My first look at The Venetian Macao – faux Venice of the Far East

The Venetian Macao Resort-Hotel was AWESOME. It’s a must-see when you’re in the territory because it’s the latest attraction there. Bigger than its counterpart in Las Vegas and sitting on 97 hectares of reclaimed land on the new Cotai Strip ( Cotai being a combination of Coloane and Taipa). The Venetian Macao is “large enough to hold ninety Boeing 747 jumbo jets” with 3,000 luxurious suites in its hotel, a 15,000-seater arena and 350 high-end stores in its Grand Canal Shoppes.

The Venice atmosphere is all over – from the winding canals to the romantic bridges, the Renaissance designs, the street performers and of course, the singing gondoliers (some of whom are Filipinos).

Before my trip, I was mistaken to think of The Venetian as one giant casino, more than anything else. Truth is, they are marketing it as a destination for the whole family. Each day, thousands of people – old and young, even minors – enter the stately gates to have the Venice experience and do lots of photo opportunities. The guests are even shuttled to The Venetian for free by buses that are stationed in strategic points in Macau. At the ferry terminal, there is already a bus waiting to take you to the resort.

Notice the sky and the clouds in the picture – they were just painted over so you’ll never know whether it’s day or night. There are also lots of windows but all of them are closed. That’s why I call it the faux Venice 😀

Even if you don’t have the budget for high-scale shopping and dining, ordinary tourists can still enjoy the Venetian, such as the offerings of this international food court which you can try after walking and roaming around. During the time of our visit, a Venetian festival was going on and there were free demos on gondola-making, glass blowing and Italian cooking.

A view of the lower level gambling area, with the imposing Roman columns, from the escalator going to the Forum shops. Casinos don’t really allow the use of camera phones inside, but I guess you just have to use it discreetly. And I guess security personnel can’t do anything about it due to the huge volume of visitors. The Venetian is so big that personnel find it hard to go from one point to another. I think they will get lost there themselves.

That’s me doing a ‘touristic’ pose with two of the street artists. There are many of such performing for the crowd’s entertainment.

I couldn’t help but marvel at the elaborate frescoes on the ceilings.