open?

Amansamar is slated to open in 2027, according to the Aman pipeline and trade press. Some sources say 2026–2027, but the realistic target is 2027. As with any new-build inside a larger masterplan, treat the date as expected rather than fixed — delivery depends on the wider Wadi Safar development coming together on schedule.

Where is Amansamar located?

It sits in Wadi Safar, a gated community on the outskirts of Riyadh near Diriyah — the UNESCO-listed mud-brick city of At-Turaif is close by. The address puts it on Saudi Arabia's most prominent cultural-tourism corridor rather than a remote desert site.

Is this Aman's first hotel in Saudi Arabia?

Yes. Amansamar is reported to be Aman's first property in the kingdom, and the first time the brand has entered Saudi Arabia. The project is developed in partnership with Diriyah Company, the state-backed entity behind the wider Wadi Safar masterplan.

How many rooms will Amansamar have?

The hotel is planned at 80 suites, alongside 37 branded residences — five- and six-bedroom villas on private plots starting from 9,000 square meters. The residences are marketed as the first Aman-branded residences in Saudi Arabia.

What restaurants and facilities will Amansamar have?

Confirmed facilities include an Aman Spa with hammam and banya houses and hydrotherapy, multiple pools, a Racquet Club, multiple dining venues and a Kids' Club. The wider Wadi Safar site gives access to a Greg Norman-designed Royal Signature Golf Course and polo and equestrian facilities. Architecture and interiors are by Jean-Michel Gathy of Denniston Architects, the studio behind Amanjiwo and Amanyara.

Will Fat Voyage score Amansamar?

We publish a Fat Score only once a hotel is open and real guests have stayed and written about it — drawn from luxury travel communities, editorial publications, and verified guests, never paid placements. This is a first look, not a verdict; we'll score it once there's enough independent signal to be fair.

Open now

What you can book today

Amansamar is still under wraps. Here's what's already open and scored in our collection — more from Aman, and nearby in Saudi Arabia.

Fat Legend

Aman

Aman-i-Khas

Ranthambore, India

Ten tents, eighty staff, and a butler system everyone calls "Batman." One family's picky ten-year-old got an off-menu kitchen and a chef who checked on him several times a day; another guest's Esver built a full birthday setup, cake and flowers included, without being asked to. The safari guides are Aman's own contracted naturalists rather than whoever the park assigns you, and the difference shows up in the sightings: one couple saw six tigers across two drives while friends running independent drivers for a full week saw none. The tiger sightings and the staff who remember what you like are what you're paying for, and on both counts the reviews back it up. The room rate is not the real number, and almost nobody who's stayed disputes that. Rooms run roughly $1,200-1,500 a night, but safaris and transfers are priced separately and steeply: one traveler was quoted $2,400 for a one-way three-hour transfer that an independently booked driver did for $200, and a short stay can add $6,000-7,000 in extras on top of the room. That gap between the nightly rate and the final bill is real, and it's worth arranging your own transfer and private guide pricing before you land rather than after. Canvas walls mean jungle noise, and the odd 3am monkey overhead, comes through at night; a couple of stays mention slow fixes for things like a jammed bathtub, and a few guests found the food more basic than the rest of the experience promised. None of that should keep you away, but it's worth knowing going in. Book the room understanding the extras will roughly multiply it, sort transfers yourself, and go for the sightings and a Batman who works out your rhythm within a day. That's the trip this hotel is actually selling.

Fat Approved

Aman

Aman Kyoto

Kyoto, Japan

Kerry Hill's forest pavilions sit inside a three-generation garden in the hills above Kyoto, and at $3,000 to $5,000 a night, the land is the reason people book this over anything more central: moss paths, cypress and cedar pressing right against the rooms, a stillness one guest says genuinely quieted their nervous system on arrival. The outdoor onsen shows up as one of the best settings anyone's sat in anywhere in Japan. Taka-An backs it up: pre-arrange a seasonal ingredient like snow crab and the kitchen builds a whole multi-course menu around it, sushi to chawanmushi, good enough that one couple booked a second night on the spot. The isolation is the whole idea, not an oversight. Complimentary house cars (BMW i7s and X7s) get you into central Kyoto in 15 to 20 minutes: fine if you want a deliberate retreat rather than a base for temple-hopping, grating if you don't. Weigh that against no pool and no gym at this price, a gap more than one guest flags as worth knowing before you book. Service mostly earns the rate: at this 25-room scale, staff learn names fast, and one guest credits a garden tour with Seou as one of the best hours of their whole trip. But full-rate stays also report small lapses: a forgotten drink order, common areas one visitor called sparse rather than serene, a dining room some found undersized for what they paid. At $5,000 a night those slip harder than they would elsewhere. Book it as the quiet chapter of a longer Japan trip, ideally paired with something central like the Park Hyatt Kyoto for the days you actually want to be in the city. On the garden, the onsen, and Taka-An, nothing else near Kyoto is close.

Fat Approved

Aman

Aman Nai Lert Bangkok

Bangkok, Thailand

The rooms are the biggest suite category in Bangkok by a wide margin, the Nai Lert Park grounds feel like nowhere else in the city, and when the staff are on, they're properly on: a birthday proposal kept secret for months, a doctor and soup sent up unasked, honey-lemon tea appearing before a guest finishes coughing at breakfast. That's the case for booking at $1,200-1,800 a night. The catch is that what you get still depends heavily on which week you land. This opened rough in April 2025, and complaints from that stretch, average service, a random fire alarm, a concierge team that took five emails and four different agents to answer one question, keep surfacing well into 2026 alongside guests calling the same stay frictionless and returning within months. The concierge and pre-arrival email service is the one problem that won't go away, flagged repeatedly and independently, including by travel advisors who say they now actively manage around it. The location is a real trade-off too, not a matter of taste: most rooms face condos, a construction lot, or the back of the Central mall, and only the Premier and higher categories escape it. One returning guest called this the least worth-it Aman they'd stayed at and rebooked Capella instead; another, back for ten days across two visits, called it the best city hotel they'd ever stayed in. Book it if you've done Bangkok before and want distance from the river hotels without giving up scale of room, and go Premier Suite or above, never the entry Deluxe. First-timers chasing atmosphere are better served on the Chao Phraya. Get the room and the timing right, and nothing else in the city matches the space.

Fat Approved

Aman

Aman Villas at Nusa Dua

Nusa Dua, Indonesia

The case for this Aman is simple: a walled villa near the golf courses and beach clubs of Nusa Dua, a short drive from the airport, with a 24-hour butler and a chef cooking to order in your own kitchen. One family's butler, Dandy, made a three-day stay easy, cooking to their taste and staying attentive throughout without being asked twice. The sambal comes up more than once as a genuine highlight, and the pool-and-villa combination reads as properly private, not just quiet, which is the whole point of booking this Aman over its two Bali siblings. A Virtuoso advisor who books Bali regularly places it exactly here: the tucked-away, no-one-bothers-you option of the three, good for people who want seclusion near the beach clubs rather than a cultural immersion. Where it's weaker is food and character. One family who'd stayed at other Amans found the villa bare and generic, with no local decor, and got caught out when their kids' room connected only across the open-air pool deck rather than through the villa, worth checking at booking if you're travelling with young children. On food, the record is mixed: the in-villa cooking pleases plenty of guests, but one experienced Bali villa-hopper ranks it behind Amandari's wine list and kitchen, and another puts it behind Alila Uluwatu and Capella on both the food and the butler service. Book this one for the privacy and the location, not for the design or the dining. Couples and families wanting to disappear behind a wall for a few days near Nusa Dua's beach clubs and golf get exactly what's promised; anyone chasing the theatrical Balinese architecture Aman is known for elsewhere should look at Amandari instead. For a private villa with a butler running the day, this still does the job.

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Be first when Amansamar opens

We'll email you the day it opens — and our first honest verdict once guests have actually stayed. No paid placements, ever.

Joins the Fat Voyage list — leave any time.

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