Macau Peninsula澳門

The story of Macau is a story of a fishing harbour that became a bridge between two empires. Before the Portuguese came, a small fishing community lived here and worshipped the sea goddess A-Ma at a temple on the south-western shore. The Chinese name for the place, Ou Mun, means 'gate of the bay', and the European name Macau comes from A-Ma-Gao, the bay of A-Ma.

In 1557 the Ming authorities allowed Portuguese merchants to settle on the peninsula, in return for rent and trade duties. Macau became the hinge of an oceanic route linking Goa, Malacca, Nagasaki and Canton, moving silk, silver and Jesuit missionaries. The Portuguese built churches and forts, including the great Jesuit church of Mater Dei, later called St Paul, whose facade still stands. In 1622 a Dutch fleet tried to take the city and was driven back, an event still marked in local tradition.

By the 19th century Macau was overshadowed by Hong Kong. A treaty of 1887 confirmed Portuguese administration, and the territory was a small, quiet colonial enclave. During the Second World War, Portugal's neutrality made Macau a refuge for people fleeing the mainland and Hong Kong. Riots in 1966 and 1967, inspired by the Cultural Revolution, shifted real power towards local Chinese leaders long before the formal handover.

After Portugal's revolution of 1974, Lisbon wanted to leave. Negotiations led to a joint declaration in 1987, and on 20 December 1999 sovereignty returned to China. Macau became a Special Administrative Region, governed under the principle of 'one country, two systems'. The pataca stayed, the Portuguese language kept its official status, and the legal system remained separate from the mainland.

The last twenty-five years have been dominated by gambling. The 2002 end of the casino monopoly opened the door to Las Vegas operators and transformed the economy and the skyline. The Historic Centre was listed by UNESCO in 2005, and in 2018 the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge tied the territory closer to the Pearl River Delta. Today about 680,000 people live in an area of roughly 33 square kilometres.

The UNESCO listing covers more than 20 buildings and squares strung along a chain of small hills and connecting streets. It is best seen on foot from Senado Square outward, and the density is the point: a Portuguese baroque church, a Chinese temple and a colonial city hall sit within a few hundred metres of each other, and nobody gave the mix a name.

Senado Square is the centre. Its wavy black-and-white pavement is a Portuguese calçada laid by craftsmen from Portugal and China, and around it stand the Leal Senado, the old city hall, the Holy House of Mercy and the cream-and-yellow Church of St Dominic. The square is best in the early morning, when shop shutters are still down, and busy from 10:30 when tour groups reach it.

From the square, Rua de São Paulo climbs to the Ruins of St Paul's. Its facade was part of the Church of Mater Dei, built by the Jesuits from 1602 to 1640 and destroyed by fire in 1835. The carvings tell a story: saints and angels, a Portuguese ship, a Chinese lion and Japanese chrysanthemums. Behind it is a crypt and a museum of sacred art. Above sits Monte Fort, built by the Jesuits in the 1620s, with cannon still on the ramparts and the Macao Museum in the walls.

South-west, the harbour quarter of Barra holds A-Ma Temple, the Maritime Museum, the Moorish Barracks and the Mandarin's House. The barracks, built in 1874 for Goan soldiers, have a pink wall and a colonnade. The Mandarin's House is the family compound of the scholar Zheng Guanying, built in the 1860s, with courtyards that mix Chinese roofs and Western windows.

Practical points make the visit easier. The old town is stepped and hilly, and pavements are stone that turns slick in rain. Shade is thin, so go before 10:30 or after 16:30 in summer. Museums often close on Mondays. The best rain option is Monte Fort, whose museum is indoors and air-conditioned, and the best heat option is a long lunch in a small restaurant.

Macau has been a place of many faiths for centuries. Buddhism, Taoism and folk religion sit next to Catholicism, and most residents will visit a temple at festival times and a church for a wedding without seeing a contradiction. About one in twenty residents is Catholic, a legacy of the Portuguese era, and the city has more small temples than its size suggests.

A-Ma Temple is the oldest and the one that gave the city its name. It climbs a hillside in tiers, with a gate, a prayer hall, a hall of benevolence and a main hall carved into the rock. Worshippers burn incense and hang spiral coils from the roofs. A boat carved on a boulder recalls the story of the goddess, who according to legend crossed the sea on a leaf. The temple is busiest on the A-Ma festival, in the third lunar month, when lion dances fill the courtyard.

Kun Iam Tong, the temple of the goddess of mercy, is in the north and holds the stone table where the first treaty between the United States and China was signed in 1844. The small Na Tcha Temple beside the Ruins of St Paul's honours a child deity, and sits in the shadow of the great Catholic facade, a neat picture of the city's mix. In Coloane, the Tam Kung temple honours a sea deity and is decorated with a whale bone.

Etiquette is simple. Dress modestly, with shoulders and knees covered. Do not photograph worshippers close up, and do not touch the offerings. Incense sticks are for worshippers; you may buy one to join in, or simply watch. Keep your voice low, and step aside for people carrying offerings. On the first and fifteenth day of the lunar month, and at festivals, temples are busy, and the smoke is thick.

Christian sites are in daily use too. The Cathedral, St Dominic's, St Augustine's and the small chapel in Coloane are active churches with services, and visitors should wait during Mass. The Procession of the Passion of Our Lord, in Lent, is a religious event with hooded figures carrying statues through the old town. Watch from the side, in silence.

Macau food is a blend of Cantonese cooking with Portuguese, African, Indian and Malay influences carried by sailors and traders. The result is called Macanese cuisine, and the best-known dishes are unlike anything in Portugal or Guangdong. African chicken is grilled with chilli, coconut and peanuts. Minchi is minced meat fried with potato and soy sauce. Bacalhau, the salted cod of Portugal, comes in many ways, and serradura is a cold layered dessert of cream and crushed biscuit.

The snacks are what most visitors remember. The Portuguese egg tart, a flaky pastry with a caramelised custard top, was adapted in the 1980s by an English baker in Coloane village and is now sold across Asia. The pork chop bun is a fried, bone-in pork chop in a crusty roll, sold in Taipa Village. Almond cookies, egg rolls and sweet jerky fill the shops of Rua de São Paulo, where you can taste before you buy.

The Cantonese side is strong. Wonton noodles with shrimp dumplings, congee, roast goose, dim sum and stewed dishes appear on menus in every price band. A local diner, known as a cha chaan teng, serves milk tea, set lunches and toast. Noodle shops near Senado Square, such as Wong Chi Kei, have served the same bowls for decades.

Eating is easy and cheap. A bowl of noodles or congee costs about MOP 40 to 80, a pork chop bun MOP 25 to 40, and a sit-down Macanese meal MOP 150 to 300. Casino resorts add high-end dining, with Michelin-listed rooms in Cotai and on the Peninsula, and wine is cheap because there is no alcohol tax. A 10% service charge is often added in restaurants.

Practical tips help. Peak lunch is 12:00 to 14:00, so go at 11:30 or 14:30. Tables are often shared in small noodle shops. Free samples on Rua de São Paulo carry no obligation to buy. Shellfish, peanuts and pork are common, so show a written note of any allergy in Chinese. Halal and vegetarian options exist but are limited outside hotels; ask for vegetable dishes and check the stock.

Two islands sit south of the Peninsula, Taipa and Coloane, and for most of history they were fishing and farming villages. In the last thirty years the sea between them has been filled to make Cotai, a reclaimed strip that now carries the biggest resorts, and the old villages have been left as pockets of the past beside them.

Taipa Village is the more urban of the two. A short walk from the seafront leads to Rua do Cunha, a pedestrian food street with bakeries, snack shops and small restaurants. Nearby stand the Taipa Houses Museum, five restored green-and-white houses on the shore that were built in the 1920s for Portuguese families, and the small yellow Church of Our Lady of Carmel from 1885. In the evening the streets are calm and the restaurants serve Portuguese and Macanese food.

Coloane is quieter. Its village has a small square with a chapel, the Chapel of St Francis Xavier from 1928, a temple to Tam Kung and the bakery where the egg tart was reworked. Hac Sa beach, with black sand, and a coastal path lie a short bus ride away. It is the best half-day trip when the old town is crowded, and a bus takes about 25 minutes from Taipa. Check the last bus back.

Cotai is another world: enormous resorts, with replicas of Venice, Paris and other cities, shopping malls with air-conditioned canals and theatres with big-name shows. It is not a place to walk between buildings, because distances are long and sun is fierce. Use the free shuttle buses, the light-rail line or a taxi. Weekday hotel rates here are often lower than in the old town.

Practical points for the islands: the Taipa Ferry Terminal and the airport are on Taipa, so it is the easy base if you arrive by air or sea late. The light-rail Taipa line links the terminal, the airport and Cotai, but it does not yet reach the Peninsula. Taxis between Taipa and the old town cost about MOP 60 to 90, and buses cost MOP 6.

Gambling has been legal in Macau since the 19th century, but from 1962 to 2002 it was run under a single licence held by the businessman Stanley Ho. The Lisboa casino opened in 1970 and became the symbol of the old Macau. In 2002 the monopoly ended, and foreign operators from Las Vegas built the Sands Macao (2004), Wynn Macau (2006) and the Venetian Macao (2007). By 2006 Macau's gambling revenue had passed that of the Las Vegas Strip.

The consequences are visible. Casino taxes fund a large share of public spending, and residents receive an annual cash payment. Construction has reshaped the coast and Cotai. Labour is imported from mainland China and the Philippines to staff the resorts. The concentration also means that the economy suffers hard when the industry slows, as it did during the pandemic years.

For a visitor, the casinos are practical. Resorts run free shuttle buses between the ferry terminals, the border and the hotels, open to non-guests. Resort malls offer air-conditioning, toilets and food at any hour. Hotel prices are often low on weekdays and high at weekends, and shows range from acrobatics to concerts. Anyone aged 21 or older can enter a gaming floor, and no one is obliged to bet.

There are rules. Photographs on the gaming floor are not allowed, and staff will stop you. Dress codes are usually light, but sandals and shorts can be turned away at higher-end rooms. Smoking rules have tightened in recent years, with restrictions on the main floors; check the current policy. Do not accept money or chips from strangers, and be wary of offers of a loan, because loan sharks are illegal and known to operate around some casinos.

If you want to see the industry without betting, walk through the main floors of one or two big resorts in the evening, watch the free fountain and light shows, and go on. If you want a quiet trip, sleep in the old town or in Taipa Village and treat Cotai as a place to eat and to cool off. Either way, remember that most of Macau lives outside the casinos, in small streets and small shops.

Macau has a humid subtropical climate. Winters, from December to February, are cool and dry, with highs of 18 to 20 degrees and clear skies. Spring brings fog and drizzle in March and April, and by May it turns hot and humid. Summers, from June to September, are hot, wet and stormy, with highs around 32 degrees and a heat index that feels higher. October and November are dry, clear and comfortable, and are the best months for walking.

Typhoon season runs from June to October. The Macao Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau uses a numbered signal system: signal 3 is a warning, and signal 8 or higher means strong winds. When signal 8 is raised, ferries and buses stop, many shops and museums close, and people stay indoors. Plan a spare day in the season, check the bureau and your ferry operator before any crossing, and do not go out on exposed streets during a warning.

The festival calendar follows both Chinese and Christian traditions. Chinese New Year, in late January or February, brings lion dances and closes many shops for several days. The A-Ma Festival in the third lunar month, the Feast of the Drunken Dragon at Buddha's birthday, the Dragon Boat Festival on Nam Van Lake in June and the Mid-Autumn Festival in September fill the year. The Procession of the Passion of Our Lord takes place in Lent.

Two dates cause the most crowding. Golden Week, from 1 to 7 October, is China's National Day holiday, and border queues and hotel prices are at their worst. The Macau Grand Prix, held in mid-November on the streets of the Peninsula, closes roads around the Guia Circuit and raises hotel prices in the old town. Both are worth avoiding if you want a calm trip.

As a rule, aim for October to December, midweek, and stay one to two nights. Book ferries or the bridge shuttle on the day and carry your passport. Keep patacas for buses and small shops, and use cards elsewhere. Carry a small umbrella from May to October, and a light layer for air-conditioned rooms. And leave time for a long lunch, which is the best way to spend the middle of a hot day.