What’s new in Macau: hotels, restaurants and attractions that have opened in the Chinese gaming hub since your last visit pre-Covid
- Largely closed to visitors since the Covid-19 pandemic began, Macau is reopening, with ferries from Hong Kong resuming. Much has changed in three years
- The Londoner Macao and Grand Lisboa Palace Resort hotels have opened, along with Studio City Water Park, TeamLab’s ‘immersive museum’ and several restaurants
Macau, like many tourist destinations, has seen a dramatic drop in visitors because of the Covid-19 pandemic in the past three years, and much has changed in the Chinese gaming hub.
While travel restrictions to limit the spread of Covid-19 have remained a major deterrent to visitors, quite a few attractions have opened in Macau to whet appetites for a visit to the former Portuguese enclave.
With the imminent restoration of intercity links (Cotai Water Jet has, for example, announced the resumption of ferry services between Hong Kong’s Sheung Wan Macau Ferry Terminal and Macau Taipa Ferry Terminal from January 8), here are some of the most interesting developments.
Hotels
The Londoner Macao
Following the success of fellow Sands China casino resorts The Venetian and The Parisian, the Londoner Macao – a rebranding of the Sands Cotai Central – opened its doors in 2021.
The British-themed complex features a full scale copy of London’s Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain, replica Victorian-era lamp posts and a 33-metre (108 ft) high stained glass atrium, dubbed the Crystal Palace, in the lobby.
Besides the eponymous hotel, others within the 5,989-room Londoner complex include a Conrad, a St Regis and a Sheraton.