Macau Day Trip From Hong Kong: Macau in One Day
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Macau is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China and an easy day trip from Hong Kong.
Visit Macau From Hong Kong: (Jump To)
A visit to Macau wasn’t in our original plans, but after learning how easy it is to visit we decided to make a day trip on our last day in Hong Kong. Macau has a very friendly visa program. US citizens, Canadians, Australians, and most EU member countries can enter without a visa.
Macau is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China and an easy day trip from Hong Kong. It’s a cluster of islands off the coast of China that was a Portuguese colony until 1999.
How to Get to Macau From Hong Kong
We easily booked a morning ferry from the Hong Kong Macau Ferry Terminal. The ferry terminal is on Hong Kong Island near the Sheung Wan Station stop. The tickets were HK $160 each way (about US $20). The ferry ride isn’t particularly scenic so bring something to entertain yourself for the hour-long trip.
The ferry drops you off in an area of Macau without much to offer, you could probably call a cab or an Uber, but we opted to walk from the station to Senado Square which took about thirty minutes.
Visit Senado Square in Macau
Senado Square is one of Macau’s most famous spots. The square is famous for the striped wavy pattern in the square’s stone pavers. Surrounding the square (which is actually triangle-shaped) are beautiful Portuguese-style buildings that formerly housed offices that facilitated the colonial government. The majority of the buildings are painted in pastel shades of yellow.
This is a great spot to seek out a famous snack, the Portuguese egg tart. A streetside vendor selling the creamy custard treat will be easy to find.
See the Ruins of St. Pauls
From the square, we took a short walk to the Ruins of St. Pauls. The facade of the 17th-century church stands at the top of a grand staircase. After years of neglect, the church was destroyed in a typhoon in the mid-1800s. The facade stood for years and was almost demolished in the 1990s. Since then the government has worked to restore and safely reinforce the remaining structure. In 2005 the area was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Right next to the ruins and also part of the heritage site is Monte Fort. The 17th-century fort houses the Macau Museum a three-level museum that dives into the history of Macau. The museum has some great exhibits but is probably of limited interest to anyone other than history buffs.
The roof of the fort is free to access and has some killer views of Macau, which is the most densely populated country in the world. Our next destination, the casino district, is also easily visible.
Visit the Macau Casinos
We climbed down the hill and hailed an Uber to the casinos. The casino area is on a separate island, so walking there was out of the question. Macau is very much the Las Vegas of the East, just without the “what happens in Vegas” debauchery. We’re not gamblers but it was loads of fun to walk through the casinos and shopping malls. The similarity to Las Vegas is uncanny. Familiar casinos like the Venetian, Hard Rock, MGM Grand, and Rio line their strip, along with some Asian brands.
Many of the casinos offer free shuttle buses from their hotels to the airport and the ferry terminal. After checking out the Macanese version of an all-you-can-eat buffet we caught the free bus to the ferry terminal and the 9 pm ferry back to Hong Kong.
For another great day trip from Hong Kong, think about visiting Lantau Island.
