Macau Hotels - China

<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <h2 align="center">Macau Hotels</h2> <p>Find a hotel in Macau, China. Get the best discounts on <a href="http://www.hotels-travelnow.com/asia/china/">Macau hotels</a> - up to 70% off the regular rate. Make reservations online. China travel information.</p> <p>Macau comprises three distinct parts: the peninsula , which is linked by bridge to the island of Taipa , which is in turn linked by bridge to a second island, Coloane . The peninsula of Macau, where the original old city was located and where most of the historic sights still are (as well as the city amenities), is entirely developed right up to the border with China in the north, though the islands, Coloane in particular, contain some quiet rural patches.</p> <p>The peninsula is not large and it's possible to get around much of it on foot, though you'll need buses for the longer stretches. Macau's Jetfoil Terminal, for boats to and from Hong Kong, is in the southeast of the peninsula. The most important road, Avenida Almeida Ribeiro , cuts across from east to west, taking in the Hotel Lisboa, one of Macau's most famous landmarks, and exits on its western end at the inner harbour, near to the docking point for ferries from Guangzhou. The western part of Almeida Ribeiro is also the budget hotel area.</p> <p>Macau's two islands, Taipa and Coloane , are just dots of land which traditionally supported a few small fishing villages, though now, with the opening of the new airport on Taipa, a second bridge from the mainland and a large reclamation programme, that old tranquillity is on the way out. Indeed, Taipa is fast acquiring the characteristics of a city suburb. For the time being, life seems to remain relatively quiet, particularly on Coloane, and the two islands are well worth a visit, either by bus or by rented bicycle.</p> <p>The town of Macau was born down in the south of the peninsula, around the bay-front road known as the Praia Grande , and grew out from there. Unfortunately, these days a stroll on the seafront is not what it was, with the bay now being enclosed and reclamation work underway. More rewarding is the main road that cuts the Praia from east to west, called Avenida do Infante d'Henrique to the east and Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro to the west. At the eastern end of the road rises the extraordinarily garish Lisboa Hotel, though most of the interest lies in the section west of the Praia, particularly in the beautiful Largo do Senado (Senate Square), which marks the downtown area and bears the unmistakeable influence of southern Europe, not only in its architecture, but also in its role as a place for people to stroll, sit and chat in the open air.</p> <p>At the northern end of Largo do Senado, away from the main road, is the beautiful seventeenth-century Baroque church, São Domingos , while to the south, facing the square from across the main road, stands the Leal Senado (Mon-Sat 1-7pm; free), generally considered the finest Portuguese building in the city. Step into the interior courtyard here to see wonderful blue and white Portuguese tiles around the walls, while up the staircase from the courtyard, you reach first a formal garden and then the richly decorated senate chamber itself. In the late sixteenth century this hall used to be packed out with the entire citizenry of the colony, who gathered to debate issues of importance. The senate's title leal (loyal) was earned during the period when Spain occupied the Portuguese throne and Macau became the final stronghold of loyalists to the true king. Today the senate chamber is still used by the municipal government of Macau, though it's hardly the democratic chamber of old. Adjacent to the chamber is the wood-carved public library , whose collection includes a repository of many fifteenth- and sixteenth-century books which you can still see on the shelves; you're free to go in and browse.</p> <p>A couple of hundred metres west from Largo do Senado, Almeida Ribeiro emerges onto the so-called Inner Harbour , which overlooks, and is sheltered by, the mainland just across the water. Ferries to Guangzhou still use this harbour, and it used also to be the location of the Floating Casino , an ugly wooden contraption on the water teeming with gamblers at all hours. (A few months before Macau's handover this was moved to a site near the Jetfoil Terminal, for unspecified "security reasons".) Some of the streets immediately inland from here, especially those just north of Almeida Ribeiro, are worth poking around. Streets such as Rua Felicidade, parallel with Almeida Ribeiro, have shaken off their former seediness and are now full of friendly restaurants and small hotels. South from the Guangshou Ferry Pier the seafront road, Rua das Lorchas, is lined by old arcades and characterful shops.</p> </body>