If you’ve ever been to Las Vegas, you’ll know the place is famous not just for its casinos and Strip but because of its spectacular themed hotels. The likes of Paris, Venice, New York and ancient Egypt are recreated as hotels designed to transport you to a fake version of those places. It’s all a bit weird, sure, but it’s also pretty fun.
Head over to the ‘Las Vegas of Asia’, however, and you’ll find a brand-new hotel themed around somewhere a little less, erm, conventionally glamourous. In Macau there’s now a brand-new UK-themed resort. That’s right: UK-themed! Called The Londoner, it features its own replicas of Big Ben, 10 Downing Street, Abbey Road and Trafalgar Square’s Nelson’s Column.
And The Londoner’s homage to the UK certainly doesn’t stop there. The Londoner boasts its own once-a-day Changing of the Guard ceremony, photo ops on a red double-decker bus, traditional British afternoon tea and virtual tours of London in a black cab led by none other than a hologram David Beckham.
On-site are two hotels, The Londoner Hotel and Londoner Court, as well as a 6,000-seater Londoner Arena, three spas and four health clubs. Fourteen of The Londoner Hotel’s suites were apparently designed by Beckham (who was also at the opening last week). Amongst the first events to be held at the resort will, naturally, be a touring exhibition about Harry Potter.
For British readers, needless to say this all probably sounds more than a little surreal. Here are a few pics of The Londoner.
Oddly enough, The Londoner is far from the only English-themed place in China (of which Macau is a Special Administrative Region). Thames Town on the mainland is an entire fake British town, filled with stuff like Georgian townhouses, mock-Tudor housing and red telephone boxes. You can find out more about Thames Town here.
The slight downside to all this is that if you fancy visiting The Londoner, you’ll likely need quite a bit of cash. Suites at the Londoner Hotel appear to start from around £640 ($792) per night, though for that you get a hot tub, city views and access to a health club. The hotel also only has suites, with no basic hotel room options. You can check all the rates for the resort on Booking.com here.
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