Macau

Macau Peninsula — the original Portuguese settlement (1557–1999, the longest European colonial presence in Asia) with the Ruins of St Paul (the façade of the 17th-century Jesuit cathedral of Mãe de Deus — the most elaborate piece of Christian religious architecture in East Asia, a Baroque stone façade decorated with Chinese carvings of camellias, chrysanthemums and a ship) and the Senado Square (Largo do Senado — Portuguese wave-pattern cobblestone square surrounded by yellow and white colonial buildings, the heart of Macau’s UNESCO Historic Centre).

The Ruins of St Paul are all that remain of the Mãe de Deus church (1602–1640), destroyed by fire in 1835. The stone façade survived because it was built separately from the wooden church structure. The carvings are a unique fusion: the Jesuit missionaries employed Japanese Christian craftsmen who incorporated East Asian floral motifs alongside European Christian iconography.

The Fortaleza do Monte (a 17th-century Portuguese fortress above the ruins with cannon still in position and the Macau Museum inside) and A-Ma Temple (the oldest temple in Macau, dedicated to Matsu the sea goddess, founded 1488 — the name “Macau” derives from “A-Ma-Gao” meaning Bay of A-Ma — with the incense coils hanging from the beams and the granite carvings of the fishing fleet).

A-Ma Temple (1488) predates the Portuguese arrival in Macau by 69 years, making it older than the colony itself. The temple was founded by Fujianese fishermen who settled in the area before Portuguese contact. The name “Macau” derives from Portuguese sailors misunderstanding the name of the bay (“A-Ma-Gao”, Bay of A-Ma) as the name of the entire territory.

The Cotai Strip (a land reclamation between the islands of Taipa and Coloane, built from 2007 onward, containing the largest concentration of integrated casino-resort hotels in the world — The Venetian Macao (the largest casino in the world at 546,000m², with 3,000 slot machines, a replica Grand Canal with gondolas and 3,000 hotel suites), the Parisian Macao (a half-scale Eiffel Tower) and the MGM Cotai).

Macau overtook Las Vegas as the world’s largest gambling market in 2007 and by 2013 was generating 7x the gambling revenue of the Las Vegas Strip. At its peak (2014), Macau’s casino revenue was US$45 billion per year — more than the GDP of many countries. The market contracted sharply after the 2015 anti-corruption crackdown in mainland China, which reduced VIP gambling significantly.

Taipa Village — the original village of the island of Taipa (now surrounded by the Cotai casino developments but intact, a grid of pastel-painted Portuguese colonial houses, a church, a covered market and the finest traditional Macanese restaurants) with the Taipa Houses Museum (five restored Portuguese colonial villas from 1921 showing the domestic life of Macanese families at the height of the Portuguese era).

The Macanese people (the community of mixed Portuguese-Chinese, Portuguese-Malay and Portuguese-African descent that developed during the Portuguese colonial era) speak Patuá — a Portuguese-based creole incorporating Cantonese, Malay and English elements. Patuá is now spoken by fewer than 50 people (mostly elderly) and is considered critically endangered by UNESCO.

15 min from Taipa. Coloane — the southernmost and quietest island, still largely undeveloped, with the Hac Sa Beach (the only natural black sand beach in Macau, backed by a forest park), the Lord Stow’s Bakery (in Coloane Village — the original source of the Macanese egg tart (pastel de nata), founded by Andrew Stow in 1989, which became the most famous food export of Macau, now copied throughout Asia) and the Chapel of St Francis Xavier.

Lord Stow’s egg tart (pastel de nata) — Andrew Stow’s 1989 adaptation of the Portuguese pastel de Belém, baked in a flakier, richer shortcrust pastry shell rather than the puff pastry of the Lisbon original, with a less sweet egg custard — was so successful that it spread throughout the former Portuguese colonial world. It is now the defining street food of Hong Kong and is sold in hundreds of franchises across Asia.

The Macau Tower (338m, the 10th-tallest tower in the world at time of construction, with the world’s highest commercial bungee jump from 233m — designed by AJ Hackett — and the SkyWalk (an external walk around the circumference of the tower at 233m with no guardrail, only a harness) and the finest panorama of the Pearl River Delta: Macau’s peninsula, Taipa, Coloane, Hengqin Island and on clear days the skyscrapers of Zhuhai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

The Macau Tower bungee jump (233m, the world’s highest commercial bungee) was designed by AJ Hackett, the New Zealander who commercialised bungee jumping in 1988 from the Eiffel Tower. The tower’s observation deck and SkyWalk are open daily regardless of whether one jumps; the external walk (233m, no guardrail, tethered harness) costs MOP 688 and is one of the more extraordinary walks available in a major city.

The Macau Grand Prix street circuit (the Guia Circuit — a 6.2km street circuit through the hills above the Macau Peninsula, the oldest surviving street circuit in the world after Monaco, used since 1954 for the Macau Grand Prix, a race that has served as the proving ground for every Formula 1 driver of the past 40 years) and a final Macanese meal: minchi (minced pork or beef with potato, soy sauce and fried egg — Macau’s most beloved everyday dish). Fly from Macau (MFM) or Hong Kong (HKG).

The Macau Grand Prix (first run in 1954) is considered the most important motorsport race outside Formula 1 — the Formula 3 race is the traditional final audition for F1, and virtually every Formula 1 world champion of the past 30 years won at Macau before reaching F1: Ayrton Senna won in 1983, Michael Schumacher in 1990, Mika Häkkinen in 1990, David Coulthard in 1991.