We stayed for 2 nights in January in the middle of a whirlwind tour of the Kii Peninsula that consisted of visits to Ise Jingu Grand Shrine as well as several key sites along the Kumano Kodo trail, and wanted some downtime during the tour. Amanemu fit the bill nicely - we appreciated the peace, tranquility, massive suite, warm and attentive service, good food and relaxing onsen bath, which all added to a memorable experience in our 15th different Aman property that we've stayed at. Booking through our Virtuoso agent entitled us to a room upgrade if available, and thankfully for us, we were upgraded from a Nagi Suite to the Sora Villa. It's a massive upgrade; the former has about 100 square meters of total living space, whereas the Sora Villa almost triples that size and boasts a huge in-room Onsen (hot springs) bathing facility. The Villas are typically sold as 2 bedroom units, but when there is low availability or guests are upgraded from "lesser" rooms, they block off access to one of the bedrooms, but really, at 296m² for just the two of us, there was absolutely nothing to complain about! It's a stand-alone unit (the Suites are duplex types) with all the privacy benefits that come with it, has two toilets, a his & her shower area and a gigantic yard and terrace with day beds. The only drawback was the views from the Sora Villa are inferior to the Nagi Suite (and Nagi Villa); there's less of the Ocean views in "Sora" designated rooms. But given that panoramic views can be enjoyed in the numerous common areas of the property, we were more than happy to accept that tradeoff. The resort is huge, so guests are shuttled around by Aman staffers in (extended) golf carts. Unlike Amanpulo, however, you are not allocated a cart to drive on your own, which we actually liked, since we've seen guests zip around in dangerous speeds and can definitely endanger other guests at times. Unlike at a traditional ryokan, meals are not included, and guests can opt for a variety of meal choices. The main restaurant serves just about everything that anyone would desire, from full-course Kaiseki offerings to Omakase Sushi courses to a-la cart dishes (mainly Japanese, but not exclusively so.) It's a plus or a minus, depending on what you're after. On the one hand, Amanemu offers hotel-like flexibility in what you want to dine and when you want it. On the other hand, the room service choices are slightly reduced compared to what's on offer in the restaurant (this is somewhat understandable, given that some of the dishes need to be served fresh and/or hot, and would take too much time for the servings to be delivered to the room.) We were initially hesitant to have dinner in the restaurant due to Omicron, but our fears were quickly put to rest when we were shown how the capacity of the restaurant was reduced in half during the pandemic - the social distancing between different groups of guests was more than sufficient to allay our fears. While the food & beverage experience is often the weakest part of the Aman experience, that's not the case here. We really enjoyed the Kaiseki course which focused on the bountiful and high quality local ingredients from the Ise-Shima that includes Matsusaka Beef, Ise-ebi Spiny Lobster and Abalone. Everything was prepared to perfection. Unlike typical ryokans, Amanemu also serves lunch in the restaurant, which was much simpler than what is offered for dinner, but more than adequate for some high quality lite bites. There's also tea and snacks that you can enjoy in the adjacent lounge building that later turns into a bar lounge in the evening. While Amanemu is supposedly renowned for its world-class spa (which also contains a wonderful communal Onsen bath), we did not avail ourselves to either of them given we were there during the seventh wave of the pandemic. We'll definitely have to look to return so we can enjoy everything that Amanemu has to offer. One of the unique aspects of many Amans are the variety of privately guided activities on offer, including some that are bespoke in a way that is not possible without booking through Aman. For instance, they have a tour that allows you into parts of Ise Jingu Grand Shrine that typical tourists do not have access to, and you can partake in partake in Sutra and meditation activities as well. Such activities might float the boat for foreign tourists. For us, however, we have our own vehicle, speak the language and can get by on our own just fine. Also, while many of the activities sounds somewhat interesting, nothing really stands out as a "gotta try it!" experience. This partly has to do with the location, and herein lies the dilemma for some travelers - if you're looking to unwind and chill out in the property, Amanemu would work very well. On the other hand, people looking to use Amanemu as a base for exploring top sights, it's a bit far from the signature attractions in the Kii Peninsula such as Kumano Kodo. Keep this in mind before deciding on staying here. For us, Amanemu worked beautifully. The Kii Peninsula takes a looong time to explore given its sheer size (and twisty, mountainous roads), so we were looking to break up the journey and spend a few days to relax. Thanks to the generous upgrade and awesome Aman employees, our stay turned out to be everything we hoped for... and then some.…