Shopping
The Grand Canal Shoppes at Las Vegas Sands’ Cotai Strip® Venetian Macao will be the must see shopping experience for any serious shopper visiting Macao. The Grand Canal Shoppes will feature:
- Almost 1 million square fee of shopping across three floors
- Twice the Size of the Las Vegas Venetian Grand Canal Shoppes
- 350 Stores
- 20 leading restaurants, a 1,000 seat food court, and a high-end nightclub
- Venice, Italy inspired theme
- Gondola Rides and street-side entertainment
Although it is not totally completed yet, it is open for business and shouldnt be missed.
There are plenty of other great places to shop throughout Cotai, Taipa, and Coloane Islands. As a matter of fact, Macau is a place where you can purchase almost anything, and have a wonderful time doing it. Luxury items are cheaper here than in other cities in the region. Jewelry (particularly 24-carat gold), cameras, porcelain, electronic items, mobile phones, watches, cashmere sweaters and silk clothing are available at very reasonable prices.
It is also a great treasure trove for Chinese antiques and collectibles. You can find here ancient coins, 19th century stocks and shares, stamps and other printed material (Rua das Estalagens and Rua da Tercena); boxes of tea (Rua Cinco de Outubro) and coffee from around the world (Estrada do Cemiterio and Avenida do Coronel Mesquita); traditional shops where tea is displayed in wooden drawers and glass goblets; and countless old Chinese Pharmacies packed with traditional medicines (Rua de S.Paulo and Rua de Pedro Nolasco da Silva). These are just a few examples to illustrate how adventurous and fascinating shopping in Macau can be. Now it’s up to you to explore.
Currency
The currency of Macau is the pataca, which is divided into 100 avos. There are about 8 patacas to the US dollar.
Hong Kong dollars, which are almost equal to the pataca in value, are accepted by most businesses on a 1:1 basis, but you may have some trouble with the HK$10 coin, which many businesses do not accept because there have been many forgeries recently. Chinese Yuan (RMB/CNY) are also frequently accepted and can easily be changed for either Hong Kong dollars or patacas.
Getting money is quite easy as there are banks and ATMs on nearly every street. Holders of a debit card on the international networks will have no issues withdrawing money. Holders of Chinese Union Pay cards will not have trouble either withdrawing local currency from their RMB denominated accounts. ATMs usually dispense in MOP (100 and 500 bills) and HKD (100 and 500 as well) and some will also dispense in CNY.
Try not to leave Macau with a lot of Patacas. Unlike the Hong Kong dollar, they are quite hard to exchange in Western countries.