Review – Hotel Royal, Macau

I had previously been to Macau a couple of times on day-trips, but decided it was time to get to know the city itself a bit more, and not only the casinos, so decided to book a hotel for 2 nights. I looked around on Agoda.com for a while, and decided to book this hotel in the old part of the city, on the Macau peninsula.

  • Date of stay: February 20-22, 2019
  • Type of room: Royal Macau Superior King Room
  • Price: HKD 740 per night
Hotel Royal, Macau

Getting to Macau I had to take my normal 3 buses from Tung Chung, first a bus from Tung Chung bus terminus to the HZMB port, then one bus from here across the Hong Kong – Macau bridge, and then a shuttle bus from the port in Macau to the ferry terminal. From the ferry terminal the hotel had a shuttle bus that ran every 30 minutes, so I quickly located this and was at the hotel just on time for normal check-in at 14:00

Check-in was completed quickly, and I was pointed in the direction of my room, which I believe was on the 7th floor. The room was fairly standard for a hotel room, bathroom to the right as I entered, small wardrobe to the left, and then the room itself.

There was a large king size bed in the centre of the room.

Large king size bed.

Then there was a tv cabinet with a large flat screen TV, and a small office desk and chair by the window.

TV stand and office desk

Then there was a divan which was very comfortable.

Sofa/divan for relaxing

The bathroom was in white marble, and had a miniskule bathtub and stand-up shower.

Toilet and sink
Bathtub the size of a shoebox
The shower
A bathrobe was provided, as well as an ironing board.

The view from the room wasn’t the greatest either, but basically what I would expect living in the town centre.

View from my room

The next 2 days I spent exploring Macau, and I must say it is a city that gives me a good feeling – it is similar to what I expected, with narrow streets, rundown-looking buildings, steep hills, old colonial-era churches and some ruins, luxury casinos and hotels all packed together. But it is also surprising just how close it is to mainland China – it is literally just across a few meters or water. Below are some pictures of my exploration.

Cannons on the 17th century fort called Monto Do Forte
View from the fort towards the Casino Lisabon
What I expected Macau buildings to look like
View of old Macau
View of old Macau
View towards Sofitel Macau, and mainland China just behind it
Ruins of the old Sao Paulo Cathedral
Narrow and steep streets.
The front of the ruins of the Sao Paulo Cathedral built in 1637-40, the largest catholic church in Asia at the time.
Decorations at Senado Square
Senado Square

Overall the hotel was more or less as expected, for the location it was good, and a great place to stay if you want to explore old Macau and be away from the Casino-strip in Cotai.

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