Top 10 Things to Do in Macau
(Last Updated: July 31, 2026)
Macau has long been known as a gambling destination, but that doesn’t mean you have to spend all your time at the tables. There’s a whole other world waiting for you outside the casino doors, one shaped by both the rich history of the city, AKA the ‘Outpost of all Europe in China’ as Austin Coates wrote, and the modern dynamic of a city flush with unprecedented gambling revenue in the midst of rapid change.
In other words, if the only time you leave the Lisboa is to do more gambling at the Grand Lisboa, then you’re missing out on one of the most unique and unforgettable cities in Asia.
A must read for anyone planning to visit, here are the Top 10 Things to Do in Macau!
1. WALK
Macau is a walker’s paradise. With the lion’s share of the city’s top sites centrally located, there’s no better way to see them all than on foot. Getting around is a breeze too, since street signage is excellent and maps are available free of charge from any Government Tourist office.
The old neighbourhoods between A Ma Temple and Camoes Garden should be your first port of call. Churches, temples, tiled squares, gardens and fortresses appear one after another, connected by streets that reveal far more on foot than they ever would through a taxi window.
The hills can be demanding, and Macau’s summer weather occasionally feels like punishment for sins committed in a previous life. Wear proper shoes, carry water and use buses or taxis when moving between the peninsula, Taipa, and Coloane. Once you reach a neighbourhood, however, start walking again.
Other great walking areas include the Praia Grande and Avenida da República, the St. Lazarus Quarter, Mong Ha Hill, Taipa Village, Coloane Village, and parks such as Lou Lim Ieoc Garden, Camoes Garden, and Guia Hill.
2. FOLLOW MACAU’S UNESCO HERITAGE ROUTE
Macau’s UNESCO designation covers far more than Senado Square and the Ruins of St. Paul’s. The Historic Centre contains 30 separate components—22 buildings and eight public spaces—spread across the peninsula from A-Ma Temple in the south to Guia Fortress in the north.
What makes these sites so special is their age, condition and proximity to one another. Temples, churches, fortresses, government buildings and public squares dating back hundreds of years have survived within the heart of a modern city. You don’t encounter such a large and well-preserved collection of historic landmarks in many parts of Asia.
The buildings also tell Macau’s story better than any museum could. Chinese temples, Catholic churches, Portuguese civic buildings and traditional residences stand only minutes apart, showing how different cultures came together and made Macau what it is today. Many are still used for their original purposes too, rather than existing solely as tourist attractions.
I’ve called the UNESCO World Heritage Sites the soul of the city before, and I still think that description fits.
3. CYCLE AROUND COLOANE
Once you’re done with the history, head south to Coloane for Macau’s great outdoors. Green and serene, it offers a welcome escape from the densely packed streets, traffic and noise of the peninsula.
Instead of apartment blocks and casinos, you get wooded hills, beaches, old villages and quiet roads. Everything is slower and more relaxed, which can be exactly what you need after a few days in central Macau.
Macau is not a particularly bicycle-friendly city, but Coloane is the exception. Pick up a bike in Coloane Village and head through Lai Chi Vun before continuing toward Cheoc Van, Hac Sa and Ka Ho. The scenery changes quickly from old shipyards and village lanes to beaches, wooded roads and one of Macau’s best churches, Our Lady of Sorrows at Ka Ho.
Food will not be a problem. Nga Tim and Espaço Lisboa are both reliable lunch stops, while Fernando is the ideal place to finish up at night. Bring water, sun protection and swimming gear during the warmer months.
This is not a quick spin around the block. Done properly, the route fills the better part of a day, but that’s the point.
For more precise details, check out the third day of the 3-Day Trip Plan.
4. STAY AT HOTEL CENTRAL
I can’t say enough good things about Hotel Central. I live in Macau and still make a point of staying there at least once a year. I just can’t resist.
First established in 1928, it was once the tallest and most fashionable hotel in the city before falling into decline. The care taken with its restoration is unbelievable. Different floors recreate different eras from the hotel’s past, with vintage furniture, old photographs, antique phones, clocks and decorations appearing throughout. This was clearly a labour of love, and it shows everywhere.
Then there’s the freaking location, directly on San Ma Lo and only minutes from Senado Square, Rua da Felicidade, the Inner Harbour and some of Macau’s best local restaurants.
Somehow, it’s reasonably priced too. You’re getting a beautifully restored piece of Macau history in one of the best locations in the city, without paying anything close to Cotai money.
5. EAT YOUR WAY THROUGH MACAU
If you come to Macau and eat nothing but hotel buffets, we need to have a serious talk.
Macau’s food scene rests on three foundations—Cantonese, Portuguese and Macanese—and a proper visit should include all three. Have dim sum at an old-school institution like Long Wa, book at least one Portuguese dinner and seek out Macanese cooking at Cozinha Aida or the UTM Educational Restaurant.
Macanese food is the one visitors most often misunderstand. It developed over centuries as Portuguese techniques and ingredients encountered southern China, Goa, Malacca, Africa and other stops along Portugal’s maritime routes. The cuisine belongs specifically to Macau, which makes missing it here particularly ridiculous.
Egg tarts and pork chop buns still deserve a place, of course. Just don’t mistake the snacks for the entire story.
6. SEE A SHOW OR SPECTACLE
Macau spent several quiet years with far too many empty theatres. That period is finally over.
House of Dancing Water is once again the headline production, combining diving, aerial work, motorcycles and a stage that repeatedly disappears beneath an enormous pool. Macau 2049 takes a completely different route at MGM Theater, using robotics and digital effects to reinterpret traditional Chinese performance.
Then there’s teamLab SuperNature, which might have surprised me most of all. I walked in expecting another overpriced Cotai gimmick and came out genuinely impressed. The enormous maze of flowers, lights, mirrors and moving digital art is spectacular to look at, while the slides, trampolines and interactive drawing areas give children permission to run wild.
I’m not telling you to see these attractions simply because this is what’s playing in Macau. I’m recommending them because they’re genuinely worth seeing.
Macau 2049 and teamLab both start at $288 for adults, which is very fair for what you get. House of Dancing Water is the expensive one, but it’s also the kind of show you’re unlikely to see anywhere else.
7. DRINK PORTUGUESE WINE AT MACAUSOUL
Portugal produces tremendous wine, and there is no better place to discover it in Macau than MacauSoul.
The wine is only half the story though. MacauSoul is the kind of place people visit once and then return to every time they’re in town. Some go in for a quick drink and lose the whole evening. Others say it feels like coming home. I understand both reactions completely.
David and Jacky don’t simply serve you and disappear. They recommend bottles, tell stories and somehow get the whole room talking. The furniture came from their own home, old photographs cover the walls and jazz plays quietly in the background. Within half an hour, you feel less like a customer than a guest at somebody’s house.
The Portuguese wine list is enormous, the food is excellent and the prices are almost absurdly fair. Make a reservation, arrive without another appointment and let the evening take care of itself.
8. EXPLORE ST. LAZARUS AND LOU LIM IEOC GARDEN
Not all of Macau’s best historic places made the UNESCO list. The St. Lazarus Quarter and Lou Lim Ieoc Garden are two that didn’t, although both damn well should have.
Begin around Albergue SCM and St. Lazarus Church, then follow the Portuguese paving through the surrounding lanes toward Tap Seac Square. Filled with pastel buildings, restored shophouses and quiet little streets, St. Lazarus is one of the prettiest and most photogenic parts of Macau.
From Tap Seac, continue to Lou Lim Ieoc Garden. Built around ponds, pavilions, bridges and enormous limestone rocks, it remains the most beautiful Chinese garden in the city.
The two areas take around two hours to explore and make an excellent companion to Macau’s official World Heritage Sites.
9. SPEND AN AFTERNOON IN COTAI
Cotai is modern Macau built on the grandest possible scale. Created almost entirely on reclaimed land between Taipa and Coloane, it’s where the casino industry makes most of its money and then spends billions trying to outdo itself.
The Venetian started the madness with indoor canals, singing gondoliers and a permanently blue sky. The Parisian added an Eiffel Tower, the Londoner reconstructed half of Britain and Wynn Palace built a cable car over its fountains. Galaxy, MGM Cotai and Studio City somehow found enough room to make everything even bigger.
Walking through these resorts is an attraction in itself. Explore the Venetian and Londoner together, ride the Wynn Palace SkyCab, stand beneath the enormous digital screens inside MGM Cotai or head to Studio City for its figure-eight Ferris wheel and growing collection of family attractions. Don’t attempt every resort in one day; choose a few and give yourself time to appreciate just how massive they are.
Some people will love every ridiculous inch of Cotai. Others will want to escape after an hour. Either reaction is perfectly reasonable, but everyone visiting Macau should see it once.
10. EXPLORE MACAU’S FORGOTTEN NORTH
Most tourists never venture beyond Guia Hill, treating everything above it as an afterthought on the way to the Border Gate. They’re missing out.
This is one of the oldest, busiest and most local parts of the city, filled with temples, markets, parks, bakeries and neighbourhood restaurants. There are no fake canals, luxury shopping arcades or major tour groups up here. Macau is simply getting on with its day.
Begin at Kun Iam Temple, one of the oldest and most important temples in the city, then continue through Mong Há to Lin Fung Temple and Red Market. Finish with dim sum at Long Wa, where the second-floor dining room looks across the market and seems to belong to another era.
The north may lack the famous landmarks of the Historic Centre and the billions of Cotai, but that doesn’t make it less interesting. If anything, the absence of tourists makes exploring it more rewarding.
The south contains the landmarks. The north shows you how Macau actually lives.
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