Our trip this time was surrounding seeing a show at the City of Dreams. My previous Ladies Weekends have been about: Mid Autumn Festival, People Leaving HK, Lady Gaga Concert, Birthday Weekends. Basically, find an excuse to grab an overnight bag and take a trip to Macau! Treat yourself and your girlfriends to a night away in a city that never sleeps!
Here are some simple rules I think help make your trip better and some things that I loved in Macau that I think are must sees.
1) Have something in common
There is nothing worse than having a group where you don't see eye to eye on what the purpose of the trip is. Make sure you sit down before the trip to discuss what you're going to do on the trip. Is the purpose of the trip to relax, shop, foodie exploration, gambling, sightseeing, see show, etc? You can try a do a couple things but with an overnighter there is no way to do everything. You must choose a couple things and do them well. We chose: show, dancing, spa. Everything else we did was just a bonus on top of these things. We had dinner with a friend of one of girls, we went for a little window shopping in the square. We went to Fernando's for Lunch. All Bonuses in my mind because we got the 3 main things accomplished.
I remember my first trip to Macau was really bad because we really had no plan of action. Half the group wanted to gamble/get wasted and the other group wanted to sight see. The gambling group was a little more vocal; so the sightseeing group just stood around watching and sighing for 48 hours. Not a fun trip... It actually made me dislike Macau for a while.
2) Choose your trip partners wisely
I think 4 is the perfect number for a girl's weekend. Anything over 6 is too large. With 4 you only need book one hotel room. You can divide things up evenly. You only need one taxi when travelling across town. 4 is a perfect number for me. You can also divide into pairs when people have differences of opinions.
Remember, have fun!!!!
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| Having fun this past weekend in Macau! |
3) Saving Money
You don't always need to spend a bunch of money in Macau. We have found some pretty good penny savers on our recent trips there. On this trip we discovered The Nirvana Spa. It is the only free standing spa in Macau. The prices are really reasonable. The workers are really friendly, have excellent english and the place is VERY clean. It's walking distance from the Wynn- so very close to Central Square area of Macau. I would definately go here again. I paid 420MOP for a one hour massage. She got rid of my migraine in 5 minutes!
We stayed at one of the older styled Chinese Casinos. The Hotel Lisboa. It's not the Grand Lisboa (or the pineapple as some people call it). It was very chinese and very tacky, in a good way. Definately worth the experience! Also 1/2 the price of the Western style casinos like City of Dreams or The Venetian. A deluxe room for four had twin beds in it. I don't know how they thought we were going to fit in there, we weren't four anorexics. Minibar was free and the shower was VERY fancy/confusing. I would stay there again. You don't really spend much time in the room to really care.
Although, I do have to say there were an excessive number of hookers at this hotel...
You can save a lot of money on your trip if you can book during the week. If your work gives you an option of taking a day off during the week instead of Saturday then you can take advantage of this and spend some serious time in Macau on staycations. If a holiday lands during the week jump on it and book early! We booked Mid-Autumn festival last year on a Tuesday and had a great deal of 1500HKD at The Venetian hotel because it landed on a weekday!
4) Eating
I think eating is the most essential part of the trip. You can save a lot on food by choosing smart food choices. Don't eat at fancy chain places or eating in the casinos. You can eat at local bistros and get twice the food at half the price. We ate at a lovely little resteraunt on a side street called Mon Cafe Ouf that was 98MOP for a 3 course Set Meal. That's cheaper than my entree at The Hard Rock Cafe. You can also make the smart choice of ordering Sparkling Wine instead of Champagne and save half the cost. Order tap water and it's free. All your little pennies can save up to you paying for your quarter of the room or buying yourself a treat at one of the shops!
Water is also free in the casinos. You should never pay for bottled water in Macau. Just walk through a casino and pick up a free bottle.
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| Eating is the best part of traveling! But remember your tastes may not be the tastes of your travel partners! |
5)Smart Planning
If you know you're going to drink a lot bring some booze from home. If you know you'll need snacks bring them from home. You'll save a lot of money! We did on this trip by simply planning ahead!
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We loved the Bellini Lounge at The Venetian for their great live band. The drinks aren't badly priced. There is also NO cover charge, which is awesome! I come to the Bellini Lounge almost every time I come to Macau. I highly recommend it. The band is very talented and also very kind! They know how to have fun and make everyone in room join them on the dance floor!
NIce one, girls, wish I was there :)
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