Aman Is Helping Bhutan Build a New City: What It Means for Travellers
Updated: 1 hour ago
At the start of November, Aman Group signed a memorandum of understanding with Patience Capital Group and GDL-Raven to support Gelephu Mindfulness City, the new region the King of Bhutan is planning in the south of the country.
It's early. No hotel has been announced and there is no opening date. Still, the brand that brought international luxury hotels to Bhutan twenty years ago is now tied to a city three times the size of Singapore.
What was signed
Each partner brings one piece. Aman brings the hotels and the way of running them. Patience Capital Group brings fund management and real estate experience. GDL-Raven, part of Green Digital Limited, works on the development of the city itself.
The stated goal is to attract long-term real estate investment to Gelephu. Vladislav Doronin, chairman and CEO of Aman Group, said Bhutan holds "a deeply special place" in the brand's history. Gelay Jamtsho, chairman of Green Digital Limited, said Aman "raised the standard for the entire hospitality industry" in the country.
What Gelephu Mindfulness City is
Gelephu sits in the south of Bhutan, on the border with India. The new city is a Special Administrative Region of about 2,500 square kilometres. The plan is for it to become a hub for South Asia, with green energy, health and wellness, education and farming.
The masterplan is by BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) with Arup and Cistri, and it follows Gross National Happiness, the idea that guides public life in Bhutan. The detail we like most: no building goes above six floors. The skyline stays low and the city needs far less concrete and steel.
There will also be a new international airport, again designed by BIG. It is due to open in 2029, with a first phase planned for around 1.3 million passengers a year. Rail links, a hydroelectric dam and public spaces based on Bhutanese building traditions complete the plan.
Aman and Bhutan, twenty years in
Aman was the first international luxury hotel brand in Bhutan. Amankora Paro opened in 2004, close to Tiger's Nest monastery. Punakha, Thimphu, Gangtey and Bumthang followed, so one trip can move from valley to valley and sleep at Aman every night.
That way of travelling, a journey across five lodges, shaped luxury in the country. Six Senses later opened its own five lodges in the same valleys: Thimphu, Punakha, Paro, Gangtey and Bumthang.
What it means for travellers
Today most visitors fly into Paro, Bhutan's only international airport, tucked into a narrow mountain valley. A large airport in the south would give the country a second door, much closer to India and Southeast Asia.
That would change the trip. Gelephu is in the warm, green lowlands, far from the high valleys of Paro and Bumthang. In a few years you could start in the south and finish in the mountains.
The real question is pace. For decades Bhutan has kept visitor numbers low to protect its calm. An airport built for more than a million passengers a year is a very different scale. Choosing Aman, a brand built on privacy and quiet, tells you how Bhutan hopes to grow.
Our take
Bhutan has always picked its visitors carefully. Bringing Aman into Gelephu this early is one more sign of that.
Nothing opens tomorrow. A memorandum is a first step and projects this big take years. If you want to see Bhutan as it is today, with the high valleys and the five-lodge journey, the next few years are the moment to go.
Written by Mirko La Rosa, founder of Luxintravels. He has reviewed luxury hotels from the inside for more than ten years, and he slept in every hotel reviewed on this site. More about Mirko.
