631. Macau | Sightseeing

My favourite thing to do in Macau is going around all the beautiful casinos (like The Parisian which I will be posting about soon). It's a pretty small city and not much to see in terms of tourist sites and attractions. It is the "Vegas of Asia" so the main thing there would be the casinos. This was my second time in Macau, so I already saw these places the first time but we decided to visit again. As Macau used to be a Portuguese colony, there is a lot of Porguese/European influences there. I really liked the colourful buildings.






















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545. Macau | Iridium Spa

One evening during our stay at St. Regis in Macau, we had a spa treatment at the hotel's Iridium Spa. The spa provides bespoke experiences tailored to each guest's personal needs.

It was the perfect and most relaxing end to the night. The "Nourishing Gemstone Journey" is their signature massage. It includes a 15-minute foot bath/massage then a 75-minute gemstone hot oils massage. When we arrived, we were provided some tea and a tablet to do a quick survey on. The survey was to determine which gemstone oil was best suited for our current state of mind and mood. I had the Aquamarine (the teal blue) for balancing and calming purposes.

This was my first ever full body massage. I felt so relaxed and rejuvenated afterwards. The worst part from the massage was when she told me it was completed! After it was over, we were provided some tea and biscuits to enjoy while overlooking the city. The spa is located on the 38th floor, so the view from there was really nice. Now, back in Toronto, I've been searching for a good spa to go for regular massages.




Our appointment was in the evening. I took these photos during the day so that's why there is sunlight!





Other St. Regis Posts:

The Manor - Restaurant Review
St. Regis - Hotel Review

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544. Macau | The Manor

During our stay at the St. Regis Hotel in Macau, we had dinner at their restaurant The Manor. It was a really nice dinner with delicious food in a beautiful setting. The staff were really attentive, and all the dishes were wonderfully presented.


We started with a White Asparagus appetizer: with soft milk curd, roasted nuts, grains and herb flowers.

Then we had the Miyazaki Wagyu A5, Japanese Black-Haired Cattle sirloin steak! It was so juicy and flavourful. This is the highest grade of beef possible (A5) and I really could taste the difference. The Miyazaki Wagyu's quality even surpasses that of Wagyu from Kobe. To maintain its high standards, Japanese authorities restrict supplies to authorized distributors only. I don't think we have this available in North America yet.



After our dinner, we went to the bar for a few hours (I brought my laptop down to get some work done) for a nightcap. I ordered a Strawberry Daiquiri. The signature drink at all St. Regis Hotels is the Bloody Mary though. I don't like spiciness so I didn't try it, but I only found out that St. Regis created the original Bloody Mary (in their New York King Cole Bar).





On the morning before we left, we had breakfast downstairs at the restaurant. I love hotel breakfasts. The breakfast here at the St. Regis was amazing - very extensive selection and everything was so good and fresh! Probably in the top 3 hotel breakfasts I've ever had in my life.





Dim Sum counter



This was the main area to get food. It was set up like a kitchen in a house. The chef there can prepare you a bowl of wonton noodles. & I really love this part..they have a couple large, glass door fridges with drinks and fruit inside. So everything stays cold when you take them.




Other St. Regis Posts:

Iridium Spa - Spa Review
St. Regis - Hotel Review

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543. Macau | St. Regis Hotel

During our short visit to Macau, we had the pleasure of staying at the beautiful St. Regis Hotel Macao. St. Regis' slogan is "Experiences Beyond Expectation"; our stay certainly had exceeded my expectations! I have stayed at many luxury hotels throughout my travels, but the overall experience at this hotel was my favourite and it was nice to be able to share it with my mom. We had the full experience here: limo transfers to and from the port, an amazing dinner, evening at the bar, Iridium Spa treatment, in-room breakfast as well as the restaurant breakfast, and even a personal tour of the hotel. We also experienced their signature butler service, which is available 24 hours for all the guests of the hotel.

There will be 3 posts in this series (including the restaurant/bar and spa experience). This post will be a general review!


The first St. Regis Hotel to open was the one on Fifth Avenue in New York City (which I visited once back in 2013!), built by John Jacob Astor IV more than 100 years ago. He wanted to create the world's most luxurious hotel with the most advanced technological features of the day. For example, St. Regis in New York was the first hotel to have air conditioning.

He passed away 8 years later, as one of the passengers on the Titanic. His hotel and legacy lived on and today, St. Regis has almost 60 hotels and resorts around the world still known as one of the top luxury hospitality brands.




Arrival and Check-In: We arrived by ferry from Hong Kong. Our butler that evening, Troy, greeted us at the port and took us to where the hotel driver/limo was waiting. They were very friendly and chatted with us on the way back, providing some interesting facts about Macau and buildings as we drove by.

When we arrived at the hotel, we were greeted by Mark, the supervisor of the butler service and a bellboy who promptly took our bags. They gave us a very warm welcome and led us into the hotel and straight up to our room where we would do the check in. We were brought chamomile tea as well as they noticed my mom had a sore throat.

After the initial check in, they took my passport and credit card (for the safety deposit) back downstairs to process while we stayed in the room. When they brought it back up for me, it was in a St. Regis envelope which I thought was a nice touch.







First impressions of the room: very spacious, clean, beautiful bathroom, very well-stocked with all the amenities we needed and more..& amazing view!! As you may know, my favourite city in the world is Paris, so I got particularly excited to see this:



View of the pool from our room


I also LOVE this "Handy" phone, which all the guests receive during their stay in Macau. It's a cell phone that has all the important St. Regis contacts stored, guide of the hotel, guide of the city, and a WiFi hotspot! I was very happy I didn't have to use my over-priced roaming data plan while exploring the city.

That night, we had a dinner reservation at the hotel's restaurant: The Manor. I'm going to make a separate post for that tomorrow.

A few minutes before our reserved time, we headed out and it turns out Troy, the butler, was waiting in the hallway to escort us to the restaurant. He brought us a map and guidebook of Macau, along with a card with all the top attractions listed (in checkbox format) so that we could show the taxi driver where we wanted to go if we had trouble communicating. Very helpful!

After our dinner we went to the bar for a couple hours where I did some work on my laptop and had a cocktail. It was a very nice experience. I will post about it tomorrow as well.


When we got back to the room, they already did turndown service and brought out the most comfy slippers I ever had at a hotel. They also gave us 8 (!) extra bottles of water because they knew my mom had a sore throat.


The first morning, we had in-room breakfast. I've had this a few times in other hotels in the past and it was always just a tray but this time it was more extravagant. The night before, we chose what we wanted. I went for the English style breakfast while my mom chose the Chinese style.


This was everything! There was soooo much food (& we didn't even choose all the options per category). The butler laid it all out for us and when we finished, we had to call them back up to collect everything. Such a delicious breakfast with a wonderful view..definitely my favourite breakfast from the whole Asia trip.


Here are some photos I took during our tour of the hotel. The largest Presidential Suite there was over 4000 square feet! My favourite feature in all the rooms were the bathrooms..they were all very beautiful.





Overall we were extremely happy with our stay at the St. Regis Hotel in Macau. The level of service and attention to detail was exceptional. I was very impressed with the staff's communication as everything we experienced was very well co-ordinated. They were all super professional and friendly/conversational at the same time. I was always greeted by name (even if it was our first time meeting; they always knew it before I introduced myself). St. Regis Hotels are known to provide all guests with personalized, anticipatory service which I felt was very true. It seemed like they really wanted to make our stay memorable and the most enjoyable possible.

Everything about the stay was flawless and I would definitely recommend it if you are going to Macau. They are very centrally located, right on the Cotai Strip and quite close to the Taipa ferry port as well as Macau International Airport.

& I will end this with a photo of my favourite spot at night:



Other St. Regis Posts:
The Manor - Restaurant Review
Iridium Spa - Spa Review


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