Macau, Macau

Updated: Sep 24, 2018

On our visit to Macau we found it to have a ton of charm and definitely worth the visit. You can spend a couple days here or even take a short ferry ride for a quick day trip from Hong Kong. There are two distinctly different areas of the island, the casino area and Old Macau. The casino area of Macau was modern and very much like Vegas just with less people. The downtown area of Old Macau was filled with crowded streets, historical Portuguese and Chinese culture and beautiful brightly colored buildings. While standing in Senado Square you felt completely transported somewhere incredibly unique.

We visited in March and the weather was beautiful. A light jacket was perfect during the day and you felt very comfortable in the conditions. I would like to go back in the prime season and take advantage of the beautiful hotel pools and the summer promotions and concerts that seem to be big out there. We stayed at The Venetian Macau, which is the largest casino in the world and the largest single structure hotel building in Asia. It seemed to also be one of the busiest hotels during the time we stayed. We ventured over to two other hotels, The Parisian Macau and Studio City which were quite desolate compared to the Venetian. So, if you’re looking for a more relaxing stay, easy restaurant reservations and accessible shopping, March is a great time to visit.

It was an easy transition from the Airport to the hotel as they had a free shuttle bus that comes every 15-20 minutes from 10:00AM - 10:30 PM (22:30). We were able to hop on outside after exiting the departures area. If you’re staying at another hotel it is most likely that they will also have free public transportation as well so be sure to check out your hotel's website before you visit. Even if transportation is not provided the hotel is about 10 minutes away from the airport and taxis are easily accessible outside the arrivals gate.

THE ROOM AT THE VENETIAN

I absolutely loved our room at the Venetian. This large suite was called the Bella Suite and featured two queen beds a living room area and spacious bathroom. They also had a seated vanity with accessible outlets, which is a personal favorite amenity of mine. Getting ready while on vacation is all part of the gig so having a comfortable seated place to do so is extremely ideal. It seems that all of the rooms at the Venetian are suites so no matter what you choose you will be blessed with space! We also had a fantastic view of The Parisian next door with all it's sparkling lights and replica Eiffel Tower.

THE ROOM AT THE VENETIAN

We got into our room from the airport with an hour to change and head out for the first night. For a little taste of home we went to the Studio City Casino next door to The Venetian to try a restaurant I love from New York City called Trattoria Il Mulino. I ordered a super tasty ravioli and the complementary bread was fantastic. The restaurant was very empty as we were there in the off season however, this made for exceptional service at the restaurant, so I didn't mind too much. The hotel itself carries the familiar Universal Studios theme of different Hollywood movie sets. We noticed there were several designer shops as we walked around after dinner, but most of them were closing around 9:00 PM so we didn't get to do much shopping. They also had a Pasha Night Club which I’m sure gets a crowd during the high season as it looks like many DJ's make their way through there according to their website.

THE VENETIAN & TRATTORIA IL MULINO

STUDIO CITY MACAU

& TRATTORIA IL MULINO

One of the things at the top of my food list to try was an Egg Tart from Lord Stows Bakery and we were in luck with a location inside our hotel.

Here is a little background from their website: "Englishman, Andrew Stow opened Lord Stow’s Bakery on Coloane Island, Macau on the 15th of September 1989. It was a modest affair, in a small village shop, in an area he loved. Local people quickly took to his European produce – a phenomenon in an area with no strong tradition of bread eating.

During a trip to Portugal in the late-80s, Andrew had become familiar with their popular Pasteis de Nata – a kind of egg tart, which had its origins in Belem, Lisbon in 1837. Andrew wanted to produce Pasteis de Nata for his customers. Andrew created his own specialty and introduced the “Portuguese” Egg Tart to Asia in the form they are now recognized and known.

Lord Stow’s Bakery suddenly became famous for one item – Andrew’s Egg Tart. Journalists started writing about Andrew and his little bakery found itself on Macau’s list of tourist attractions. Andrew’s original recipe Egg Tarts became well known beyond their territorial confines, attracting a faithful following and becoming a visible export, almost a trademark of Macau."

LORD STOWS BAKERY

AT THE VENETIAN MACAU

The Egg Tart tasted like the pastry version of French Toast and is an absolute must try when traveling to Macau. We also tried a croissant and coffee which were good, but the Egg Tart was truly the stand out treat. We enjoyed them so much that we ended up wanting to try them again and again from other popular spots in the downtown area of Macau. Below is a photo of Travis trying one of them. We found a spot while walking further on from Senado Square that had a black and gold logo with the Egg Tarts displayed towards the street. These were also fantastic so look out for this spot as you're walking around (I have a photo of the location below).

The downtown area is an area between Senado Square and the Ruins of Saint Paul.

Senado Square is a great starting point for a walk through one of the Macau's most fascinating neighborhoods, where Portuguese and Chinese cultural influences are intertwined. The square is a really unique area that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the vast majority of the buildings around the square are of European construction and many are protected monuments. Senado Square sits at the heart of old Macau. Overlooking the triangular-shaped plaza is a building called the Leal Senado, which means “loyal senate” in Portuguese. It was the seat of the enclave's legislative assembly before Macau was returned to the Chinese administration in 1999. The square used to allow traffic but is now designated as a pedestrian-only zone, so it is perfect for taking in the beautiful colored buildings that surround it. Follow your visitor’s map or google and walk to the Ruins of Saint Paul from there.

EGG TARTE TASTE TESTING

TRAVELER TIP: I use the Google Maps App and pre-download the map by uploading it before I get to an area. To start I zoom in on the area I want to explore that day. I do this before leaving the hotel when we have WIFI. I then follow the GPS "blue dot" which almost always works without WIFI. I pre-mark by saving locations ahead of time before my trip and then walk to those locations. Make sure your logged into your google maps ahead of time in order to save your location. Once you click on a location on the map you can use the Saved or Favorites Button with a yellow star or pink heart. This process works 90% of the time but you must zoom in and try to get the map uploaded before you’re without data or WIFI. Sometimes it does take a minute for the GPS to figure out its location and sometimes it might not work. It can be helpful to have a physical map or swing into a Starbucks or local cafe that might offer free WIFI.

GOOGLE MAPS EXAMPLE

While looking for the Ruins of Saint Paul we walled up a hill to the museum which actually gave us a fantastic view from above the beautiful structure. We had to then figure out how to get down to the Ruins and actually had to turn around the way we came, walk down the hill and around the side. On our walk over to the Ruins there were many cute shops along the twisting sidewalks. We stopped into one shop and bought this beautiful Chinese Box which is now part of our home display. It was really interesting to see the old, tall housing structures on top of one another and the extremely slanted streets. Overall, it was a unique place and really made me feel like I was somewhere different taking in a totally cool new culture.