Two worlds, twenty minutes apart

Macao gets described as "Las Vegas with Portuguese food" often enough that people believe it. It is not. The casino strip is real and enormous, but it sits on one island, and the historic centre on the peninsula is a completely different place. Cobbled squares, baroque churches, Portuguese tiled facades, and some of the best food in Asia.

Most visitors see one or the other. I would see both, but I would spend most of my time in the old city.

The old city on foot

The whole historic centre is walkable and compact. You can cover the core in a morning and the rest in an afternoon.

Senado Square

The wavy black-and-white mosaic pavement is the photograph everyone takes, and it is genuinely beautiful, especially in the early morning before the crowds or after rain at night when it reflects the street lamps. The surrounding buildings are Portuguese colonial, pastel coloured, with arcades at ground level.

Go at 08:00. By 11:00 it is a tour group corridor.

St Dominic's Church and the alleys behind it

The yellow baroque church on the square is worth ten minutes. The alleys behind it, with their shrines and small shops, are worth more.

Ruins of St Paul's

The stone facade of a 17th-century church that burned down in 1835, standing alone at the top of a stepped street. Everyone photographs it from the front. Walk around behind it, where the crypt and the museum are, and look at the facade from the side, where you can see the depth of the stonework.

Monte Fort and the Macau Museum

Right next to St Paul's, up a small hill. The fort has old cannons and a view over the rooftops. The museum inside is small, well done, and air conditioned, which matters in summer.

St Lazarus District and Tap Seac

North of the main tourist route, this area has pastel colonial buildings, a craft centre in an old building, and almost no visitors. It is where I send people who want to see the real Macao.

The food, which is the actual reason to come

Macanese food is a genuine fusion cuisine, Portuguese techniques and ingredients married to Chinese, Malay and Indian cooking by way of the old trade routes. It is not available anywhere else at this quality.

What to eat

• Pork chop bun. A thick fried pork chop in a crusty roll. Simple and excellent. 30 to 50 MOP.
• Portuguese egg tart. Caramelised top, flaky base. The famous shops have queues; the small bakeries are just as good.
• African chicken. Grilled chicken in a coconut, chilli and peanut sauce. The signature Macanese dish.
• Bacalhau. Salt cod, prepared a dozen different ways.
• Minchi. Minced pork and potato with a fried egg on top. Comfort food, and the dish locals grew up on.
• Serradura. A sawdust pudding of crushed biscuits and cream. The best dessert in the city.

Where

For the fusion dishes, you want the older Macanese restaurants, many family run and going for decades. They cluster in the old city and in Taipa village. For egg tarts, most bakeries do a good one. Budget 150 to 300 MOP per person with drinks.

The other Macao: Cotai

Cotai is the reclaimed strip between Taipa and Coloane, and it is where the casino resorts are. It is a real thing to see, even if you do not gamble.

The architecture is absurd in an entertaining way: a Venetian canal with gondolas, a Parisian half-scale Eiffel Tower, a London-themed building with a clock tower. The scale of it is worth an hour of walking around.

If you want shows, this is where they are, and the production quality is high. If you want to gamble, the minimums are much lower than Las Vegas, and there are plenty of tables at 100 to 300 MOP.

I would not stay here unless you specifically want the casino experience. Stay in the old city or Taipa village and visit Cotai for an evening.

Getting around

• From Hong Kong by ferry, about an hour from the Hong Kong Macau Ferry Terminal, or a shorter crossing from the airport. By the HZMB bridge bus, about 40 minutes plus transfers, and cheaper.
• Within Macao, the free casino shuttle buses connect the ferry terminal, the border gate, and all the resorts. Nobody checks whether you are a casino guest.
• Public buses are cheap and cover the whole city. Fares are around 6 MOP, exact change.
• Taxis are plentiful but the meter is not always used for cross-island trips. Agree the fare up front or use an app.
• The old city is small enough to walk entirely. Most of it is flat, with two small hills.

Crossing to mainland China

Macao shares a land border with Zhuhai at the Gongbei checkpoint, which is one of the busiest land crossings in the world. It operates from early morning to around midnight, and peak times can mean an hour of queueing. If you are combining Macao with a mainland China trip, go early morning or late evening.

Note that Macao is a separate immigration jurisdiction from mainland China. If you are on a mainland China visa, you use a separate quota for Macao in most cases, so check the rules for your nationality before planning a Macao add-on to a mainland itinerary.

How long to stay

Two nights is the right answer. That gives you a full day in the old city, an evening in Cotai, and a morning for Taipa village and Coloane.

One night is doable as a Hong Kong day trip with an overnight, and it is much better than a day trip without one, because the old city after dark is the best version of it.

Originally published on 71Asia Tours blog.