Was just in Macau a week ago with the GF who specifically stated that she wanted to avoid the casinos and the gaudy hotels. We stayed at the excellent Grand Hyatt, which was quite empty on a Wednesday. I agree that the City of Dreams is pretty unremarkable but the hotel itself was magnificent.

Instead of the casinos, we had lunch at Nga Tim in Coloane (sorry to make you jealous, Jamoldo!), dinner at A Lorcha, went to the Macau Museum of Art and hung out at the hotel. We had done the Ruins on a previous trip so we skipped them this time. All in all, we had a great time while managing to avoid the cheesiness and faux-glamour of all the new developments. We also managed to avoid the stereotypical Mainland crowd, which was nice.

Last but not least, we didn't have any issues with taxis, although instead of waiting around for one or having to call for one after lunch in Coloane, we took one of the local buses instead. It was quite easy and dropped us off in front of the Venetian, where we crossed the street to get back to the Grand Hyatt.