well welcome to a nondescript hotel room somewherein asia. today we're going to be talking macau traveltips because we recently traveled there on a day trip from hong kong and actually we'vealso been there. we went there maybe like 3 years ago. yeah.
the house of dancing water macau package, and we stayed overnight. so we thought why not share some of the tips,some of the things we've learned for anywhere out there planning a trip there. and because we've done both of those typesof trips we think we can offer something for
just about everyone. so yeah, you can do it by day from hong kongand you can also stay overnight too. so as usual we've got our notes in front ofus on the computer so you're going to see us staring down but that is just so we giveyou accurate information and we're not making stuff up. so how a lot of people describe macau (澳門- 澳门) is they call it the vegas of china. but you know what that is not really fairbecause macao actually generates seven times the amount of revenue as the strip on vegas. cha chingy chang.
so if anything vegas should be called youknow the it should be the vegas should be the macau of the united states. america! all of america. so that is how much gambling is a part ofmacau (澳門 - 澳门). but macao (澳門 - 澳门) is also way morethan just gambling. it also has a lot of colonial history andyou can really see that when you're walking around in the old town. it is just very portuguese.
like buildings, the floor tiles, even thecuisine. so even if you're not in to gambling it isreally worth visiting. right. and there is also a lot of really fascinatingstreet foods as well. that is called macanese cuisine. it is a combination of portuguese and southernchinese with a lot of southeast asian ingredients. oh la lah. quite fascinating stuff. so the local currency is the macau pataca.
i had no idea so i was calling it macau dollarsor macanese dollar the whole time i was there which is pretty embarrassing. that is. anyway the exchange is $1 usd = 8 mop patacas. yeah, and it is basically almost identicalto the hong kong dollar. and that leads into our next point where ifyou're coming from hong kong you can use hong kong dollars in macau (澳門 - 澳门). yes. it is widely accepted.
yep. but here is the catch. if you do take out the macau patacas. if you have quite a bit of them you're goingto want to especially exchange your coins before you go back to hong kong because thosecoins are not accepted in hong kong. so yeah, it is kind of a bit of a double standard. i'm not sure why that is but yeah if you dohave hong kong extra hong kong dollars do bring them in and spend them in macau. it is possible to do that.
so our next point is transportation. how do you get to macau (澳門 - 澳门)and there are actually lots of different ways. i would say probably the most popular if you'recoming from hong kong would be the ferry. and you can take the ferry from hong kongisland, kowloon or from hong kong international airport. yeah, so you have those different optionsand so that is arriving from the let's say arriving from hong kong but you can also arrivefrom mainland china. there are buses from like guangzhou and otherplaces. shenzhen.
different types of places. they also have ferries too. uh huh. and then of course there is the airport. and something to keep in mind even if you'regoing to visit hong kong not just macau is that uh the macau airport has some reallygood budget flights. so you may actually be able to fly into macaucheaper than hong kong. so if you're thinking of flying into hongkong especially somewhere from southeast asia consider also macau (澳門 - 澳门).
because you may get a much better deal. i remember the one time we flew in from chiangmai we got a really good price from air asia. so yeah, do consider that. and you know what? speaking of flights we should also mentionyou can come to macau by helicopter. haha. fancy. yeah, if you want to arrive like a boss. if you want to arrive in style.
i think it is like about $500 dollars oneway. yeah, it is about $500 us dollars but it isonly 16 minutes from hong kong. so if you're in a rush and you want to startgambling you know take the helicopter and you'll be there in no time. so speaking of the ferry you're going to savea little bit of money if you go on a weekday as opposed to the weekend. it is just slightly cheaper. um, you're looking at around just over $20us dollars for an economy class. and that is perfectly adequate.
i mean uh it is only an hour ride so and thereis departures leaving every like. very frequently. like 15 to 30 minutes. and you can go anytime of day. you can leave really early in the morningand you can come back late at night. or vice versa. so it is really easy. we've always just shown up and bought ourticket. um, like right from the stands.
right when we wanted to go and that is probablyfine on weekdays but if there is like a really big event going on in macau or it is on aweekend during a busy time of year i'd recommend booking in advance and you can do that onthe turbojet's website. i've also once booked it online. it was really easy. they accept credit cards and stuff like that. of course. super easy. so next let's talk about accommodations inmacau and we've got to tell you just like
hong kong it is not cheap. i would go as far as saying that it can bemore expensive than staying in hong kong. yeah, it is. hong kong does have budget options. you can stay in dorms. in macau that is basically nonexistent. uh, i remember even the first time i visitedmacau which is before i met you they didn't really have many dorm options or hostel optionsand that is true even to today. and i guess when most people are going overthere to gamble um yeah.
they've got the cash. they've got money. and there isn't even a lot of very good mid-rangeoptions to be honest. so there are some sort of more like dingyhotels which are not located by the casinos not located by the main attractions. and you can probably find something for under$100 us dollars but don't expect a lot at that price which is kind of why we recommenddoing it by day. if you're visiting macau more for the cultureand the food then you can definitely make a day trip from hong kong.
but if you do want to gamble and do some ofthe more entertainment. the shows at night and stuff then you probablywill just have to cough up the money stay in a casino or like famous hotel and pay abit more. and we have notes on that here. so a 2 to 3 star is going to be between $88to 160 usd and if you're looking for 4 to 5 stars a $150 all the way up to $600 us bucks. so yeah, bring your money. hahaha. so there are airbnb options.
we noticed some places where you can get ashared room for $40 to $60 dollars a night. so that is actually not bad. well not a shared room. like your own private room in someone's house. but you won't have the whole apartment toyourself. yeah, sorry. that is what i meant. and i noticed that those places weren't likeright in the core the city. so again more on the outskirts.
and if you're wanting to get your own placeyou're looking at $80 to $200 dollars plus. so yeah, again not very cheap. um but it is available. so next up let's talking about transportationaround macau (澳門 - 澳门). and one thing we really enjoy is that allof the casinos and hotels offer free shuttles from the terminal because obviously they wantto lure guests. like come gamble at our place. so they offer free transportation which isgreat for visitor's on a budget i would say. it really is.
so you can literally arrive at one of theferry terminals and then hop on one of these free shuttle buses and they will take youto all of the major casinos and also to some major attractions as well. so it is actually a really good way to getaround the city and it is absolutely free. so you can that is our favorite way to getaround macao. hands down. so aside from free transportation also justwalk around macau on foot. i mean a lot of places once you arrive ina certain area like if you're in taipa or you're near senado square or saint paul'sruins for example.
a lot of the places that you can just reachby foot and it is just a really pleasant way to just walk around in macau. so it is very pedestrian friendly and we definitelyrecommend it. that being said we would not recommend walkingfrom the strip where all of the casinos are all the way to senado square because you'renot going to make it. take a bus to get there. and then you can walk around once you're there. that would be really pushing it. uh, another option is you can take also publicbuses which are fairly cheap and also taxis.
so a taxi shouldn't cost more than about $5us dollars for short rides and yeah if you're in a hurry that would probably be your bestbet because you do sometimes have to wait around for the shuttle buses. they leave at designated times for example. and if something is too far to walk then considertaking the taxi or one of the public buses. so for all of you budget travelers out therenext up we're going to talk about free attractions you can visit around macau. and number 1 i would say the area around senadosquare which is kind of like the main plaza the main square.
you have lots of portuguese architecture andtiles. you can get some street food while you'rethere. yeah, it is nearby a lot of other major attractionsand it is just a very central area and it is a great place to people watch as well. yeah, and once you're at senado square youcan walk all the way to the ruins of saint paul which is basically the facade of a church. like the building is no longer there so allyou see is the facade and the stepz leading up to it. but i would say that is a pretty cool walkfrom those two points.
it is a major landmark and you're going tosee tonnes of people taking photos there. it is quite photogenic and it is also youpass from senado square all the way to the ruins that you're going to see probably whereyou can most of your street food too. yes, free samples of food guys. food! that was another one of our free things. yeah, a lot of these stores they lure peoplein by offering free samples. you can get free samples of almond cookies,free samples of like the pork jerky with glazed honey.
so yeah there is a lot of different free samplesso hit those up before you actually purchase something. so obviously another free attraction are allof the hotels and casinos and i mean some of them are themed. you have the venetian which looks just likevenice and you have the parisian which looks just like paris. so if you enjoy that kind of thing you cango hotel and casino hopping. yeah, and some of them are really cool inside. and the nice thing is that all of the shoppingarea and all of the entertainment area is
free to anyone in the public. it is only the casino part where you haveto be gambling in order to go in to. you can't just wander around in there. so aside from senado square another reallycool place where you can see a lot of portuguese architecture and visit some museums is taipa. and it is also a great place to get streetfood. that is where we tried are macanese egg tartsand a few other delicious things. pork chop buns. so that is a great place to wander around.
so we've already talked about free attractionsin macau. now we're going to move on to things thatyou're probably going to want to pay for. so first up we have macau tower. yeah, and i mean you're going to get a greatview of macau from there. all the casinos all of the different islands. so yeah, definitely go up it. this is actually a confession time. this is something we haven't done before butyeah if you're in to towers and getting really good views then definitely check it out.
and you know what, i'm pretty sure you cango bungee jumping. yes, you can. it is something we've never really researched. no. because we have no interest. we're both terrified of heights so that isnot something we'd do but if you have a little more courage than us consider it. so the price to go up macau tower is 130 patacamop and it is obviously a little bit cheaper if you're a child or a senior citizen.
so this next attraction that you're goingto want to pay for is a mouthful. so i'm going to read it to you. it is called city of dreams house of dancingwater spectacular. right. and basically it is a nightly show. kind of like a performance so if you likeentertainment that is something you can do. yeah, this is located on the strip where allthe casinos are. right, and again that is something we haven'tdone but it is very very highly rated. but this one is quite pricey.
so in terms of prices it is going to costyou 580 hong kong dollars which is about $75 us dollars per ticket. and of course we couldn't talk about macauwithout mentioning gambling. so so many people go there to gamble and ifyou're so inclined you can spend as little or as much as you want. you can drop huge wads of cash in macau (澳門- 澳门) and if you want to gamble there is no shortage of places that will take yourmoney. and there is probably no limit to how muchyou can bet. yeah, exactly.
so next up we're going to talk about differentfoods you can try in macau. and we actually made an entire video dedicatedto macanese street food so you can check that out if you're interested. if you're a bit of a foodie. there are just tonnes of options. like we ate like seven or eight differentthings. so there is just tonnes of things to try. and we ate really well. so i would say one of my favorites was theegg tarts.
the portuguese egg tarts. those were so tasty. oh my gosh. so crispy. those. flaky. those were so good. those liked rivaled the egg tarts you findin portugal. the original ones.
what are they pasteis de nata? they were so good. those are fantastic and they're also reallycheap. so another really popular one to have thatwe highly recommend is the pork chop bun. it is basically like just like a pork chopin a bun. and the outside of the bun is crispy and thenit is really doughy inside. yeah, it is toasted. it is just really good. trust me.
try that one. just make sure you don't like bite into thebone like sam did. because the pork chop obviously has the chopin there. i didn't see the bone and i bit in to it reallyhard and i thought of my gosh did i just chip a tooth. i was wondering am i actually going to beable to enjoy macau or not or do i have to go to a make an emergency dentist appointment. okay, so next up, and this is for the moreadventurous people, try the durian ice cream. aw!
it smells bad. i love durian you hate it. so if you already know you hate durian thenobviously don't try it. stay away. but if you've never tried try the durian icecream it is really good. and the next one i want to talk about is basicallythe sweet pork jerky that you can find. these are just the thin strips that are cutup with scissors and put into a bag. they are really good. it is really soft.
it is so different from north american jerkyor also biltong which is something i've tried from south africa. it is really soft jerky. it is really sweet. it makes a great snack. and another thing i really enjoyed tryingwas the almond cookies. oh yeah. and those for some reason just make me thinkof christmas. they're like little small bite sized cookiesand they're very dry.
yeah, so if you're going to try a whole bunchyou probably want to enjoy them with tea or some kind of beverage. yeah, maybe bubble tea. we enjoyed ours with bubble tea. mmmm. and if you guy by some shops you can actuallysee them making almond cookies which is fascinating. so i would recommend buying them from oneof the shops that is making them right in front of you. you know it is fresh.
you know it is good. and another thing you can try in macau isportuguese wine. we didn't get to do this. oh, i highly regret not doing that. we just didn't have time. i love wine so i would have loved to try theportuguese wine. apparently, it is really affordable and reallygood quality too. next time. now moving on to things we loved about macau.
yeah, so these are all of things we reallyliked about macau and what made it an attractive place to visit. so number 1 would be the free hotels and casinosyou can just wander around and i mean you've got these grand buildings. so it is kind of like woah! if you're there just for shopping and entertainmentyou could literally make that the focus of your entire trip. there is just so many different casinos andhotels to visit. and every time we go back there is a new one.
there is like a new building. they build fast in macao. oh. i have to say. they sure do. yeah, anyways another thing we enjoyed wasthe street food. which we've mentioned a few times already. that was really good. oh my gosh the macanese street food is amazing.
and one of the advantages of snacking on streetfood all day long as opposed to going to sit down restaurants is that it really helps youmanage your time. you can see and do a lot more when you'rejust like picking up these little bites. having something quick to eat and then movingon to the next thing. and it is a lot more affordable than goingout for a fancy meal. in macau (澳門 - 澳门) because i havea feeling that would not be affordable. no, it could get pricey really quick. and yeah, all of the macanese street foodis really cheap. like everything was under $5 us dollars.
some things were under $1. so really cheap. really delicious. highly recommend it. so another thing we really like is all ofthe portuguese architecture and ruins that you can find throughout the city. it is just fascinating to see that type ofarchitecture in you know a part of the world where you normally wouldn't associate thatwith. it just gives a some people come obviouslyto macau to gamble and to do other things
like that but you can also be a culture vultureand enjoy the portuguese architecture. culture vulture. and other things. so another point to add is that this is suchan easy day trip. like it is just so convenient to hop on aferry and you're there. so the ease of travel is another really alluringthing about macau (澳門 - 澳门). it is very attractive and if you want to dothe way we did it we woke up really early in hong kong we went to the ferry terminalbought our ticket, quickly went through immigration. do remember to bring your passport.
you are going from one special administrativeregion to another. from hong kong to macau so don't forget todo that. but yeah, you can go buy your ticket on thespot. we were on the baot within like what 30 minutes. and then it an hour to macau (澳門 - 澳门). immigration was a breeze there and so likeby i don't know by 8 or 9 we were like already rolling. we were sightseeing. we were sightseeing, exploring macau.
so yeah and then you can come back again lateat night. and that makes for a great really busy day. i find that when you have some time scarcitylike that you just maximize your time. yeah, you really run around. we did. and we saw a lot and yeah check out our videoto see what we did in just one day. and one final point about things we lovedabout macau would have to be the free transportation provided by the hotels and casinos. thank you!
thank you hotels and casinos. even though we didn't really spend money. i know we took like three different shuttles. yeah, oh what was it the wynn hotel. we went from the wynn hotel back to the ferry. we were the only people on that shuttle. and they drove us. it was a private ride. it was awesome.
so yeah, do take advantage of the free transportation. these casinos and hotels they have tonnesof money so you don't have to feel guilty about it. alright, moving on to the things we hatedabout macau. basically the things we disliked about macau(澳門 - 澳门). and the first thing that comes up is the accommodations. the lack of budget and mid-range accommodations. it really out prices a lot of travelers andvisitors. but obviously the city is making a lot ofmoney so i don't see that changing anytime
soon. and i don't see there being a lot of budgetaccommodations both now and in the future. so another thing that we kind of hated aboutmacau is that let's say by mid afternoon a lot of the major attractions like senado square,saint paul's ruins it is just packed with people. super crowded. oversaturated. yeah, it is a little bit overwhelming. so the way that you can get around that isto visit these earlier in the morning.
um, especially if you're staying in macao(澳門 - 澳门). we didn't have that option because we gotto these around the mid-afternoon but it was a little bit overwhelming. yeah, there was a point where we weren't actuallymoving. we were just standing there in a crowd likekind of getting pushed and shoved. so that wasn't so pleasant. i guess that is one of the downsides. so to like we said to get around that visitduring off hours. and the last thing that i didn't really enjoywas the ferry ride coming back.
it was totally fine on the way there but onthe way back it was super choppy. and like the boat was bouncing up and downand that is when i understood why they have seat belts on the seats on the ferry. it is because like you're getting some seriousair. and it is like uhh. to be honest that doesn't bother me as much. like i don't get as seasick. and one tip we can offer is to try to geta seat on the second level. that is never as choppy as on the first level.
so yeah, try to get your seat on the secondlevel especially if you mind the choppy waters and if you get seasick easily. yeah, so i would say those are all of ourtravel tips for macau. i hope you found them useful and we wish youa wonderful trip.
if you're traveling there soon. absolutely. do visit macau it is definitely worth at leastone visit there at one point in your life. bye.
