The Venetian Macao: Cotai Travel Guide (4.5★)

A Venice built on reclaimed land

The campanile is the giveaway. From the road, a copy of St Mark’s bell tower rises over a pastel copy of the Doge’s Palace, with a Rialto-style bridge arching over a lagoon at its feet. None of this is old. Cotai itself is reclaimed land, filled in between Taipa and Coloane, and The Venetian Macao opened on it in 2007.

The resort is run by Sands China and ranks among the largest buildings in the world by floor area. That size shapes the whole visit. You don’t drop in and look around in ten minutes. You walk for a long time, mostly on marble, and the signposts become your friends.

Under the painted sky of the Grand Canal

This is the part people come for. The Grand Canal Shoppes sit upstairs above the casino. Three indoor canals run between shopfronts dressed as Venetian palazzi, with balconies, shutters and little stone bridges.

The ceiling above is painted as a blue sky with soft clouds and lit to look like daylight. Because of that, the canals feel like late afternoon whatever the clock says. It’s disorienting in a way you’ll either enjoy or find faintly unsettling.

Gondoliers in striped shirts and straw boater hats steer boats along the water and sing to their passengers as they go. Tickets for rides are sold at booths beside the canal, and the current price is posted there. The bridges make the best viewpoints, since you can watch the boats pass underneath. That’s also why they get crowded.

• For photos: the bridges where the canals meet, looking down the water
• For a break: the food court and cafés along the canal walkways
• For scale: look up at the ceiling from the widest stretch of the canal

Staying in the suites

Every room here is a suite. The hotel describes itself as all-suite, with a sunken living area separated from the bed. The resort’s own summary sums it up as “elegant suites in a posh resort with plush restaurants, outdoor pools & indoor canals”. That matches what guests consistently rate highly.

The pools are outdoors on the pool deck, which is a welcome change after hours of air-conditioned corridors. Staying in means you can reach the canals before the day-trippers arrive. You can also come back down after the shops close and walk the waterways when they’re nearly empty.

Expect resort pricing on everything from room service to the restaurants. Check rates on the official site rather than relying on old figures. The Cotai Arena, a large indoor venue used for concerts and sporting events, is part of the complex. Check its calendar before you book, because event nights fill the hotel.

Getting to Cotai

Most visitors arrive on the free hotel shuttle buses. Over the years these have run from the main crossings, including:

• the Macau Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal, for boats from Hong Kong
• the Taipa Ferry Terminal
• the Border Gate from Zhuhai
• the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge port

Routes have been cut back and changed in recent years, so check which shuttles are running on the Sands website before you travel. Taxis from the peninsula cross one of the Taipa bridges and take you straight to the main lobby entrance. The Macau Light Rapid Transit Taipa Line also serves the Cotai area if you’re coming from Taipa or the airport.

Walking the Strip without going outside

The Venetian is part of a cluster. Covered walkways and shopping arcades link it to neighbouring Sands resorts, including The Parisian Macao and its half-size Eiffel Tower, the Four Seasons and The Londoner. Across the road stands City of Dreams.

You can spend a whole humid afternoon moving between them without stepping into the heat. The connections are easy to miss, so follow the overhead signs for each resort’s name rather than heading for the nearest exit. The Parisian’s tower is worth seeing after dark, when it’s lit up.

Moving through the resort like you’ve done it before

The layout catches first-timers out more than the crowds do. Here’s how to handle it.

• Find the canals first. Escalators near the main entrance take you up to the Grand Canal Shoppes. Wandering the casino floor looking for them wastes time.
• Mind the casino rules. The minimum age for Macau’s gaming floors is 21, and photography is not allowed on them. Security will stop you if you raise a phone.
• Pay how you like. Hong Kong dollars are accepted alongside Macau patacas throughout the resort, and cards work almost everywhere. Change is often given in patacas, which are hard to use once you leave Macau.
• Don’t add a tip on top. Hotel restaurants usually add a 10% service charge to the bill.
• Read three languages. Signs are in Chinese, Portuguese and English. Staff generally speak English, but Cantonese and Mandarin are what you’ll hear around you.

This is one of the most heavily visited resorts in Macau. Day-trippers from Hong Kong and mainland China pour in on weekends and public holidays. Arriving soon after the shops open usually beats the tour groups and the afternoon shuttle loads. Weekdays are far easier than Saturdays.

Beyond the resort: Taipa Village

Once the painted sky starts to wear on you, take a short taxi ride north to Taipa Village. Its narrow lanes centre on Rua do Cunha, lined with bakeries selling almond cookies and Portuguese egg tarts. Pork chop buns turn up on menus all through the village.

The colonial-era Taipa Houses-Museum sits along the old waterfront nearby. These are pastel houses that were once home to Macanese families, and they’re the real counterpart to the reproduction you’ve just left. An hour there makes a good contrast with the morning on the canals.