Day trip to Macau from Hong Kong

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
2
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
7
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
8
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
3
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
6
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
8
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
65 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
228th/454
Top 50%
continent
Asia
country
Macau
Length of time
1 day or less
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$100 (typically $30 - $160)
Time of year visited
July
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Casinos Cool neighbourhoods Old town
All Tags
Boat trip Border crossing Bustling restaurants Christian site Partying / Lash Restaurant recommendations UNESCO world heritage site
Wow Factor
The wow factor reflects just how much you’re likely to say “wow”. As there’s a lot of experiences in the world, and a lot of wows, i’ve gone with a simple ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️ score, and a separate category for the truly "gash"
⭐⭐⭐

Summary

Macau is a wonderful day trip from Hong Kong with the combination of China’s boom on display as you wander through the lavish mega casinos, plus the Portuguese culture shinning through in the architecture, food and even street signs in Portuguese in the various spots that justify its UNESCO World Heritage status.

 

Top 3 tips:

#1 Experiencing the Portuguese feel – there are various places which are great for getting your fix.  Taipa Village is lovely and well located next to the main casinos.  The area around the Ruins of the Church of Saint Paul is the symbol of Macau and does feel a bit like being in Lisbon around there.  But my main tip is to head to the south of Taipa Island to either the South West for the classic restaurant of Fernando’s that is a bit of an institution in Macau, or to the South West in the area around the Chapel of Saint Francis Xavier which is far less busy and you’re able to sit having Portuguese food in the courtyard looking across the water.

 

#2 Enjoying the Casinos – whilst Macau sees x6 the revenue of Las Vegas passing across its tables, that doesn’t necessarily equate to the entertainment.  Its more a reflection of the Chinese love / obsession of gambling and this is the only spot in all of China to do it – for example, you’ll typically see a minimum bet of around Macau $200 (USD25) on the tables in Macau combined with little entertainment.  That being said, the entertainment that is on offer is great and “the strip” has massively upper its game in recent years to hit “wow” levels, so much so that a walk from Studio City to the Venetian via the Parisian, the Londoner and the insane Morpheus (take the interior lift for the wow) is now a must.  If you can time it right and keen for the lash / partying, the Hard Rock Pool Party is also a must.

 

#3 Transport – getting to Macau from Hong Kong is super simple.  There are ferries leaving every 30mins or so from 3 spots across Hong Kong and it only takes an hour.  Most realistically, you’ll aim to leave from the Shun Tak Centre on Hong Kong island.  Just be aware though that there are two ferry spots in Macau – Macau Outer Harbour which is for the Macau Peninsular (the northern half) and Taipa (the southern half).   Getting around though is a bit harder than Hong Kong as there isn’t the subway / MTR equivalent.  Easiest to just get taxis.

 

Overall, its a very easy and great experience from Hong Kong.

 

Highlights

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#1 Hitting the giant mazes within the casinos and getting super lost amongst the whole mayhem of it all. Start in the Venetian

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#2 Sitting for Portuguese food in the south of the island in one of the pretty courtyards such as near the Chapel of Saint Francis Xavier

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#3 Hitting one of the Hard Rock Pool Parties

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#4 Visiting the classic site of the facade of Saint Pauls in one of the Portuguese centres

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The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences

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Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences — from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

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