Macau - SanVa Hotel

For this trip I wanted to stay in a historic hotel in the old-town of Macau.

After some research I found the San Va Hospedaria, the oldest guest-house in Macau.  It is located in the middle of the old town on Rua da Felicidade,  part of one of the Classified Architecture Groups in Macao.   It is a real gem.

"SanVa Hostel is a simple yet elegant tavern and has been in business for over 80 years. The site was originally a private club house built in 1870's,  nearly 140 years ago, and was transformed into a guesthouse in 1930's to meet the increasing accommodation demand of merchants and workers from the mainland during the period of the war. The traditional Southern Chinese architectural style of both the exterior and interior of the building is largely preserved."  (website link)

The building has been is largely unchanged from the 1930s,  and has a very nice ambience (very much like our old house at Haka).  

The SunVa Hostel has been chosen as a location for an impressive list of films, including Wan Kar Wai's '2046', TV dramas, pop-videos and fashion-shoots.  (link)

Movie posters and fashion stills.

We booked a balcony room for Rika and Kyo-chan, and a smaller room for me and Hannah deeper inside the 2nd floor.   The balcony room had a wonderful view of the Rua da Felicidade.

The rooms were very basic but clean and comfortable.   The toilet and shower facilities are communal and you need to bring your own towels (we forgot).   But good value overall as the room rates are very reasonable.

The traditional four-story building has an interesting construction.  Our second floor room (2017) was part of a huge space created under the gabelled roof made with ceramic tiles layered over huge logs.   The rooms were separated by thin partitions about 9' high made of wood and painted-glass.

The lack of sound-proofing can be a problem if you are unlucky in your neighbors.  As unfortunately Rika and Kyo-chan were.    Their neighbor was a insomniac gentleman, who we speculated might  have been a competitor at the All-China National Hoiking Championship being held that weekend at the Cotai Arena.   Anyway he kept them awake with marathon hoiking sessions:  Hooiccckk, HoooICCK,  HOOOOOICCK!    

Hannah and I slept very soundly and woke-up quite refreshed.