Hi, it’s Solyn. This time we went to the Venetian Macao in Cotai, twice.
Two things you should know before you go in.
One: it’s enormous, and you should not schedule it tightly. It opened in 2007 with around 980,000 square metres of floor space, which makes it one of the largest buildings in the world. We spent about two hours and didn’t shop at all.
Two: Lord Stow’s Bakery has a branch inside, and it took us thirty minutes to find it. I’ll give you the directions further down, because nobody gave them to us.
Getting there
There’s a bus stop directly in front of the Venetian, and it’s a useful one — the buses to the Sands run from here too.
That matters if you’re based in the old town. From Artyzen Grand Lapa you take the Sands shuttle out here, and you catch it back from the same spot.
The canals under a painted sky
The Grand Canal Shoppes are the thing everyone photographs, and the reason is simple: there is a canal running through a shopping mall, under a ceiling painted to look like sky.
It’s obviously not real sky. But it’s done well enough that your eye keeps accepting it, and that’s the trick.
We didn’t take a gondola. You can walk the whole thing, and walking lets you look at it properly rather than gliding past.
If you do want the ride, the resort publishes its prices, so here they are.
Shared boat, six people, per adult: MOP 165 on weekdays, MOP 175 at weekends and through the summer holidays (1 July – 31 August), MOP 195 on public holidays. Children under 12 are MOP 130 / 145 / 145 / 160 on the same scale, and infants under one ride free.
A private boat is MOP 788 on weekdays, rising to MOP 988 on public holidays. It seats four.
Both indoor canals — the Grand Canal and the Marco Polo Canal — run 11:30 AM to 7:30 PM. The San Luca Canal and the outdoor lagoon are listed as closed until further notice, so check before you plan around them. Tickets are sold at the Boutique di Gondola and Emporio di Gondola inside, or online through Cotai Ticketing.
Look up in the Great Hall
The canals get the attention, but the ceilings are just as much of the effect.
We did go into the casino. No photos — they don’t allow it — but for the record: it is vast.
Two hours, and don’t only look at the luxury shops
We spent about two hours and bought nothing. That felt right.
One thing worth saying, because the photos of this place are misleading: it isn’t all designer boutiques. There’s a wide mix of shops, and plenty of it is ordinary browsing rather than window-shopping at prices you’d never pay.
Give it more time than you think you need. There’s a lot of ground and it’s all worth a look.
Finding Lord Stow’s inside the Venetian
Here’s the part I actually want to be useful about.
Lord Stow’s Bakery has a branch in here, and we spent thirty minutes going in circles before we found it. It’s genuinely hard to locate in a building this size.
So, in order:
1. Start at the Great Hall. If you’re here, you can get to Lord Stow’s.
2. Find the corridor with PIAGET on the corner, and follow it straight.
3. Keep going until you reach the LEGO store. Lord Stow’s is beside it.
4. There it is.
The queue took about a minute. After half an hour of walking, that felt almost rude.
The egg tarts
Some background, because it explains the tart. Lord Stow’s was opened in 1989 in Coloane Village by Andrew Stow, an English pharmacist who had tried Portuguese pastéis de nata on a trip and decided to work out his own version. He didn’t have the recipe. He reverse-engineered it and changed things.
That’s why it isn’t quite a Portuguese tart, and why people queue for it.
Here’s the honest verdict, and it isn’t mine. I’m not an egg tart expert — but the person I was travelling with is far more particular about them, and was clear: this one is different.
A badly made egg tart is dry. This one isn’t — the custard inside is soft and genuinely moist, and that’s the whole difference.
MOP 13 for a single tart, MOP 75 for a box of six. That’s MOP 12.50 each in the box — not a huge saving per tart, but it adds up and the box travels better.
We bought two on the day. Then, on our last morning in Macau, we came back and bought four boxes to take home. Twenty-four tarts, MOP 300. That’s the review.
The original bakery is still in Coloane Village. I haven’t been, so I can’t tell you whether it’s better — but the Venetian branch is far easier to reach, and it’s the same name over the door.
- A canal running through a mall under a painted sky. It shouldn’t work and it does.
- The painted ceilings in the Great Hall.
- Lord Stow’s is inside, so you can do the Venetian and the egg tarts in one stop.
- It’s not all luxury shops — the mix is broader than the photos suggest.
- Busy but never cramped. The place is big enough to absorb the crowds.
- Free to walk around — you only spend if you want to. The bus stop out front connects to the Sands.
- MOP 13 a tart, MOP 75 for six. Cheap for something you’ll still be thinking about later.
- Lord Stow’s is genuinely hard to find. Thirty minutes for us. Follow the directions above.
- No photos in the casino.
- Don’t come with an hour to spare. You’ll rush it and miss the point.
- Time needed: Two hours minimum, and more if you shop or eat.
- Casino: Down the escalators from the Great Hall. Photography not allowed.
- Lord Stow’s: Great Hall → PIAGET corner corridor → straight on → beside the LEGO store.
- Getting here: Bus stop directly out front, including buses to the Sands.
- Egg tarts: MOP 13 each, MOP 75 for a box of six (MOP 12.50 a tart).
- Gondola: We walked instead, but if you ride — MOP 165 weekday / MOP 175 weekend and summer / MOP 195 public holidays, per adult on a shared six-person boat. Children under 12 from MOP 130. Private boat from MOP 788. Grand Canal and Marco Polo Canal run 11:30 AM–7:30 PM.
- Crowds: Plenty of people, but the scale means it never feels packed.
Would I come back?
Yes, and I’d tell anyone going to Macau to put it on the list. The first time you see it, it’s genuinely strange in a good way.
One last thought. People sometimes dismiss places like this as fake, and I understand the instinct — but Macau as a city is largely a built thing. The Venetian isn’t pretending otherwise.
If you are staying out here, Broadway is a short walk away and its water park comes with the room. On our last morning we picked up tarts here and walked out to the Parisian and the airport. If you want tradition, the old town has it. Cotai is the other side of Macau — the spectacle and the convenience — and this is the clearest example of it.
— Solyn