We stayed at The Venetian Macao Resort but only because The Venetian has promotional rates for accommodation bundled with Cirque du Soleil tickets. :)
One word that best describes The Venetian Macao Resort is ginormous! It literally took us 10-15 minutes just walking from the front desk up to our room! It has 3,000 suites, retail space for 350 stores, 15,000-seat sports arena, etc. 10.5 million-square-feet in all -- twice the size of the Las Vegas original.
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| The room where we stayed |
Here are some photos of The Venetian Macao Grand Hall. It’s like walking through the corridors of the Sistine Chapel.
I didn’t expect to have fun in a casino hotel because I’m not a gambler but surprise, surprise, there are also activities for non-gamblers.
You can just walk around the Grand Canal Shoppes at the 3rd floor and watch the gondola drivers maneuver the boats along the canals and belt operatic songs that reverberate throughout the floor.
We actually rode the gondola (as part of another package we got) but even if you don’t ride, it’s fun just to watch. Actually, it’s more fun just to watch! Because if you ride the gondola, the driver will sing at least 2 songs during the ride and when he does, all passers-by will be taking photos and videos of your gondola! It’s so embarrassing and had I known, I wouldn’t have ridden at all. Haha…
Then there are various shows staged throughout the day at the Grand Canal Shoppes’ entertainment area. We stopped by to watch a magic show while walking around one afternoon.
There are also exhibits all over the The Venetian Macao Resort. Here’s Rodolfo Avila’s Porsche Carrera on display.
We also saw Guinness World Record Holder and Cardstacker’s Bryan Berg’s recently completed The Venetian Macao Resort artwork (which I just saw on AXN last week). It’s made up of over 3,800 decks of playing cards and completed in 45 days!
Exploring outside The Venetian Hotel, we went to see the Fisherman’s Wharf. It boasts of hundreds of shops and restaurants and miniature replicas of tourist spots.
I stopped by the koi fish pond - I love watching fishes. :)
Then there are the Taipa Houses – century old houses where Mackenese (of Macau & Portuguese descent) officials once lived.
Then there's the A-Ma Temple, a Chinese temple in existence long before the Portuguese arrived in Macau.
Of course, there’s the St Paul’s Ruins, Macau's famous landmark. St. Paul's dates back to the 16th century.
As you go down the stairs of St. Paul's, you'll reach Senado Square. You'll see an interesting sculpture there called the Friendship statue. It shows a Chinese girl giving a lotus flower (the flower emblem of Macau) to a Portuguese boy. This symbolizes the friendship between the Chinese and Portuguese.
For some adventure, you can go up the Macau Tower and either skywalk or bungee jump (more than 300 meters high!). I was already scared just standing on the clear glass floor (yep, that’s the highway down below!).
For the record, Charlize Theron, among several personalities, has bungee-jumped from the Macau tower.
Here are some shots I took from the Macau Tower -
And if you’ve spare time, across The Venetian Macao Resort, there’s a must see 10-minute show at the City of Dreams’ The Bubble Theatre called “The Dragon’s Treasure”. It’s a 360-degree cinematic experience of high-definition video and rich audio and with over 29,000 LED lights used for special effects. It’s a wow show and the best part is it’s for FREE. You may get tickets just outside The Bubble Theatre. The show is every 30 minutes from 12pm to 7pm, then hourly after that until 10pm.
As for my bucket list item - Cirque du Soleil’s Zaia – I just loved it! Actually, I was at the edge of my seat most of the time! Haha… Almost everyone gasped when one acrobat didn’t catch another acrobat. Thank God for the safety net! But overall, the performers were just amazing! And the show was so engaging from start to end. If you plan to watch and you happen to sit in an aisle seat, get ready to be made fun at by the performers! And if you’re in the front center seats, get ready to get a bit damp. And as a last warning, arrive at least 15 minutes before the show. The fun starts even before the scheduled time of the show. :)
Other travel tips:
- Package tours are about USD50 per pax for a half-day. But getting around is really easy if you want to save on expenses. You can actually ride the hotel buses that go around Macau and they're for free. At The Venetian Hotel for instance, there are buses that go to several destinations which depart every 15 minutes. The trick is to check which ones are the closest to your destination. For instance, to get to the Fisherman's Wharf, you can ride The Venetian bus that goes to Sands where Fisherman's Wharf is just a street away. And no worries, you don't even need to be booked at The Venetian to enjoy the the free bus rides. :)
- Meals are a little more expensive than Manila prices. Foodcourt meals start from Php300 (about USD6) and mineral water is about Php120 (USD2.50). Restaurant dining start from Php800 (about USD16).
- The gondola ride at The Venetian costs about Php700 (USD14) per pax.
- Tickets to Cirque de Soleil's Zaia range from Php2,500-5,000 per pax (USD50-USD100). But no need to get front row seats. I recommend the middle seats for a wider field of vision. We watched from the 8th row giving us a narrow field of vision, and since there are a lot activities on stage, we kept on tiltling our heads from side to side, up and down, throughout the show.
