Day trip to Macau

If you’re in HK, you must take a day trip to Macau.  Getting there is pretty easy. You take a ferry from the Hong Kong Macau ferry terminal in Sheung Wan.  It costs about $276 HK ($36 CDN) for a round trip ticket.  Make sure to have your passport with you as well because you need it to enter Macau.  Be prepared for the crowd and be prepared to stand while you wait for you ferry. It takes about 1 hr to get to Macau, so just sit back, relax, and take a quick nap on the ferry.

Hong Kong Macau Ferry Terminal

Arriving in Macau

Before you exit the port, there are a bunch of taxi drivers asking you if you would be interested in a private tour of Macau.  The first gentleman approached me and I said, “No Thank You”.  A second gentleman approached me and I said the same thing, “Not interested”.  I was a bit hesitant because being the cautious person that I am, I wasn’t sure if I would really get a tour and wasn’t sure if I could trust these people.   You always hear horror stories about people getting scammed and my mother always told me not to talk to strangers (side note: if you’ve seen the movie Taken, you know what I’m talking about).

At this point, R (my husband) decided to go to the bathroom so I was waiting around and the same gentleman kept asking me if I was interested.  He kept reassuring me that he is a real taxi driver and started giving me brochures.  So since I was waiting, I figured I would ask him how much.  He said his price (I can’t remember how much it was) and I was thinking, that’s a bit much.  He kept lowering the price, and I started to think, okay maybe this isn’t such a bad idea after all (I’m cheap, so he was starting to speak my language).

So after talking to him, I told him I wanted to discuss it with R. We figured we don’t really have a plan of what to do in Macau, it would be a 2 hour tour, and we’ll get a nice tour of the city.  Plus, after talking to Hong (the driver) I was getting a good vibe from him.  So we decided, why the heck not.  If you’re wondering, we paid $930 HK for a private 2 hour tour, which is about $117 CDN – $58 CDN each, not bad if you ask me.

A-Ma Temple

Taking this tour was a great idea!  Not only did we get an amazing tour of the city, our taxi driver was also our personal photographer.  Macau is the only place on our Asia trip were we have many photos together.  He knew where to place us in the photos, it was great!  Hong was so friendly and very knowledgeable about Macau.

The View from Macau Museum

St. Paul's Ruins. The main facade and the foundation was left standing after a fire in 1835

Senado Square. Look at all the decorations. So pretty!

Macau is a beautiful place.   We were lucky to see the decorations from Chinese New Year, it was beautiful!  In Macau, you can see the Portuguese influence in the architecture of the buildings and then you have these massive Casino/Hotels that would probably swallow some of the hotels in Vegas.

MGM Casino

Portuguese Egg Tarts - these were AMAZING! We ate them so fast we didn't take a picture of it.

If you want to get away from the hustle and bustle in Hong Kong, take a day trip Macau.  It was well worth it!  Don’t forget to try the Portuguese egg tarts…mmmmm…sooo good!! (p.s. if you notice from my previous post, and this post I love egg tarts!)

fun fact: Macau is also spelled Macao.

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