Where to stay in Macao

Two different trips

• Cotai is the strip of enormous integrated resorts built on reclaimed land between Taipa and Coloane - the Venetian, the Parisian, and the rest. Rooms are large by regional standards, everything is indoors and air-conditioned, and you will not see Macao.
• The Macao peninsula is the old city: the UNESCO historic centre, Senado Square, the Portuguese street tiles, the food. Hotels are smaller and older, and this is where the place is actually interesting.
• Taipa Village sits between the two and is the compromise a lot of repeat visitors settle on.

Prices move violently with the day of the week

• Midweek is a different city from the weekend. Macao fills up on Friday and Saturday with visitors from the mainland and Hong Kong, and resort room rates can multiply.
• Arriving Sunday to Thursday is the single biggest saving available here, and it is far larger than the difference between hotels.
• Public holidays on the mainland, especially Lunar New Year and the October Golden Week, fill everything at any price.

Practical

• The free shuttles make hotel location matter less than it looks. A cheaper hotel next to a big resort inherits that resort's transport network.
• Rooms in the old peninsula hotels are small and can be tired. Check a recent photograph, not the listing's.
• Guesthouses are licensed and unlicensed here, and unlicensed ones are periodically shut down with guests inside. Book something registered.