Macau
Macau travel guide
Macau is a city in Macau, home to about 682,000 people.
- Best months
- November to March
- Nearest airport
- MFM7 km · Macau International Airport
- Currency
- MOPMacanese pataca
- Time zone
- Asia/Macau
- Language
- Cantonese, Portuguese, Standard Chinese
About
About Macau
Macau or Macao is a special administrative region of China. It consists of the Macau Peninsula, the islands of Taipa and Coloane, the Cotai reclamation zone between Taipa and Coloane, and several smaller islets.
As the first and last European colony in East Asia, Macau has more visible colonial history than Hong Kong. The buildings and cobblestone or patterned brick streets in many parts of the city, particularly the center of the old city and Coloane, look much like somewhere in Mediterranean Europe. However, the people and the Chinese-language signage indicate Asia. The Portuguese and Macanese population continues to maintain a presence, but most of the population is ethnically Chinese.
Wikipedia and Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Things to do
What to see and do in Macau
See
Although best known for gambling, Macau is extremely rich in attractions and oozing with atmosphere, thanks to hundreds of years of fusion between European and Chinese cultures. Macau is a fascinating place to just walk around as the place is packed with churches, temples, fortresses and other old buildings bearing an interesting mix of Portuguese and Chinese characteristics. Besides buildings, there are also hundreds of narrow alleyways forming a maze in the old part of Macau where the people of Macau carry out businesses and work. If the sheer density of humans gets to you, take a break and enjoy several pretty gardens or head south to the islands.
Do
Gambling is Macau's biggest industry and busloads arrive daily from mainland China to try their luck. In addition, many Hong Kongers arrive on weekends with the same aim. For decades, the Casino Lisboa was the largest and most famous, a landmark well-known to people outside Macau, but many more casinos have sprung up. Nevertheless, the original Casino Lisboa is still worth a visit as its halls contain many original antiques on display from the private collection of gambling tycoon Stanley Ho. The old casino area is along the waterfront on the southern side of Macau Peninsula. North of the Lisboa is a strip with many smaller casinos, a number of hotels and bars, and quite a few restaurants.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Where to stay
Which part of Macau to stay in
Macau was geographically divided into three regions: the peninsula and two islands. However, reclamation of the area between the islands has created a fourth region called Cotai.
The bulk of Macau's hotels are on the Peninsula, although there are also many options — including high-end ones — on Taipa and, increasingly, the Cotai Strip, which is challenging the Peninsula to become Macau's premier casino area. Coloane has fewer and much quieter options, but among them is the beachside Pousada de Coloane. Hotel rates are most expensive on Friday and Saturday nights, because demand is higher with tourists coming to Macau to gamble over the weekend. Try to make a booking through a travel agent, even if for the same day, as the rates can be substantially lower than walk-in rates.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Where to stay
Hotels in Macau
1 hotel within 25 km of the centre, as recorded in Wikidata. Each name links to its encyclopedia article where there is one.
| Hotel | Opened | From centre |
|---|---|---|
| Mandarin Oriental Macau | 1.1 km |
When to go
The best time to visit Macau
The most comfortable months for a city stay in Macau are November to March. July is the warmest month, with average highs of 31 °C; June is the wettest, with about 376 mm of rain.
Comfortable means average daytime high between 18 °C and 29 °C and under 80 mm of rain in the month. Averages for 1991–2020 over the surrounding area, a grid square about 50 km across, so a coast or a nearby mountain can make the town itself warmer or cooler. Data: CRU TS v4.10, Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia (Open Database License).
Getting there
Getting to Macau: airports and arrival
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Macau International Airport (MFM), about 7.1 km from the city centre in a straight line; Zhuhai Jinwan Airport (ZUH, 26 km) and Hong Kong International Airport (HKG, 41 km) are also within reach.
Getting in
For many years, the usual way to get to Macau was to fly into Hong Kong and take a ferry across to Macau. Today, Macau is becoming a low-cost airline hub, and some travellers are now arriving at Macau to later go to Hong Kong. Macau has a separate immigration regime from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. All travellers from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and foreign countries have to go through immigration and customs checks on arrival in Macau.
Getting around
Unlike in mainland China, Google Maps is not blocked and can be used in Macau. Owing to privacy concerns, Macau's street views in Google Maps have not been updated since they were taken in 2008, so it's very outdated. This is arguably the best way to get around the Macau Peninsula, which is small, compact and full of things to discover. Many roads are also one way so there is quite a chance that it won't be slower than to take road transport which may need to make a long loop to reach the destination.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
MFM · Macau International Airport
ZUH · Zhuhai Jinwan Airport
HKG · Hong Kong International Airport
Local knowledge
Eating, drinking and staying safe in Macau
Eat
Macau is famous for excellent restaurants, unique cuisine and mellow bars. Above all, the city is famous for two cuisines: Portuguese and Macanese. Portuguese food (cozinha portuguesa), brought in by its Portuguese colonizers, is hearty, salty, straightforward fare. While many restaurants claim to serve the stuff, fully authentic fare is mostly limited to a few high-end restaurants, especially the cluster at the southwestern tip of the Peninsula.
Drink
Similar to neighbouring Hong Kong, the legal drinking age in Macau is 18. Alcohol vendors have the power to demand identity documents to prove your age. Reasonably priced Portuguese wine is widely available. A glass in a restaurant is around MOP$20, while bottles start from under MOP$100, and a crisp glass of vinho verde ("green wine", but actually just a young white) goes very well with salty Macanese food. As elsewhere in China, though, locals tend to prefer cognacs and whisky. Macau Beer is passable and widely available, as is the Filipino brand San Miguel which has a brewery in Hong Kong.
Stay safe
Similar to Portugal and other ex-Portuguese colonies, Macau has 2 distinct police forces, namely the Public Security Police Force (Chinese: 治安警察局/治安警, Portuguese: Corpo de Polícia de Segurança Pública, CPSP) and Judiciary Police (Chinese: 司法警察局/司警, Portuguese: Polícia Judiciária, PJ). In rare major operations, you may also observe plainclothes agents from the Unified Police Service (Chinese: 警察總局, Portuguese: Serviços de Polícia Unitários), the agency overseeing the previous two agencies. The Customs Service (Chinese: 海關, Portuguese: Serviços de Alfândega) patrols the territorial sea of Macau and performs other customs duties.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Questions
Macau: questions travellers ask
When is the best time to visit Macau?
The most comfortable months for a city stay in Macau are November to March. July is the warmest month, with average highs of 31 °C; June is the wettest, with about 376 mm of rain.
Which airport is closest to Macau?
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Macau International Airport (MFM), about 7.1 km from the city centre in a straight line; Zhuhai Jinwan Airport (ZUH, 26 km) and Hong Kong International Airport (HKG, 41 km) are also within reach.
What currency is used in Macau?
Macanese pataca (MOP).
Nearby
Destinations near Macau
Sources: city facts from Wikidata and Wikipedia; airports from OurAirports; climate from CRU TS v4.10 (University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit), 1991–2020 monthly means, 0.5° grid; places to stay, guest scores and amenities from each operator's own public pages. How this guide is made.