Yes, Macau is one of the easiest places in Asia to backpack on your own: it is small, safe, signposted in Chinese, Portuguese and often English, and cheap to cross by public transport.
From Hong Kong, ferries take about 1 hour and the bridge buses about 40 to 60 minutes, so you can arrive without planning far ahead. City buses cost MOP 6 (about US$0.75) per ride, and free casino shuttles link the ferry terminals with Cotai. The real challenge is accommodation: true hostels are rare, and budget guesthouses near
Senado Square or in
Taipa Village usually cost MOP 400 to 800 (US$50 to 100) a night, more on weekends.
Two to three days is the right amount of time for most travelers in Macau, and five days lets you cover every district at a slow pace.
With 2 days you can walk the peninsula’s historic center, including
Senado Square, the
Ruins of St. Paul’s and
A-Ma Temple. A third day adds
Taipa Village, the
Cotai Strip and the beaches of Coloane. Five days gives you time for the
Coloane Trail, the pandas at Seac Pai Van Park and a show at City of Dreams. Day trips from Hong Kong work too, but the 1-hour ferry each way leaves you only 6 to 8 hours on the ground.
Yes, you can get around Macau easily without a car, and renting one makes little sense since visitors with foreign licenses face restrictions and parking is scarce.
Public buses reach almost everywhere for a flat MOP 6 (about US$0.75), including routes 21A and 25 from the peninsula to
Coloane Village and
Hac Sa Beach in 30 to 50 minutes. The Light Rail Transit runs across Taipa and Cotai, and free casino shuttles connect the ferry terminals, the border gate and the big resorts. The historic center around
Senado Square is best done on foot, and a full taxi ride across the territory rarely tops MOP 150 (US$19).
The must-visits in Macau are the historic center of the peninsula, Taipa Village and the green south of Coloane.
On the peninsula, walk from
Senado Square uphill to the
Ruins of St. Paul’s and the
Macao Museum (MOP 15, about US$2), then head south to
A-Ma Temple. Across the bridge,
Taipa Village has Portuguese restaurants and old colonial houses, a short walk from the casino resorts of the
Cotai Strip. In Coloane, combine
Hac Sa Beach, the 8-kilometer
Coloane Trail and an egg tart in
Coloane Village. All of this fits into 3 days.
If you are short on time in Macau, skip the niche sights and keep your days for the historic center and Coloane.
The
Macau Giant Panda Pavilion is pleasant but takes a half-day detour to Seac Pai Van Park for about 30 minutes with the animals. The
Macao Science Center is best saved for a rainy day, and lesser churches such as
St. Augustine’s Church can wait for a second visit. You can also drop the casino floors themselves: one hour walking through the
Cotai Strip resorts shows you the spectacle for free, while the
Macao Tower deck (around MOP 165 to 200, US$20 to 25) is optional on a hazy day.
Yes, our itinerary-planner does exactly that. Set your trip length in days, give your interests and travel style, optionally give start- and end location and/or some mandatory stops you would like to include and the itinerary planner creates your personalized routes for Macau in seconds. Try it out!
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