Macau

[NuggetTNQ]

Has anyone been to Macau and can therefore offer any opinions on the place? Is it just full of casinos and that's it? Suitable to take the family?
Cheers

[Wanderlust]

I went there for a day trip from Hong Kong about 6 or 7 years ago, but was only there a few hours. It wasn't dominated by casinos and there is some very nice buildings there from the days when it was ruled by Portugal. Other than that though I can't really recall anything very good or bad - I did spend a good portion of my time in a casino though!

[DawnHRD]

Lovely place & totally suitable to take the family. Yes, there are casinos, but, as WL says there are some beautiful historic buildings. I like it.

[seasider]

I used to go there from Hong Kong for R& R every few weeks. It is still a nice place but not quite as nice as it used to be. There is a huge amount of development going on (casinos) and anyone who hasn't been for a few years wouldn't recognize the place.
It is nice to wander around the old parts of Macau and the restaurants are very good. Coloane is a great place (still) to get away from it all. Probably a weekend is long enough though.
Cheers
SS

[Bamboo Grove]

From what I can recall from the late 80´s is good food and excellent and inexpensive Portuguese wines and ports.

[acerockolla]

Spent some time in Macau last September stayed at the Wynn.
Sure it's got lots of Casinos but it's no Las Vegas. However as a place to visit, imagine China mixed with Europe, the place has lots of Portugeise style property, cobbled streets and very friendly chinese people.
The Wynn is a smaller version of the one in Vegas and was wonderful, although the food was nothing like as good as you can get on the streets of Hua Hin!
Family friendly if you ignore the casinos, for sure!.
Worth a visit for gambling yes although lots of strange games that you don't see in Vegas!

[The understudy]

HI there NuggetTNQ

I was in Macau last February as part of our Hong Kong Trip. It takes just a hour and a half trip by Jetboat from Kowloon to Macau the ride hmmm... fairly pleasant.
Macua is really Beautiful it has a lot of buildings which reminds visitors of the Portugese Colonial Times. There are also Casinos but spread all over the City not like Las Vegas where it's Ceentered on the Strip or on Fremont streeet. A must see in Macua is the world known Ruins of St. Paul Cathedral. If you haven't been @ Ruins of St. Pauls you haven't been to Macau.

Your's The understudy!!!

[STEVE G]

I recently read that Macau is about to over take Las Vegas as the gambling capital of the world, I think on income.

[pharvey]

Just bringing this one up again. My wife and I will be meeting my parents in Hong Kong for a few days on their way back to Europe from Australia. We quite fancy doing a simple day trip over to Macau, and would prefer to see the ölder/traditional parts" rather than the glitzy casinos etc....

Any ideas or recommendations?

[johnnyk]

More money is bet in Macau than in LV. Its a fact, you can look it up. They are on the doorstep of millions and millions of people who love to gamble.

[PeteC]

No tips Pharvey except to just go and look around. It's been a long time since I've been there but the old style city was very visible then once off the ferry. Below is the ferry schedule.

http://www.turbojet.com.hk/eng/schedule/prd.html

Leaves from the Shun Tak center in Sheung Wan, Connaught road. Look for the two buildings right on the waterfront with red steel framing on top and center, and it's in there, downstairs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shun_Tak_Centre

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_ ... _Hong_Kong

Pete

[Khundon1975]

And if you are into scary things to do in Macau, try this for a laugh.

http://www.vagabondish.com/macau-offers ... orm-video/

But, do as the guy suggests and bring a diaper.

[migrant]

Please post a report when you come back!!!

[Korkenzieher]

Steve - it is on turnover. I saw an interview with the guy who is CEO of Wynn resorts on CNBC recently. Apparently the Chinese play Baccarat to the exclusion of almost anything else, and it is an incredibly low margin for the house. The amounts crossing the tables is huge though - greater than LV but the profit for the casino very low. THey are in the process of building their largest casino by floorspace there apparently. When I visited there, it was all I saw.

For the OP, when I was there, I spent around 4 days around Leal Senado (the old square) during Chinese New Year. I enjoyed it, but there is very much less use of English than in Hong Kong and it can be difficult to get fed, say, if you get off the beaten track. The Chinese from HongKong can't buy fireworks unless they go to Macau, so they trip over for the day, and set fire to enough powder to conduct a small war. Actually, probably quite a large war...