Category: Blogs

Deep within our mountain sanctuary, nestled between the towering pines, sits a humble cow shed. The shed is over a century old, and although for many years it sat abandoned, it has since been lovingly restored. It looks simple and unassuming, like its modest origins, but this facade belies its true purpose.

Take a look inside and discover a treasure trove. Rows upon rows of shelves brim with wild mushrooms and berries, local fruits and fresh vegetables, hand-mixed salts and spices, all amidst a living, breathing network of glass jars and bottles containing a myriad ingredients in varying stages of fermentation. Welcome to our in-house zero waste “culinary laboratory”. Welcome to Amaya Labs.

As you wind your way through the time-worn paths of the Himalayan foothills on your approach to our mountain sanctuary, the hustle and bustle of city life is soon left behind. The roar of engines and the echoes of car horns die away until birdsong, sweet and melodic, fills the air.

Long before Amaya’s first brick was laid on the ground, Deepak Gupta envisioned a minimalist haven in the mountains where travellers could disconnect from the demands of urban life and rediscover themselves amid the timeless beauty and tranquility of the forest.

One thing was certain: standard methods of planning and construction would be unthinkable. Plateglass and concrete, vast cranes and heavy-duty excavators, ripping out the forest and flattening the land for sunbeds and swimming pools — this was obviously out of the question.

What is luxury travel? The answer often depends on whom you ask. Advertisements for luxury travel often read like a paean to overconsumption, as if the traveller is invited to go on pilgrimage in ritual celebration of material excess. Lavish accommodations in expensive, exclusive resorts; an endless array of over-the-top amenities and extravagant services: think privately chartered aircraft, opulent yachts, or bespoke retail experiences in vast, gilded shopping malls, where the greater the excess on offer, the greater your enjoyment is supposed to be.

At Amaya, we embrace luxury of a very different kind.

Luxury is taking a step outside your private chalet after the sun has set, your face cooled by the gentle pine-perfumed breeze, looking up and witnessing millions upon millions of stars in all their glory, twinkling points of light in a night sky unpolluted by the artificial glow of the city.

Amaya is a world where all of the senses are indulged. Your eyes are greeted by vistas of sublime beauty, of endless misty mountain expanses, crisp sunlit mornings and soft moonlit nights. You wake to the sound of birdsong trilling through the conifers and the rustle of leaves brushed by the breeze. You walk amidst the scent of native wildflowers and pine needles, at once calming and invigorating, layer upon layer of woody and floral notes carried on the wind.

It is only fitting, then, that during your time you should fully indulge your sense of taste. Our 25-acre sanctuary is replete with organic orchards and flourishing vegetable gardens, each abuzz with pollinating bees and butterflies, and our guests are encouraged to join us on our foraging excursions.

If Amaya were ever left unoccupied, every element of its construction would naturally fade into the forest until not a trace was left. No hideous scar would remain upon the land; no decaying concrete protrusions would jut out from the treescape; no asphalt would be left to splinter and crack in the winter frost.

When Amaya’s villas and chalets were newly realised on the terraces, and our roofs gleamed in the sunlight, our founder Deepak Gupta and lead architect Bijoy Jain took to contemplating how Amaya might appear in the years and decades to come. A shrewd observation by Jain neatly encapsulated their conclusions: “Imagine when we are long dead and looking down at what we have built from above. These copper roofs will acquire the patina of age and look just like the land around it and it will all be green.”

We envisioned Amaya first and foremost as a sanctuary in harmony with the environment, with sustainability as our watchword. We wanted to preserve and restore the sublime beauty of the Himalayan foothills, and create a space for people to escape the city and reconnect to nature, while also paying tribute to the stewards of these hills  whose construction methods and practices date back to time immemorial.