Handpicked experience · Macau
Macau, Macau
A church reduced to its front wall, carved by Japanese exiles with a dragon and a skeleton on it, and a temple whose name the Portuguese mistook for the name of the place.
Guia Lighthouse-Situated on the peak of Guia Hill – the highest point of Macao Peninsular, Guia Fortress, Chapel and Lighthouse offers some stunning views of the cityscape.
Mandarin's House-It has high cultural humanistic values as you can see the a fusion of east and west on architectural design.
Core of "Historic Centre of Macau" - Ruins of St. Paul's and Mount Fortress
Wynn Palace-Enjoy the skycab ride and appreciate the large-scale floral sculptures
Let's touch the nature and visit the most famous, "Giant Panda" and multiple animal species ranging from gorillas, flamingos and monkeys.
A guide and vehicle used by your party alone
The 223-metre observation level with its glass floor section
The UNESCO-listed streets between Senado Square and St Paul's
A working temple that predates the Portuguese arrival
Guidance on where to eat rather than a set tasting
A four-hour private tour of Macau with a guide and vehicle: the observation level of Macau Tower, the Historic Centre around Senado Square and the Ruins of St Paul's, the A-Ma Temple by the inner harbour, and advice on what to eat while you are here.
Driving between the stops and walking at each one, which keeps the day manageable — the sights are scattered across a peninsula and an island, and doing it on foot would eat the four hours. Expect cobbles, some slopes and a lot of steps at St Paul's.
The Ruins of St Paul's are the façade of the Church of the Mother of God, finished in 1640 and among the largest churches in Asia at the time. In 1835, by then in use as a barracks, it caught fire during a typhoon and burned to the ground. The front wall stayed standing, and Macau has kept it upright ever since. There is a staircase behind it that now leads to open sky.
The stonework was cut largely by Japanese Christians who had fled persecution at home, and their hands are visible in it. Among the saints and angels you will find chrysanthemums, a ship of the Portuguese carrack type, a woman treading on a seven-headed dragon labelled in Chinese characters, and a skeleton beside an inscription warning that whoever remembers death will not sin. There is nothing else quite like this façade anywhere.
A-Ma Temple was already standing when the Portuguese arrived, built around 1488 for the sea goddess who protects fishermen. The story goes that newcomers asked where they had landed, were told the name of the temple bay — A-Ma-Gau — and wrote it down as Macau. The temple is still busy with incense coils hanging from the ceiling, some of which burn for days.
The black and white paving through Senado Square is calçada portuguesa, laid by hand in a wave pattern using limestone and basalt. It is the same craft that paves Lisbon, done here by craftsmen brought over for the purpose. It is also slippery in the rain, which nobody mentions on the postcards.
Macau Tower rises 338 metres, with the observation level at 223. Part of the floor there is glass. The outer rim carries the highest commercial bungy jump from any building in the world, so at intervals somebody drops past the windows, and the people inside always notice.
Macanese cooking is often called the oldest fusion cuisine — Portuguese technique meeting Chinese ingredients along with spices from Goa, Malacca and Africa, four centuries before anyone used the word fusion. The Portuguese-style custard tart you will be pointed towards is much younger: it was devised here in 1989 by a British pharmacist who had tasted the Lisbon original and set about reverse-engineering it.
Wear shoes with grip for the cobbles. Four hours goes quickly across a peninsula and an island, so say at the start if you want longer inside the tower and the guide will weight the route accordingly.
Open it to pick a date and work out the price.
What the fare covers, and what to budget for separately.
The practical detail, and the answers people actually ask for.
Fire during a typhoon in 1835 destroyed the rest, when the building was serving as a barracks. The façade survived and has been held upright ever since; the staircase behind it now leads nowhere.
Largely Japanese Christians who had fled persecution at home. Their work shows in the chrysanthemums, the Chinese inscriptions and the dragon underfoot alongside conventional Catholic imagery.
Most likely from A-Ma-Gau, the bay of A-Ma, after the temple that stood here before the Portuguese did. They asked where they were, heard the temple's name, and kept it.
Calçada portuguesa — hand-laid limestone and basalt in a wave pattern, the same craft used in Lisbon. It photographs beautifully and is slippery in the rain.
No. The tour covers the guide, the vehicle and the driving; entry to the 223-metre observation level and anything you eat there are arranged separately.
Macanese cooking, which married Portuguese technique to Chinese ingredients and Indian and African spice centuries ago, and the local custard tart, which by contrast dates only from 1989.
Moderate. The vehicle covers the distance between sites; the walking is concentrated in the Historic Centre, where there are cobbles, slopes and a long flight of steps.