Nighttime reveals a special and serene magic at Amangiri—the quiet emanating from the ancient rocks is almost deafening.
Staring at a towering mesa in front of my hotel room porch, I noticed my phone’s screen light up. I was surprised I even had service, seeing as we were deep in the Utah desert with no man-made structures other than ours to be found for miles. It was a message from a friend, who sent no text but a link to a New York Post article headlined, “Kanye West and new ‘wife’ Bianca Censori honeymoon at lavish Utah resort.”
Wait a minute, I thought. I was at a lavish Utah resort! One click confirmed it: Kanye West and I had identical honeymoon plans mere days apart. Our shared resort: the famed Amangiri, part of the Aman luxury portfolio of resorts (to call it a chain would be accurate but almost feels wrong). The beleaguered rapper-designer and his bride departed right before my new husband and I arrived. It’s also where his former sister-in-law, Kylie Jenner, babymooned in 2020 and where countless other celebrities have bedded down. Most recently, in February, Travis Barker and his wife, Kourtney Kardashian, also visited.
To get the obvious question out of the way: Though I was honeymooning there, that was a happy technicality—in reality, I was there for work, checking it out so I could write this travel piece. My now-husband and I decided to elope in Las Vegas on the way since, at a minimum $3,000 a night for even the most basic room, we would likely never be able to stay here again. Unlike West, we are both journalists, a profession not typically known for providing rapper-fat bank accounts. Work, but make it a special occasion; it’s the travel writer’s way.
Architects Rick Joy, Marwan Al-Sayed, and Wendell Burnette designed the resort with southern Utah’s ancient rocks and local Navajo heritage in mind.
I smiled, thinking of the famous Nora Ephron line, “everything is copy,” and returned to my work duties, which at that moment included taking in the aforementioned otherworldly hulking mesas out past the desert scrub. The sun was setting, coloring the sky flamingo pink. I warmed my feet on an outdoor banquette beside our private gas fireplace.
Soon, we’d head to dinner—this being far out in the hinterlands, all meals (which are excellent) are included, à la carte or tasting menu–style, and served on-property. As Amangiri is adjacent to the Navajo Nation, the main dining room features a nightly menu dedicated to Navajo ingredients and foodways, including a fry bread dish with blue corn masa and elk and Colorado River trout main dishes.
The 680-or-so acres for the 34-room luxury resort is located on land ancestral Pueblo people long called home, before it was taken and refashioned as federally protected parklands. Unlike how they traded hands way back when, those lands aren’t exactly easy to buy and sell nowadays.
Beginning in 2005, the would-be developers and owners of Aman resorts made their intentions known to the Utah State Legislature. This resulted in a remarkable land exchange with the federal government that had to be approved by the United States Congress and Senate and then-President George W. Bush. Seriously.
Camp Sarika is an on-property private retreat, complete with suites and its own spa and pool that guests can rent. There is also a restaurant that, each night, offers tasting-menu style dining for all Amangiri guests.
All that for a resort that opened in 2009 and remains one of the most exclusive in the country, both by price and the fact it’s not easy to get to. Those are hallmarks of the Aman resorts worldwide. Its address is technically listed as Canyon Point, Utah. It is not so much a real town as a US Postal Service and map designation, ensuring Amangiri remains tethered to the real world ever so slightly.
Zooming out a little further, it’s stunning to realize where the resort is, geographically and geologically speaking. Butting up against red rocks, it also touches the expansive Grand Staircase National Monument and is just down the road from Lake Powell and Horseshoe Bend, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, and Antelope Canyon, to name a handful. A bit further afield, but within a few hours’ drive at most, are Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, and the Grand Canyon (Amangiri can arrange a helicopter tour over most of these sites).
Amangiri’s internet-famous pool, built around a 165-million-year-old Aeolian sandstone rock. The resort (and its pool) was essentially planned and built around this rock, which remains the centerpiece of the property and is flanked by day beds, lounge chairs, a hot tub, and the resort’s restaurant.
The resort itself was designed in painstaking detail to amplify such grandeur. You can’t see Amangiri from the nearest road (Highway 89), which is entirely the point. Even hiking over a couple of hills directly in front of the resort will completely obscure any view of its sand-colored concrete cubes, which are camouflaged into the promontories lurking behind it. When it is in view, if you squint, you could be forgiven for thinking you’ve stumbled upon an outcropping of pillboxes on the moon.
Back on earth and ensconced inside the resort’s buildings, a beige, stark, and minimalistic luxury seeps into every space. I think the point is to make guests feel as though they’ve entered an ultra-chic cave dwelling, and, if so, then mission accomplished. Amangiri’s furniture is sleek and modern in style; its floor plan in common spaces open. At the top-of-the-line spa, it’s appropriately dark, cavernous, and cordoned off, with outdoor soaking tubs and pools built directly adjacent to the rocks.
At night, wood fireplaces in the lounge and restaurant boast tall, full flames that hiss, crackle, and pop, appropriately setting the mood, especially during dinner service. During the day, it’s all about the views. To the north: Enormous glass windows beckon to the mesas lining the horizon. To the south: All views direct toward the pool. Tall-ceilinged rooms, the least expensive of which is very much a suite, mimic the vibe of the dining room and are also long on dramatic vistas.
A view of the mesas surrounding the resort from one of the private suites. Each room’s porch has an outdoor gas fireplace, ample seating, and a view of the rocks beyond—with more amenities in higher priced suites.
And about that pool: It’s heated to 86 degrees year-round, curved around a giant rock, and, according to commentary by management and staff, it’s what the resort was designed around. Social media posts and geotags confirm this; the pool is incredibly photogenic. A few handfuls of cabana beds and chaise lounges line the perimeter, belying how few guests are on-property at any given time, which is a feature, not a bug.
I don’t think the resort was at capacity when I stayed there in mid-winter, but several other couples were there, and we only bumped into each other at mealtimes, which was perfect. You want a buzz during dinner—the rest of the time, seeing no one is a treat.
This is to say that, had Kanye and I overlapped rather than played resort tag, it’s not likely I would have even seen him. It’s the whole point of Amangiri: to get away to places most can’t go and, by default, to be among people who are also similarly inaccessible. In that way, it’s the poshest echo chamber possible—just as I could scream out to the rocks around me and have it bounce back, those used to staying at resorts this otherworldly have also become accustomed to this atmospheric level of luxury and intimate-but-not-overbearing service. The fine line Amangiri walks is making sure none of it is gaudy or over-the-top, so as to lull its visitors into a comfortable state.
Amangiri boasts a number of private alcoves, giving guests extra privacy in its common spaces.
I confess, even after just a couple of nights, dare I say, it felt… normal? I deserve this, I thought at one point while slathering Aman-branded amethyst oil onto my pregnant belly and sliding into a lukewarm bath. The truth is, however one ends up here, it’s because of some rarified circumstance. Either you can afford it (or someone else in your orbit can) or, like me, you’ve created other capital that grants you access. Whatever the case, it’s worth trying to get there, just to experience the feeling, if only once. If you get the opportunity, take it. The next stop is the moon.
