48 Best Sights in Macau, China

Looking like a ship, with jutting white slats and porthole windows, and set on the site where the first Portuguese explorers landed on Macau in 1553, this handsome building across from the A-Ma Temple is a great place to spend an hour brushing up on seafaring history. Multimedia exhibits cover fishermen, merchants, and explorers from Portugal, China, and Japan, displaying compasses, telescopes, and sections of ships. There’s even a small aquarium gallery with local sea life and a replica dragon boat outside. Try your hand at astronomic navigation, which sailors have used for thousands of years, by looking up at the top floor’s celestial dome ceiling.

This stylish part of Macau’s gambling scene offers lavish lounges, Dale Chihuly glass sculptures, Portuguese-inspired architecture, and fine dining. The gambling floor itself is popular with high rollers from Hong Kong, including business tycoons who are just in for a few days. One of the owners, Pansy Ho, is the daughter of Macau’s “gambling godfather,” Dr. Stanley Ho. She is a high-octane business professional in her own right, and her discerning touch shows up in the property’s glitz-and-glam energy and high-society appeal.

In the mid-2000s, this homegrown brand planted itself on the map when the property, then the Crown Hotel, became the busiest casino in the world in terms of betting volume. Since those heady days, gaming action has pivoted away from VIPs to focus on the higher end of the mass market. Now, that action takes place on the ground level and first floor, leaving the rest of the property at peace. Since the whales have left for the newer casino-resorts, the Altira Macau is much more accessible and offers great value, as well as sweeping views of the peninsula.

Macau’s largest temple is part of a functioning monastery with several dozen monks. The classically designed structure has an ornate, three-story central pavilion that houses a nearly 18-foot (5.4-meter) bronze statue of the Buddha—the tallest in Macau. Throughout, you’ll find beautiful wall murals, ornamented ceilings, red wood columns, and peaceful fishponds and banyan trees, as well as resident monks who tend vegetable plots that supply the popular on-site vegetarian restaurant.

A cornerstone of local life since 1936, Macau’s oldest operating wet market reopened in 2024 with a fresh new look. A two-year renovation fortified the three-story art deco building, replacing walls and tiles, improving lighting, and adding more floor space (not to mention air-conditioning). Now more than 130 vendors venture to the revitalized red brick building each day, offering fresh seafood, vegetables, fruit, flowers, and more. A long-awaited clock now adorns the tower, too, completing architect Júlio Alberto Fernandes Basto’s original vision, back when the building still bordered the sea.

One of the largest casinos in Macau until Cotai’s megaprojects stole the spotlight, the Sands is the first casino you’ll see on the peninsula, even before disembarking from the ferry. Now more than 20 years old, it’s no longer the biggest or shiniest game in town, and the focus here is clearly just gambling, often the inveterate kind---but it can still be a sight to behold. There’s a sparkling 50-ton chandelier over the entrance and rotating live cabaret shows in the middle of the action, where you can play a mix of Asian and Western games, including blackjack, three-card poker, and slots.

Founded in 1569 by Dom Belchior Carneiro, Macau’s first bishop, the Macau Holy House of Mercy is coastal China’s oldest Christian charity. It continues to take care of the underprivileged with regular donations and a range of social services, operating a nursery, a house for the elderly, and a center for the blind. The exterior of the heritage-listed building is neoclassical, but the interior is done in an opulent, modern style. The second floor houses a museum of Roman Catholic relics, displaying portraits of its earliest benefactors, including pioneering patroness Marta da Silva Merop.

This large, family-friendly park has extensive botanical gardens, ponds, and waterfalls, as well as the popular Giant Panda Pavilion and a walk-through aviary with more than 200 bird species. There are lots of things of interest to children, including playgrounds, a minizoo with flamingos, monkeys, and other animals, and an interactive museum with exhibits on nature and agriculture.

Galaxy’s former flagship venue has always been known for its over-the-top service and entertainment. As you enter the towering StarWorld empire you’re greeted by hosts in high heels, while a band serenades you from across the lobby. The gaming floors are small and dominated by baccarat tables, but the drink service is excellent. If you seek respite from the trenches, visit the Whisky Bar on the 16th floor of the adjacent hotel—an atmospheric place to begin or end your evening with a single malt or cocktail. The neon-blue building is just across from the Wynn Macau and down the block from the MGM Macau. Live lobby entertainment and local holiday attractions add a kitschy, friendly feel.

Hollywood glamour hits Cotai at this Zaha Hadid--designed art deco complex. Outside, you can’t miss the Golden Reel, a figure eight-shaped Ferris Wheel built into the tower. Inside, you’ll find one of Asia’s largest indoor water parks, a nine-house cinema including VIP rooms and a theater equipped with motion technology, about 20 different dining venues, great cocktail bars like Blind Tiger and A.P.D., and Legend Heroes Park, a family-friendly, tech-based entertainment zone. The casino, meanwhile, boasts 1,233 gaming machines and about 250 tables. When it comes time to call it a night, there are about 2,500 rooms spread across four hotels, including the glitzy W.

These five sea-green, Sino-Portuguese buildings sit conspicuously at the edge of Taipa's man-made wetlands, surrounded by cobblestones and towering banyans. Built in 1921, they once served as residences for senior civil servants, back when they faced out over the mangroves and water toward Coloane. Today, they house rotating exhibitions and Casa Maquista, a beautiful, heritage-oriented restaurant serving exquisite renditions of lesser-known Macanese dishes. Nearby paths lead into the beautiful adjoining Carmel Garden, where palm trees provide welcome shade. Within the garden stands the brilliant white-and-yellow Nossa Senhora do Carmo (Church of Our Lady of Carmel), built in 1885 and featuring a handsome single-belfry tower.

Tak Seng On, “the virtue and success” store, offers a unique look at early-20th-century pawnshops and the important role they played in China for centuries. The architecture, interior design, and furniture date back to 1917, when this shop was established. It includes old abacuses, metal safes, accounting books, signboards in Chinese and Portuguese, and other items from that era. Public guided tours run Saturday from 3 to 5 pm.

Tap Seac Square is Macau’s largest and perhaps most dynamic public space. Designed by Macanese architect Carlos Marreiros, it’s home to institutions like the Macau Central Library and Tap Seac Gallery, which hosts excellent exhibitions of Macau-made modern art. Framed by ketchup- and mustard-color heritage buildings, the square buzzes during major events like Lunar New Year, the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the Macau Grand Prix, when pop-up markets and performances take over the space. Nearby cafés, vintage shops, and cha chaan teng (old-school café-restaurants) add to its charm, while locals gather daily for tai chi, badminton, and chats in the shade.

This small Chinese temple was built in 1888 as a plague ravaged the peninsula, the devotees hoping it would appeal to a Chinese protector deity. The Troço das Antigas Muralhas de Defesa (Section of the Old City Walls), all that remains of Macau’s original defensive barrier, borders the left side of the temple. These crumbling yellow walls were built in 1569 and illustrate the durability of chunambo, a local material made from compacted layers of clay, soil, sand, straw, crushed rocks, and oyster shells.

Built in 1750, this temple is dedicated to Kuan Tai, the bearded, fierce-looking god of war and wealth in Chinese mythology. Statues of him and his two sons sit on an altar. A steady stream of people comes to pray and ask for support before they go wage battle in the casinos. May and June see festivals honoring Kuan Tai throughout Macau.

Twice the size of its namesake in Las Vegas, The Venetian offers ample opportunities for shopping, dining, gambling, entertainment, and sleeping. Expect faux-Renaissance decoration, built-in canals plied by crooning gondoliers, live carnival acts, and plenty of sheer spectacle. The 550,000 square feet of gaming areas, complete with 3,400 slot machines and 800 tables, make this the world’s biggest casino. The sprawling property also includes 3,000 suites, plus venues like the 1,800-seat Venetian Theatre, which has hosted performances from the likes of Alicia Keys and The Beach Boys, and the newly renovated 15,000-seat Venetian Arena. It’s a must-see megaplex.

In the same building as the Grand Prix Museum, this spot has more than 1,100 wines on display; some are almost 200 years old. You'll learn about production techniques and the importance of vinho (wine) in Portuguese culture. Several varieties are on hand for impromptu tastings.

Wynn Palace seamlessly weaves Las Vegas–style opulence with Chinese motifs. The 28-story resort houses 1,706 lavish rooms, suites, and villas, all decorated in shades of sunrise yellow, sunset orange, peacock blue, or Wynn gold—complete with gold-hued toiletries. Guests and outsiders alike tend to congregate around Performance Lake, which stages elaborate water, music, and light shows that are best viewed from Lakeview Palace restaurant. The real standout, though, is Macau’s largest spa, The Spa at Wynn Palace. There are 22 treatment rooms, including private spaces offering cryotherapy, float pods, and red-light therapy. The 424,000-square-foot casino offers round-the-clock gaming. When you tire of the tables, go for a walk around the shops to spot rare art, including Qing Dynasty Buccleuch vases; unwind by the mosaic-lined pool; or get a bite to eat one of the 13 excellent dining venues.