Head to This Luxurious Desert Retreat for Your Over-the-Top Honeymoon Adventure

The pool at Amangiri / Photograph courtesy of AMAN

You’re newly married and willing to do anything for each other, including take a few risks — as long as you’re also treated to some serious R&R. The place to do both is Amangiri (prices upon request), a remote desert retreat in Canyon Point, Utah. Getting there is a journey (you’ll fly into PHX, hop a tiny plane to Page, Arizona, then be whisked away by the resort’s private driver), but the experience is worth it.

Although it opened in 2009, Amangiri feels as if it’s always been there, carved out of the majestic red-rock environment of the Colorado Plateau. The suites have a minimal aesthetic, with natural materials throughout, a dual rain-head shower, and glass doors that open to an outdoor lounge with fireplace and your personal desert back yard.

Meals take place at Amangiri Resort Restaurant, which boasts an open kitchen and wood-fired oven and doubles as a lounge; the floor-to-ceiling windows offer panoramas of the plateaus on one side and the pool, carved around a striking rock formation, on the other. The food is locally grown and mixes flavors of the Southwest with global tastes, serving everything from wholesome muesli at breakfast to spicy tuna tostadas at dinner to a tasting menu honoring the Indigenous tribes of the region. A second establishment, Camp Sarika Restaurant, is a more intimate option at Amangiri’s newer glamping outpost, down the road from the main resort.

The spa, meanwhile, is a wellness wonderland, with treatments (think a Utah salt and clay wrap) taking place in one of five rooms or on one of two outdoor terraces. There’s a water pavilion with a steam room, sauna, and cold plunge. And yoga sessions can be held on one of the surrounding mesas.

The resort offers daily on-property hikes; on our visit, we trekked to the Broken Arrow Cave, an archaeological site where you can see Native American petroglyphs.

Off property, expect excursions to the Grand Canyon, helicopter rides over Zion National Park, slot canyon tours, and via ferrata rock climbing. For the uninitiated, via ferrata (“iron roads”) feature a network of cables and iron rungs that have been bolted to the mountain. There are various routes here, and each provides a superlative way to see the region. Your guide (these tours are typically private) will lead you up the rungs and across bridges suspended over massive gorges, ultimately ascending nearly 500 feet to your route’s summit. It’ll set your heart racing, but the vistas are unparalleled. As for the experience together? Unforgettable.

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Published as “Amangiri” in the summer/fall 2025 issue of Philadelphia Wedding.

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