How to Spend a Layover in Macau

Dubbed the Las Vegas of Asia, Macau is one of the world’s top tourist destinations and just a short boat ride away from Hong Kong. This small and compact autonomous Chinese territory is the world’s most densely populated place and a great place to spend a layover given the small size and relative easy of getting around. This is how I spent my layover in Macau:

Hong Kong to Macau

I arrived in Hong Kong from Myanmar around 6:00pm and had a flight back to Tokyo around 4:30 the next day. Seeing how I had already been to Hong Kong, I decided to make a quick visit to Macau. From Hong Kong airport, I took Cotai Water Jet to Macau for $284 HKD one way. I was too late to board the 7:00 ride, so I bought a ticket for the last ride at 9:00pm.

The boat was pretty nice, although the seats were a bit small. We arrived about an hour later in Taipa. Upon landing in Taipa I couldn’t help but notice there was a huge Filipino population, it seemed like everyone working at the ferry terminal was Filipino.

After immigration I boarded one of the free buses and took it downtown and took a taxi the rest of the way to my hotel.

What to do in Macau

Macau is far from a backpacking destination as evident by the lack of hostels in the city.  Villa Ka Meng is the cheapest hotel in Macau and costs $39 a night, which is a steal in Macau to be honest. From the hotel, it’s about a 10-minute walk to Senado Square. The hotel has limited rooms, which makes it hard to book late notice, but if you can grab one of these rooms you’ll be saving yourself a lot of money.

I checked in and quickly made my way back outside to see Senado Square and check out one casino. I had no desire to gamble, but I really wanted to see the Casino Lisboa to take a night shot.

Shortly after, I made my way back to my hotel. I woke up the next morning pretty early, so I would have time to see everything before my boat back to Hong Kong Airport. My first stop was Senado Square, which I saw the previous night. Then I headed to St. Dominic’s Church right around the corner. I knew Macau had been colonized by the Portuguese, but it was still strange to see Portuguese writing and architecture all over a city filled with Chinese people. To my surprise, none of the locals knew Portuguese either.

After the church I made my way to the ruins of St. Paul’s, which is probably Macau’s most iconic site. The ruins were impressive but were massively overrun by Mainland Chinese tourists, but still impressive to look at. From St. Dominic’s Church, it’s a short walk away.

I spent the next few hours just walking around the city until I reached the Venetian Hotel.

I think this hotel might be one of the few in the world that is marketed as a tourist destination. The inside of the hotel was incredible; it was definitely one of luxury, even the bathroom. The entire place was covered in gold and even had a place that resembled Venice.

My final stop was Coloane Village to try their world-famous egg tarts. I hopped on the bus and made my way to Lord Stow’s Bakery where I ended up getting 8 egg tarts. To get here either take bus 21A, 25, 26A, 50 until you reach the village. Once you arrive, it’s just a minute away by foot.

These egg tarts are excellent! If I’m being honest, this is probably the only reason I’d return to Macau.

Afterwards, I walked around the village and found a temple and beach along the way.

There wasn’t really much to see or do here, so I made my way back to the ferry terminal bound for Hong Kong. I arrived at the terminal around 2 for the 3:15 boat ride.

To be honest, I don’t see how you could spend more than 2 days in Macau; I did half a day and felt as if I saw everything I had to see. Macau is definitely doable if you have limited time, as long as you start the day early and move fast, you can pretty much see everything.

Just to recap, here’s what to see during a layover in Macau.

Senado Square

Casino Lisboa

St. Dominic’s Church

St. Paul’s

Venetian Hotel

Coloane Village for Lord Stow’s Egg Tarts:)