The Venetian Macao

The world's largest casino and a themed resort modelled on Venice

The Venetian Macao is the anchor of the Cotai Strip and the most recognisable building in Macau's gambling empire. The resort is themed around Venice, with a fake Grand Canal, gondola rides, and painted clouds on a domed ceiling stretching across a vast indoor shopping mall. The casino floor is the largest in the world, with around 3,400 gambling machines and 800 table games.

Even without gambling, the place repays a visit on its own terms: the sheer scale of the architectural fantasy is astonishing, the food court is enormous and cheap by Macau standards, and the arena hosts major concerts and sports events. The Venetian connects via pedestrian walkways to several neighbouring resorts, so you can walk between properties without going outside.

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The Venetian Macao opened in 2007 and became the world's largest casino at the time — a title it has since relinquished to other Cotai properties but still holds in Asia. The internal replica Grand Canal runs for 300 metres inside the building under a painted sky, with gondoliers singing Italian pop songs while pushing visitors in gondolas through a mall of luxury shops. It is spectacularly kitsch and completely impossible to look away from.

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