Is a side trip to Macau from Hong Kong a good idea?
 

I will be in Hong Kong with a tour group with a day on our own. Was wondering about good and bad experiences in Macau. I don't gamble, but some guide books say the food is good.

I'd really appreciate hearing people's opinions.

Was the ferry service as simple as it seems? We're staying in the Tsim Tsha Tsui area in a hotel overlooking the water.

the boat goes from the hong kong side, but it is very easy to do...

if i only had one free day i think i would stay in HK as there is so much to do there....

We loved our day trip to Macau. Like you, we had no interest in the gambling.

Here's a section of my trip report from several years ago.

"We then took a bus into the central part of the city, and wandered around on the narrow streets, window shopping and enjoying the ambiance. We visited the remains of Sao Paulo and the citadel before deciding it was time for lunch. We caught a taxi out to Coloane Island to have lunch at Fernando's. (There was an excellent write-up about Fernando's in the New York Times travel section a month before we went.) The Fodor's book is rather disparaging about Fernando's, but the recommendation of people on this site and the NYT made us decide to go. It was delightful! The menu is in Portuguese, so we asked the server what she recommended. We knew we wanted to try the famous roast suckling pig, and she recommended the prawns as well. All the dishes came on large plates and we shared them. The "wine list" consists of going to the entrance of the kitchen and pointing to the bottle of wine you'd like with your meal. We had an excellent Portuguese red for HK$120 (what a contrast from the very expensive wine in Hong Kong!). We started with a salad of tomatoes (huge slabs of red, juicy tomatoes!) sweet onions and romaine with a simple vinagrette. The prawns arrived next - a pile of whole prawns cooked in their shells in a spicy sauce. The suckling pig arrived last, succulent, with a thin, crisp skin. The meal was superb, and the least expensive meal we had on our trip. By the way, Fernando?s does NOT take credit cards. After lunch we wandered over to the beach were Chinese tourists were taking off their shoes, rolling up their pant legs and wading into the waves even though it was raining lightly. They were having a great time and we enjoyed watching them. You can see the Westin hotel from the beach - it looks lovely. We caught a taxi back into town, and wandered around the old town for a while. We really didn't see any interesting shopping, perhaps we were in the wrong place. I liked all the winding walking streets, and enjoyed the atmosphere. We took a late afternoon ferry back to Hong Kong. "

Unless it's been changed in the past 2 years, there is a hydrofoil from the Kowloon side, too ... just northwest a hundred or two meters from the "main" Star Ferry terminal.

Enjoyed a day trip there very much. But if you have only one free day I would think there's still a lot more which could be done in Hong Kong itself...

There are ferries from the "China Ferry Terminal" in Tsimshatsui, just north of the Harbour City shopping complex on Canton Road.

That service is run by New Ferry. Every 1/2 hour, compared to every 15 minutes or less on Turbojet, and they only use catamarans, no jetfoil or foilcat. If your hotel is close to that ferry terminal (like Marco Polo or Royal Pacific), I'll use it. If it's a long walk or requires some transportation anyways, then might as well use Turbojet from HK Island.

As for my opinion, in general I think if your time is limited in Hong Kong and you don't have time to overnight Macau, then I won't go. If you have 4-5 days in HK, then do an overnight trip.