Amangiri is expensive. I mean really expensive. But this hotel is a destination in and of itself. It is arguably the nicest hotel we’ve ever stayed in and defines a hotel being the actual destination. The architecture is designed to flow with its surroundings from the impressive stone walls with water slowly dripping down them to the pool which was built around the desert rocks. They also have suites with in-room heated pools and star viewing beds above. Rooms open completely with accordion-style doors on both sides allowing you to see all of scenery around you and spend time by the gas fire pits outside of each of the rooms in the evening. But again, it’s expensive but something unlike any other hotel we have ever visited.
And the staff are well trained to accommodate any request – or provide you with some ideas if you don’t even know what you want. Without even asking, they offered to make the bed for the kids to sleep under the stars at night and to arrange for a sack lunch to enjoy on the rock adjacent to the resort overlooking the pool.
If you decide to pass on the hotel or need to cut out some of the days on the trip, you can stay just one night in Page, Arizona on your way back home. There are a number of options and you can still take in the Horseshoe Bay photo op. We call it a photo op because it is crowded and just that – a photo op. You walk up. You take a photo. Enjoy it for a few moments and then head back to the car. But it is pretty impressive and worth that stop.
You can also arrange to visit the nearby slot canyons. There are group tours of the Antelope Slot Canyons. The reviews note there are a lot of people on the group tour, so you can also spend a bit more and take a private tour with Slot Canyon Hummer Adventures. They will arrange for four to six people in a Hummer to visit private land and have an entire slot canyon to yourself. The guides do a good job of entertaining the children with some off-road excitement and the visuals of the canyon walls slowly shaped into waves by rushing water is a view and photo you will not want to miss.
Update March 2017. It appears Slot Canyon Hummer Adventures is no longer open. However, according to the Navajo Tribal Parks Office, tours can now be booked through Horseshoe Bend Slot Canyon Adventures. We have updated the link below to the new group.
Travel Tip: Hotels will often offer to book many of these trips for you. But when they do, they typically charge quite a bit more than if you were to book them yourself. Again, this is why we hope this site is helpful as you can often do so many things and save half of your money by planning ahead.
If you do decide to invest in a stay at Amangiri, the rates are all-inclusive which includes all of your food which includes what they call American Southwest cuisine. We’d recommend the Buffalo filets and Mee Goreng, which we have never had before but is their specialty and we ordered both nights. It is a Malaysian dish of spicy, fried noodles.
In the morning, you can plan a walk/hike to the resort’s smaller private slot canyon (with greenish bronze waves versus the purple and orange of the other slot canyons). The hotel will even arrange to have a car meet you at a specific time afterwards to drive you back and provide sack lunches for a meal on the rock. Or for the more adventurous, the hotel will arrange Via Ferrata climbing with ropes and ladders on property (or really a number of excursions). The afternoon is open for lounging by the pool or spa as the hotel is never crowded as there are only thirty to forty rooms at the resort.
Our only regret was not having more time the next day to spend at this hotel, but we had a long drive back to Texas.
And for more details on surrounding areas see our full itineraries for Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, New Mexico/Arizona or Moab/Dunton Hot Springs or destination notes for the Painted Desert, Sedona, Grand Canyon, Zion/Bryce Canyon, Route 66, Arches, Canyonlands, Carlsbad Caverns, White Sands, Tucson, Phoenix, and Albuquerque.
