Macau Hotels

Recommended Macau Hotels

Macau

The city of Macau is built on a peninsula one hour or 60 km southwest of Hong Kong and connected to the islands of Macau Taipa and Coloane by bridges.

During the 16th Century, China gave Portugal the right to establish the first European settlement in the Far East on the Macao peninsula. Macao was administered by Portugal as an overseas province until 1999 when control was handed back to China, ending over 400 years of Portuguese administration.

Macau is a now a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. As with Hong Kong, China's socialist economic system will not be implemented in Macau for at least fifty years (if ever) after the transfer of sovereignty and Macau will enjoy a high degree of autonomy in all matters except foreign and defense affairs. Like Hong Kong, Macau has its own government, passports, visas, postal system and currency.

Macau is packed with history and culture with many museums and places of historical, cultural and architectural significance. Many of the culturally and architecturally significant buildings such as fortresses and churches have been listed as UNESCO World Heritage sites. The best way to discover the sights is to walk the Macau Heritage circuit.

Macau also has one of the highest population densities of any region in the world.

Macau Hotels

Most Macau hotels are located on the Peninsula with the newest and most luxury hotels in Macau being located on Macau Taipa and Cotai Macau as it becomes Macau's premier casino area.

Macau Hotel rates are the most expensive on Friday and Saturday nights because demand is higher due to Hong Kong residents coming to Macau to gamble over the weekend.

Visitors to Macau should be aware that prostitution is viewed as part of the local culture with most hotels (including luxury Macau hotels) ignoring and sometimes encouraging the activity of "working girls" on their premises. The Inner Harbour area, which has many two star hotels and budget accommodation, is the place of business for many of the "working girls" in Macao (eg the London Hotel).

Dining

One of the Macau highlights is its cuisine. Over the centuries Macau developed a unique cuisine that combined elements of Portuguese, Chinese, Indian, and even Malay cooking. Known as Macanese cuisine, it is served in restaurants close to the A-Ma Temple along Rua Almirante Sérgio, on the Praia Grande, in the city centre on Rua Central and Travessa de S.Domingos, in the NAPE area and on Taipa. Among the most popular dishes are African Chicken, Tacho (a hearty stew of Chinese vegetables and different meats), Galinha Portuguesa (Chicken cooked in the oven together with potatoes, onions, egg and saffron), Minchi (minced beef with fried potatoes, soy, onions and a fried egg), Linguado Macau (Sole fried and usually served with green salad) and Porco balichão (Pork).

International cuisine is also available about Macau and there are plenty of excellent restaurants serving Italian, French, American, Brazilian, Japanese, Korean cuisine as well as dishes from Southeast Asia, such as Thailand, Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

For seafood go to Rua Almirante Sérgio and Rua das Lorchas along the Inner Harbour where the morning's catch, from the bountiful water of the South China Sea, is served in restaurants that have outdoor dining.

Yum Cha, a favourite of foreigners, is a meal which is served early in many Chinese restaurants and it lasts till about midday. It is small amounts of food served in small round bamboo baskets or in porcelain plates, which are circulated around the restaurant on trolleys. To order all you have to do is to stop the trolley and choose.

Macau has a fine selection of coffee shops, in Portuguese, Italian and American style especially in Largo do Senado, Travessa de S. Domingos and Rua Pedro José Lobo, in the city centre, and Rua de Nagasaki.

When on a Macau vacation visitors must sample the egg-tart, a Macau highlight, which is available at all bakeries and is claimed to be first created in Macau at the famous Lord Stow's Bakery.

Shopping

One can purchase almost anything on a Macau vacation. Luxury items are less expensive here than in other cities in the region. Jewellery (particularly 24-carat gold), cameras, porcelain, electronic items, mobile phones, watches, cashmere sweaters and silk clothing are available at very reasonable prices. As Macau has many functioning garment factories, overruns and seconds are to be found in shops and market stalls, at prices a fraction of what they are in the world's leading boutiques.

Avenida Horta e Costa is a long shopping street that begins at the Red Market and extends as far as the Flora Gardens beneath Guia Hill. The avenue has several up-market shops specializing in, among other things, clothing and shoes, electronic items and cameras. But the best bargains are found in the streets surrounding the avenue.

Duty free shops are at the Macau Ferry Terminal, Macau International Airport, and on the mainland side of the Barrier Gate.