Fast Facts:
- Country: Macau
- Location: Located in East Asia, Macau (like Hong Kong) is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China, which means for official purposes, it is part of China but is allowed to operate as an independent city-state.
- Language: Cantonese and Portuguese
- Currency: Macau Pataca (MOP)
For this trip:
- Month of Travel: March
- Weather: 21 deg C
- What to Wear: It was warmer here than in Hong Kong, but bring a light cardigan, as it can get cold in the evening
Despite being known as the gambling capital of the world after surpassing Las Vegas in gambling revenues, Macau is far more than a compact casino city even for travellers like us with an adorable baby.
Here are other great things to do in Macau.
Explore luxury hotels
Upon exiting the ferry terminal, you will easily find buses that will take you for free to these luxury hotels. Some of the flashiest are located in the Cotai Strip that was originally aimed to resemble the Las Vegas strip.
We first visited Galaxy Macau, a mammoth development that houses five different hotels namely Galaxy Macau, Banyan Tree, Hotel Okura, the Ritz Carlton and JW Marriot. As you enter its Diamond Lobby, a fountain, which reveals with a light and sound show a giant Fortune Diamond, welcomes you.
This hotel is a proper luxury-shopping destination and boasts a number of amazing restaurants including JW Urban Kitchen where we dined. The buffet is divided into six food zones that include a dessert station with unlimited tarts and a juice station that even serves milk tea with pearls.
GALLERY:
After this feast, we headed to one of the largest casinos in the world, The Venetian, which (obviously) draws a lot of inspiration from Venetian iconic features.
GALLERY:
Visit Senado Square
Senado Square is part of the UNESCO Historic Centre of Macau, a collection of over 20 locations with structures that combine influences from the Chinese and its Portuguese colonizers. It is named after the Leal Senado Building, then meeting place for Portuguese and Chinese officials.
A further walk in and you won’t miss St. Domingo’s Church because of its cute yellow and green color.
Check out the Ruins of St. Paul’s Cathedral and College
Follow the pathway, lined on both sides by a number of stores and food stalls, until you reach the Ruins of St. Paul’s. After burning down, its miraculously still preserved façade is all that survived from what was originally St. Paul’s College and Jesuit church, Church of St. Paul.
GALLERY:
If you have more time, you can do the following activities too:
- Try your luck in a casino. Baccarat is the most popular game but we’ll probably stick to poker or slot machines.
- Feed your inner daredevil at Macau Tower, the site of the highest commercial bungee jump in the world. Other less terrifying adventures here are called Skywalk, Tower Climb and SkyJump. Sane activities include enjoying observation decks and dining at its revolving restaurant.
- Located in City of Dreams, watch the world’s largest water show, The House of Dancing Water. Its director Franco Dragone is also the genius behind La Perle in Dubai and La Reve in Las Vegas.
- Little indulgences such as duty free shopping, checking in luxury resorts, bathing in sangria at Grand Lapa’s Spa and enjoying the best of Macanese fine dining won’t hurt (your pocket too much hopefully).
Minus the heat, the casinos and the traces of Portuguese colonization, modern Macau reminds us of opulent Dubai. Less than an hour away from Hong Kong by ferry, there are always more things to do in this city that won’t fail to excite your senses.
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