The Las Vegas of Asia is on a winning streak, with new hotel openings, Michelin-starred restaurants on every corner, and hot new non-gaming attractions – like heritage museums, exuberant waterparks, and theatre spectaculars. Worth at least a one-night add-on to your next trip to Hong Kong, here's our pick of the best hotels, old and new.
Best for high rollers: Raffles at Galaxy Macau
A pair of gigantic gold ingots in the heart of the Cotai entertainment strip contain the world's largest all-suite Raffles. Its 450 accommodations range from one-bedroom suites with floor faux fireplaces and floor-to-ceiling windows to duplexes with double-height windows and glass staircases to vast signature suites with private decks and swimming pools. Afternoon tea is served in the lobby under a 15-metre-high chandelier made from 500,000 crystals. The spa is yet to open, but a gorgeous 40-metre-long outdoor infinity pool is lined with checkerboard tiles and plush cabanas.
Best urban escape: Mandarin Oriental Macau
This elegant hotel overlooking the Pearl River Delta and Macau Tower is one of the few luxury hotels in Macau without a casino (although you can still easily access the neighbouring MGM complex). Instead, guests come for the spacious rooms, great restaurants, rooftop swimming pool, and exceptional spa. The personal service never misses a beat, and you're within walking distance of the charms of the Portuguese colonial-era old town.
Best for hipsters: W Studio City
Opened in 2023, this 557-room hotel is part of the Studio City complex, which has an enormous double ferris wheel, a waterpark, and a casino among its numerous facilities. The interiors feel slick and modern, with ribbons of shimmering gold netting sweeping through the lobby, walls of vinyl records in the bar, and an abstract dragon circling the ceiling of fabulous Cantonese restaurant Diva. Rooms are soothing in navy and white, and while the spa is small, the expert therapists make it one of the best in the city.
Best for leisure: The Ritz-Carlton Macau
Set within the top floors of the expansive Galaxy Casino, this glamorous property has 230 Champagne-hued rooms, including some with access to the generous executive club, plus a two-bedroom presidential suite with arched windows overlooking the strip. Four bars and restaurants include Lai Heen on the 51st floor, which was awarded a Michelin star for its contemporary spin on Cantonese cuisine (try the dim sum with a side of honey-glazed Iberico pork char sui). The leisure facilities are tip-top, too, with an award-winning spa, an outdoor swimming pool, and access to Grand Resort Deck's lazy rivers, wave pools, and lagoons.
Best for vogueing: Palazzo Versace Macao
The first Palazzo Versace in Asia knows its crowd. Everything is geared towards looking and feeling good, from the mosaic lobby and colour-pop Versace crockery to the anti-ageing facials at the Roman-inspired spa and indoor and outdoor swimming pools inlaid with golden dragons. Rooms are more tasteful than you might imagine, with rich clotted creams contrasted with sherbet pink, apricot, and turquoise soft furnishings. Part of the Grand Lisboa Palace estate, guests have access to all of the facilities at The Karl Lagerfeld and Grand Lisboa Palace Hotel, as well as the maze gardens.
Best for design lovers: Morpheus Macau
One of the last buildings entirely designed by Dame Zaha Hadid, Morpheus feels more like a living, breathing creature than a building. Within its tangled exoskeleton, the lobby soars upwards towards great honeycombs of glass and metal, with glowing red elevators gliding up and down the wall. Three huge holes punctuate the building upstairs, creating airborne walkways and cocoon-like spaces. Rooms feel fabulously futuristic and luxurious, with a cream and cappuccino palette set with sloping angles, layered ceilings, 3D wall panelling, and asymmetric bathtubs. Book well in advance for a table at three-Michelin-starred Jade Dragon.
Best for kitsch: The Londoner
Sandwiched between the colossal Venetian Macau and The Parisian, The Londoner does exactly what you might expect, with a life-size Big Ben, a Crystal Palace-inspired atrium, and a replica of the Diamond Jubilee State Carriage (complete with gold wheels). When you're not gawping at the demented 'changing of the guard', enhanced with projection mapping and other zany special effects, you can ride a black cab, stroll the Victorian-style' shoppes', take afternoon tea in Alice in Wonderland teacups, and eat dinner at a Gordon Ramsey gastropub. The rooms are, thankfully, calmer in neat white, slate and plaid, with two floors of suites 'designed' by David Beckham.
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