Mama-about-Town: Macau Edition

We headed out of Hong Kong to Macau this past weekend for our last no-kids getaway before baby number two arrives in August. We didn’t quite have the stomach for a full-on babymoon this time around as I’ve decided two nights is pretty much my limit for leaving E behind before I start getting twitchy and unhappy.

We booked a stay at the Four Seasons Macau, my top pick for a summer, family-friendly destination in Macau. There are a few reasons why this is my favourite Macau hotel:

1)   Gorgeous rooms and they provide nice cots and amenities for little ones, as well as presenting them with a cuddly sheep at check-in

2)   Good highchairs in their all-day dining restaurant, Belancacao.

3)   Amazing pool area with five pools, including one absolutely huge shallow baby pool, and a kid’s area in the main pool. Settle yourselves in one of their shady cabanas with service at the touch of a button, and prepare to relax and unwind.

4)   It’s next to the Venetian, so you can walk through without needing to go outside, so you can do some shopping if the weather isn’t great, or enjoy a good stroll around, but you don’t have the feeling of staying at a casino. If you have kids with you, they’ll love checking out Ice World on ‘til the end of summer.

5)   A lovely spa for mummy, doing fab pregnancy massages (note though that they don’t have one of the special pregnancy cushions so that you can lie on your tum, so it’s side-lying only).

After enjoying Friday afternoon at the spa being pampered (and an amusingly awkward moment where my pregnant friend got herself kicked out of the Jacuzzi for, well, being pregnant) we headed to Morton’s for a steak dinner treat. I looked longingly at the people sipping their martinis at the bar – how I miss cocktails! We loved our indulgent meal, though were a tiny bit confused by the restaurant manager recommending that the pregnant ladies didn’t eat the grilled asparagus with balsamic vinegar because it has lead in it! The whole table avoided that particular dish after the warning!

The following evening after an obscenely lazy day that involved far more napping and reading than mamas ever get the opportunity to do, we headed over the Macau bridge for dinner to The Wynn. We enjoyed our pre-dinner drinks at Le Cinnebar downstairs where we speculated about the possible triad connections of fellow guests, then headed up to Le Teatro for dinner.

Two of our bloggers recently reviewed Il Teatro over on Sassy, and I definitely also had a great experience – great quality Italian, yummy crispy pizzas at a very reasonable price. The only slightly off-putting thing was sitting right in front of the fountain show outside the window, with the Grand Lisboa’s flashing lights just behind it in view. Every 15 minutes or so the sophisticated classical music would cut off for the show, and we’d all suddenly be bopping along to “Eye of the Tiger” or some other 80s hit or power ballad. I’m not sure it’s quite the place to get super-romantic, though with a group it was fun.

Heading back to the Kong first thing on Sunday morning, we definitely felt like we’d enjoyed a proper getaway, despite having been away for less than 48 hours. We’re already planning to go back in a couple of weeks – this time with the kids!

In the meantime, if you’re thinking about things to do for the upcoming public holiday on Monday 2nd July, check out our short-haul getaway round-up from Mr + Mrs Smith… plenty of fabulous inspiration for you and over at Sassy we’ve got some amazing hotel deals you won’t want to miss!