City guide · Macao SAR, China
Four hundred years of Portuguese streets, a fake Venice under a painted sky, and the best egg tart in Asia.
Reviewed by our Beijing team Updated 2026-10-10
The short version
City guide
Photographs from the coast, and what other travellers wrote afterwards.
Macao is much smaller than I imagined. On the coach you feel it keeps circling back to the same places — I grabbed my camera in a panic the first time I saw the Lotus Square, afraid the bus would move on, and ten minutes later we were back at the Lotus Square.
Wanwan gjh164, 'Five Days in Hong Kong and Macao'
Leaving, I realised the city's wealth and glitter had never really entered me. What touched every nerve was the old town's fineness, its age, its calm. Ordinary is true, plain is fortune — wealth is one measure of a life, and far from the only one.
xiaye_1001, 'Eleven Days in Hong Kong, Macao and the Philippines'
Ride a bike from the peninsula down to Coloane and in forty minutes you pass from an international resort city into a seaside fishing village: neighbours drinking afternoon tea in old tea houses, old men playing cards under the banyans, time moving slower than it does across the bridges. That contrast is the whole of Macao in one ride.
The old centre is the serious reason to come. Four centuries of Portuguese and Chinese streets produced a quarter of cobbled squares, tiled church fronts, pawnshop towers and incense smoke that UNESCO lists as World Heritage — and nearly all of it is free. The other Macao, the Cotai strip, is not subtle: a US$2.4 billion Venetian with indoor canals and singing gondoliers, gaming floors that run all night, and a water show that costs a family of three MOP 1,700. It is gaudy and it is excellent, and one evening is the right dose.
What the guidebooks undersell is how ordinary the city stays underneath it all. Locals queue for pork chop buns, argue over horse racing and greyhounds, and treat the resorts as someone else's business. Eating here is its own itinerary: Macanese and Portuguese kitchens, dai pai dong by the inner harbour at midnight, Burmese noodles around the Rotunda de Carlos da Maia, and an egg tart war between two bakeries that used to be one marriage.
It is also the easiest side trip in southern China. Ferries from Hong Kong run every half hour until after midnight, the Zhuhai border opens at 07:00, and the resorts' free buses meet you at every crossing. Two days covers it; three lets you keep the slow afternoon in Coloane.
Macao
Seven things that are worth rearranging a day for.
Highlights
The historic centre — Senado Square, St. Dominic's, St. Paul's, the fortress, A-Ma Temple — is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and every headline stop on it is free. In a city famous for what things cost, the best of it is gratis.
Andrew Stow opened his bakery in Coloane and created the Macanese egg tart; his ex-wife Margaret set up in the peninsula and took the recipe to KFC. Crisp laminated pastry, trembling custard, scorched top — you owe it to yourself to judge both, at about MOP 6–10 apiece.
The Venetian's second floor is an indoor Venice with canals and gondoliers under a painted sky; the Lisboa is a 1960s money machine that runs to 3am. Entry is free, the shuttle buses are free, and watching costs nothing if you keep your hands in your pockets.
The Taipa racecourse seats 15,000 and runs a season from September to August — Tuesday nights, weekend afternoons, entry free with a MOP 40 minimum bet. The Canidrome runs greyhounds on Mondays, Thursdays and weekends from 19:30, entry MOP 10.
The southern island keeps narrow lanes, a chapel square, BBQ on Hac Sa beach and the original Lord Stow's bakery. The contrast with the Cotai strip across the water is the best free show in Macao.
Macanese cooking is the original fusion: Portuguese technique on Chinese ingredients. Bacalhau done a dozen ways, water-crab congee, pork chop buns, African chicken, and a street of snack shops that feed you free tastings all afternoon.
Suggested routes
Day one is the peninsula's heritage trail, day two is Taipa village and the Cotai resorts.
Start at Senado Square, the wave-patterned cobbled heart of the city, and walk up past the cream-and-green St. Dominic's Church, founded 1687. Keep climbing to the Ruins of St. Paul's and the Mount Fortress beside it — the fortress opens at 07:00, so early birds get the cannons to themselves.
Walk down through the old streets to A-Ma Temple at the peninsula's southern tip, and if you have an hour, the Maritime Museum next door (MOP 10, closed Tuesdays). End the day eating along Rua da Felicidade, the old red-light street turned snack row — the shops press free tastings of jerky and almond cookies on you all the way down.
Stops: Senado SquareSt. Dominic's ChurchRuins of St. Paul'sMount FortressA-Ma TempleRua da Felicidade
Bus 11, 22, 28A, 30, 33 or 34 to Taipa for the Houses-Museum: five mint-green 1921 homes by a lotus pond, MOP 5, closed Mondays. Walk two minutes into the village and eat down Rua do Cunha — water-crab congee at Seng Cheong, sawdust pudding, almond cookies to take away.
Afternoon on the Cotai strip: take any free resort shuttle and walk the Venetian's indoor canals, gondoliers and all. If it is a show night, book the House of Dancing Water at City of Dreams by noon — two performances daily, 17:00 and 20:00, 90 minutes, and weekends sell out.
Stops: Taipa Houses-MuseumRua do CunhaThe Venetian MacaoCity of Dreams
Add a slow island day: beaches, the village and the original egg tart.
Bus 26A or 25 down to Coloane village. Wander the lanes around the Chapel of St. Francis Xavier, then do the thing you came for: a warm egg tart at Lord Stow's original bakery, the shopfront that started it all.
Afternoon at Hac Sa beach — BBQ stands by the sand, and from May to October bus 26 continues right to the beach. The two youth hostels on this side of the island are the cheapest beds in Macao, if you want the quiet morning after.
Stops: Coloane villageLord Stow's BakeryHac Sa Beach
Sights
The icon
The facade of the Church of Mater Dei and all that survived its 1835 fire: 23 m wide, 25.5 m high, five tiers of baroque granite carved with chrysanthemums, peonies and Chinese characters — a collision of Europe and Asia no other church front attempts. Sixty-eight steps lead up to it, with the fortress above and the old town below.
Tip Come before 09:00. By mid-morning the 68 steps are a queue of umbrellas and the point of the place — a ruin, alone with the sky — is lost.
The oldest
The oldest temple in Macao, over 500 years of continuous incense on the shore where the A-Ma legend is set. Four halls — the main hall, the Hall of Benevolence, the Kun Iam hall and more — climb the granite hillside. When the first Portuguese asked the name of the place, locals pointed here: A-Ma-Gao, the bay of A-Ma, became Macau.
Tip At Chinese New Year the crowds arrive on New Year's Eve and the firecrackers go into the small hours — the temple at its most alive, if you can take the smoke.
Above St. Paul's
The old Monte Fort, also called the Fortress of St. Paul, right beside the facade: once barracks, then the weather observatory, and since 1998 the home of the Macao Museum. The walls give you the best free view over the peninsula's roofscape.
Tip Do the fortress first, then descend the 68 steps to St. Paul's — it is downhill and the sequence makes sense.
The centre
The cream-and-green church on the square was raised in 1687 by Dominican friars fresh to Macao, and its oils and statues are a pocket survey of baroque Catholic art. The square outside — Senado Square, tiled in black-and-white waves — is the city's living room and the start of every heritage walk.
Tip The snack street of Rua da Felicidade is a few minutes downhill — do the church, then go eat.
Portuguese Macao
Five mint-green houses from 1921 on Taipa's old seafront — 'Dragon's Ring, Portuguese Rhythm', one of the eight views of Macao — kept with their late-19th-century furniture so you can walk through a Macanese family home of a century ago. A chapel, a library and a lotus pond complete the row.
Tip Almost no tour groups bother. Sit under the banyans by the pond for ten minutes — it is the quietest corner of tourist Macao.
By A-Ma Temple
Built on the very spot where the first Portuguese came ashore, the museum ties Macao's story to the sea: Chinese and Portuguese maritime history side by side, from junks to the trade routes that made the port. Small, well kept, and it explains the temple outside.
Tip Pair it with the temple — they share a square and the two together are the founding story of the city.
Snack street
The 'Street of Happiness' keeps its two-storey late-Qing shopfronts from its days as the red-light quarter; now it is restaurants, wonton-noodle shops and dessert houses. Walk on into the lanes of Qingping and the souvenir shops hand you tastings of beef jerky, pork jerky, almond cookies, ginger candy and peanut brittle.
Tip You can graze the whole street for free — the tastings are the point. Buy what you actually liked on the way back.
Gaming and shows
The original
The Lisboa is the flagship of the city's gaming houses and has been printing money by the minute since 1970 — baccarat, sic bo, roulette, blackjack, pai gow and slots across the floor. Entry is free and people-watching at the tables is its own sport; the walk from St. Paul's takes fifteen minutes.
Tip Dress code is real: no shorts, no flip-flops, and the air-conditioning is set to arctic. Bring trousers and a layer even in August.
The spectacle
Sands spent US$2.4 billion on the largest casino-resort in Asia: 110,000 sq m of convention space and a second floor that is an indoor Venice — canals, bridges, Renaissance shopfronts and gondoliers singing Italian folk songs under a permanently blue ceiling. You do not have to gamble to enjoy any of it.
Tip Take the free shuttle both ways and budget an hour just to wander the canals. The photo with shopping bags in a gondola is the local cliché — take it anyway.
Race night
The Taipa racecourse is among the best-appointed in Asia, with air-conditioned grandstands for 15,000 and a season running September to August: Tuesday nights, Saturday and Sunday afternoons, all-night racing in June to August. Entry is free with a MOP 40 betting voucher — the minimum spend.
Tip You do not need to understand the form. Buy the minimum voucher, stand by the rail for one race, and you have done the local Tuesday night.
The odd one
Macao's greyhound track runs Mondays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, with ten-odd races from 19:30. Entry is MOP 10; boxes run MOP 80 on weekdays and MOP 120 on Saturdays and public holidays, with a MOP 30 minimum spend per person. All the runners are hunting-bred greyhounds.
Tip Watching the dogs parade is half the fun — regulars pick their number by how the dog behaves walking to the traps.
The big show
City of Dreams' purpose-built water theatre runs two 90-minute performances a day at 17:00 and 20:00 — a huge-budget show of diving, acrobatics and stage machinery that travellers consistently call worth the price. Tier B for a family of three runs about MOP 1,700.
Tip Book the evening show by noon at the latest on weekends — it genuinely sells out.
Food
The city's gift to the world: shatteringly crisp laminated pastry, trembling egg custard, scorched top. Margaret's near Senado Square sells them at about MOP 6; Lord Stow's original in Coloane is the pilgrimage. Eat it warm.
A fried pork chop in a crisp roll — nothing else, and nothing else needed. Fresh out of the fryer the chop is juicy and the bread crackles. Tell any taxi driver 'Tai Lei Loi Kei' and he knows the way.
Three kinds of crab — roe, meat and swimming crab — in one pot of rice porridge, so the sweetness, the roe richness and the crab fat all hit at once. Seng Cheong on Rua do Cunha is the famous pot.
Salt cod, the great Portuguese staple, grilled, baked, braised or stewed — the dish at the heart of every Portuguese restaurant in Macao. A Lorcha by A-Ma Temple does it properly.
The true fusion cuisine, four centuries old: Portuguese method on Chinese and Southeast Asian ingredients. Look for it in the small restaurants of the old quarters rather than the resorts.
The standard souvenirs, sold by the sheet and the box on Rua da Felicidade and around St. Paul's, with aggressive free tasting. Koi Kei is the big name; the small shops are just as good.
The dessert canon: serradura ('sawdust' pudding of cream and biscuit crumbs), steamed milk pudding at Yee Shun, and the 'reduced-egg' money biscuits at Pan Weng Kei.
On the inner harbour's Ribeira strip, open-air stalls run past midnight; in winter the locals huddle over hotpot while the wind comes off the water. Cheap, loud and completely unpolished.
Around the Rotunda de Carlos da Maia ('Three Lamps') the lanes hide Macao's Southeast Asian kitchens — Ya Xin Burmese Restaurant on Rua de Fernão Mendes Pinto is the name everyone gives, plus congee at Luk Kee and dim sum at Lung Wah.
Where to eat
The egg tart
The ex-Mrs Stow's shop, and the source of the recipe that went to KFC. The pastry is so crisp and layered you can barely hold it, and the layers are visible when you bite. About MOP 6 each, tucked in an alley behind the Chow Tai Fook.
The original
The Coloane original, where Andrew Stow invented the Macanese egg tart. All three branches sit off the peninsula and the frontage is small; the pilgrims come anyway. Coloane village, the chapel square, a warm tart — this is the correct order.
Pork chop bun
The pork chop bun everyone means: crisp roll, juicy chop, nothing to hide behind. A Macao institution since the 1960s — arrive hungry and at off-peak hours if you want a seat.
Water-crab congee
The famous pot on Rua do Cunha: three crabs, one congee, and a queue at dinner. The roe melts into the rice and the whole table smells of the sea.
Portuguese
The name is the little wooden boat on the sign: a proper Portuguese restaurant by A-Ma Temple doing bacalhau every way it should be done, plus clams, octopus rice and serious sangria. Book at weekends.
Taipa's food street
A short lane in old Taipa packed with Chinese and Portuguese restaurants — Santos at No. 20 is the famous Portuguese name — plus souvenir shops selling chicken biscuits, salted pastry, oyster sauce and shrimp paste. Lunch here, then the Houses-Museum.
Local Macao
The lanes radiating off the Rotunda de Carlos da Maia are the most street-level eating in the city: Ya Xin Burmese Restaurant on Rua de Fernão Mendes Pinto, Luk Kee congee and noodles, the Lung Wah tea house, and a branch of Margaret's tarts. Cheap and genuinely local.
One-block eating
The stretch from Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro through Senado Square to St. Paul's concentrates the famous names: Margaret's tarts, Yee Shun Milk Company, Pan Weng Kei's money biscuits, Wong Chi Kei congee and noodles, Tim Fat's mock shark's fin and Koi Kei's main shop.
After dark
Open-air food stalls along Rua do Almirante Sérgio on the peninsula's south-west shore: home-style seafood, winter hotpot, beer and noise until late. Nothing refined, everything fresh, and half the city seems to be there on a cold night.
Shopping
Duty-free prices make gold jewellery good value, and pearls and semi-precious stones are everywhere. Buy from established shops — the big names cluster around the Lisboa, Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro and Avenida Horta e Costa — and always take the guarantee card and receipt.
From MOP 30 table bottles to serious old Ports in the hundreds. Every supermarket sells it; the airport, ferry and border duty-frees stock it for departing travellers. The wine museum at the tourism activities centre teaches you what you are buying.
The streets between Senado Square and St. Paul's — Rua de São Paulo, Rua das Estalagens, Rua de São António, the lanes by the old bazaar — hold the antique shops and the quality reproductions. Most shops ship worldwide at fair rates; genuine pieces come with certificates.
Every mall and arcade carries the Swiss names at duty-free prices. Compare across shops — prices move — and keep the warranty card. A classic Macao purchase.
The resort malls — the Venetian's Grand Canal Shoppes, Galaxy's promenade — are a duty-free circuit of the international brands. The Venetian even runs a free personal-shopper service, but you must book it.
Almond cookies, beef and pork jerky, ginger candy, peanut brittle, chicken biscuits, oyster sauce and shrimp paste — Koi Kei and Choi Heong Yuen are the big bakeries, and the tastings on Rua da Felicidade let you try before you carry.
Two camera shops have the travellers' vote — one near the Leal Senado on Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro, one by the Three Lamps on Avenida Horta e Costa. Stick to established shops, and get the warranty and receipt.
The Three Lamps lanes for cheap clothes and odds and ends; Rua dos Mercadores and the Rua da Felicidade quarter for restored 19th-century shopfronts and local goods; the bazaar lanes below St. Paul's for curios laid out on the cobbles.
Where to stay
Cheapest bed
One of Macao's two hostels, both off the peninsula — this one by Hac Sa beach in Coloane. Cheap, clean, safe, good wifi, but note the booking system: you apply through the youth affairs bureau by email or fax, at least 15 days ahead, and a hostel membership card helps.
By the sea
The second hostel, above Cheoc Van beach in Coloane — quiet, clean and right for walkers who like falling asleep to the sea. From the Gongbei or Wan Chai crossings it is about an hour by bus over the bridges; plan for that.
Mid-range, central
An economy hotel in a gold spot: on the Nam Van lake shore in the city centre, a short walk from the Lisboa and the shopping. For Macao prices this is as good as value gets.
Five stars, no casino
One of the very few five-star hotels in Macao without a gaming floor — quieter and better for families for it. On the One Central development by the Nam Van lake, walking distance to the big resorts and the old town, with sea-facing views.
The resort splurge
The most popular five-star in town, all suites, all-out luxury, sitting between Taipa and Coloane on the Cotai strip with the airport minutes away. You are paying for the canals downstairs as much as the room.
Getting around
The classic way in. Turbojet from Hong Kong's Sheung Wan terminal runs every 30 minutes from 07:00 to after midnight — about an hour, from around HKD 140 by day, HKD 152 at weekends, HKD 174 at night. Kowloon (Tsim Sha Tsui) boats run 07:00–22:30 every 30 minutes, and Hong Kong airport has direct boats. From Shenzhen: Shekou pier has about 10 sailings a day to Taipa from 08:15, and Fuyong pier near Shenzhen airport runs about an hour at CNY 178.
Macau International (MFM) is the territory's only airport, on Taipa, with routes to mainland cities and abroad. It is 10 minutes from the Outer Harbour ferry terminal, 20 from the border gate and 5 from the Cotai strip. Airport bus AP1 to the border gate costs MOP 3.3; the 26 and 21A buses pass the airport for Coloane; a taxi to the centre is about MOP 40.
The fastest crossing: 16 minutes between the Shun Tak Centre helipad in Hong Kong's Sheung Wan and the Outer Harbour terminal in Macao. Every 30 minutes from about 09:30 to 22:59; MOP 3,700 including taxes, with a MOP 200 weekend and holiday surcharge. Shenzhen–Macao runs 15–25 minutes at MOP 4,800.
The free casino shuttles meet every arrival point — border gate, both ferry terminals, the airport — and nobody asks to see a chip. City buses cost MOP 3.2 on the peninsula, MOP 4.2 to Taipa, MOP 5 to Coloane and MOP 6.4 to Hac Sa beach, with no change given. Two local rules: wave or the bus will not stop, and the destination boards are in Chinese and Portuguese.
Taxis flag at MOP 13 for the first 1.6 km, then MOP 1.5 per 230 m, with surcharges for Taipa–Coloane legs and big luggage; radio cabs on 00853-28519519 or 28939939. Trishaws around the Nam Van and Sai Van lakes are a tourist ride at MOP 150–200 an hour — agree the price first. A 'vintage' 1920s-style limousine seats nine at MOP 300 an hour.
The relaxed way to see Taipa and Coloane: hire bikes in Taipa village and around the Carmo gardens — there are no rentals on the peninsula. Remember two things: riding keeps left in Macao, and bicycles are banned from the Macau–Taipa bridge.
Tips
Every big resort runs free buses from the border gate, both ferry terminals and the airport, and nobody checks whether you gamble. Between shuttles and the MOP 3.2 city bus, you can cross the whole territory for pocket change.
Fares are MOP 3.2, 4.2, 5 and 6.4 and the farebox keeps your extra. Stock up on coins at any convenience store. And wave: a Macao bus does not stop for a passenger who just stands there.
The gaming floors turn away shorts and flip-flops, and the air-conditioning is set to arctic even in August. The resorts are worth seeing — dress so you can actually get in.
HKD circulates at par everywhere and is the only currency on the gaming tables; yuan is refused on buses and in many shops. If you are coming via Hong Kong, just keep your HKD.
The Taipa Houses-Museum closes Mondays, the Maritime Museum closes Tuesdays, and neither budges for holidays (the Taipa houses open on a public holiday then close the following day). Sequence your two days around them.
The 'WiFi Go' network covers 113-odd public spots — libraries, museums, squares, parks, hospitals — at no charge. Mobile roaming from the mainland is expensive; a local SIM from any border shop or convenience store is the cheap fix.
Practical
Macao rewards the early and the late: the fortress and St. Paul's before the coaches arrive, the dai pai dong and the race track after dark. The middle of the day belongs to the museums and the long lunch.
| Best months | October–December; average year-round about 20°C, typhoon season May–October peaking July–September; Grand Prix in November |
|---|---|
| Key tickets | St. Paul's, A-Ma Temple, fortress, Senado Square: free. Taipa Houses-Museum MOP 5 (closed Mon). Maritime Museum MOP 10 (closed Tue). Racing: free entry, MOP 40 minimum voucher. Greyhounds MOP 10. House of Dancing Water: tiered, family of three in B about MOP 1,700 |
| Money | Pataca (MOP): coins 0.1–10, notes 10–1,000; about 8 MOP to 10 CNY. HKD accepted at par everywhere; casinos deal in HKD only; yuan refused in many small shops and on buses |
| Local transport | Buses MOP 3.2–6.4, no change, wave to stop; taxi MOP 13 flagfall; trishaw MOP 150–200/hr; free resort shuttles from all border points |
| Borders | Gongbei border gate 07:00–24:00; Outer Harbour ferry terminal 24 hrs; airport 24 hrs; Taipa ferry terminal 24 hrs |
| Phones and internet | Country code 00853; emergency 999. Free 'WiFi Go' at 113+ public spots. Local SIMs at border shops and convenience stores beat roaming rates |
| Customs | Duty-free per adult: 1 litre each of wine and spirits, 200 cigarettes; departure fee MOP 19 is built into ferry tickets. Voltage 220V/50Hz, same as the mainland — check plug shape |
| Language | Cantonese is the everyday tongue, with Mandarin widely understood; Portuguese is official but spoken by under 1% of residents; English works in hotels and resorts |
| Hospitals | Kiang Wu Hospital, Rua de Coelho do Amaral — 00853-28371333; UCTH (Taipa) — 00853-28821838 |
Travel with them
Mao Yongxian
Interviews with sixteen Macao people — the argument that to show a place you show its people. Two covers were printed: the blue Coloane cocktail and the white Guia lighthouse.
Zhong Liancheng
A novel of the city's three gaming kings and their rivalries — the pulpy version of the casino decades, if you want the legend rather than the ledger.
Rong Yunlin (singer), words by Wen Yiduo (1925)
The song the whole country associates with the 1999 handover — you will hear it around the anniversary and in every patriotic montage ever cut about the city.
Leung Chi Kin and Lee Wai Fan
Original songs by two born-and-bred Macao musicians, released just before the handover — the complicated feelings of the people who actually lived it.
The questions visitors ask us most about Macao, answered plainly.
Prices and practical details are reviewed every month by our Beijing team and updated the day a rule changes.
October to December — mild, dry and low humidity, with the Grand Prix in November. Winter is cool but sunny; April warms up nicely; May to September is hot, wet and typhoon-prone, which suits the beach and nothing else.
Hong Kong dollars work everywhere at par with the pataca, and the casino tables take only HKD. Chinese yuan is accepted in some shops but refused on buses and in many stores. The rate is roughly 8 MOP to 10 CNY, and banks and hotels exchange money easily.
Turbojet ferry from Sheung Wan, every 30 minutes from 07:00 to after midnight, about an hour, from around HKD 140 by day and HKD 174 at night. Boats also run from Tsim Sha Tsui and Hong Kong airport, buses cross the sea bridge, and a helicopter does it in 16 minutes for MOP 3,700.
Yes — the old centre is a free UNESCO World Heritage quarter and it is the best thing in the city. Add the Taipa village, Coloane's lanes and beaches, the racing and the food, and the casinos become one evening's entertainment rather than the reason to come. Every resort is free to enter and walk through anyway.
Egg tarts first — Margaret's near Senado Square or Lord Stow's original shop in Coloane. Then a pork chop bun at Tai Lei Loi Kei, water-crab congee at Seng Cheong on Rua do Cunha, bacalhau at A Lorcha near A-Ma Temple, and late-night dai pai dong on the inner harbour. Rua da Felicidade hands out free tastings of jerky and almond cookies.
Yes, entry is free and the resorts are built for gawking. You must be over 21, the gaming floors turn away shorts and flip-flops, and the air-conditioning is arctic — bring a layer and trousers. The old Casino Lisboa runs 16:00–03:00; the big Cotai floors effectively never close.
It scales both ways. A dorm bed at the Hac Sa youth hostel starts at MOP 100, a meal at a snack shop runs about MOP 30, and buses are MOP 3.2 — while a show ticket for three at the House of Dancing Water is MOP 1,700 and resort hotels start around CNY 1,000 a night. The heritage sights themselves are almost all free.
Plan this trip
The same places, with a driver, an English-speaking guide and the tickets already bought.
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Yuntai Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
A UNESCO geopark in Henan where red-stone gorges squeeze a river to a slot, a 314 m waterfall drops in one plunge, and every path leads to another pool.
Rizhao
City guide · 12 tours
A low-key Shandong beach town where the sun rises straight out of the Yellow Sea, the sand runs 60 km and a seafood dinner costs less than a coffee in Shanghai.
Yantai
City guide · 12 tours
A northern Shandong port of fairy-tale cliffs, wine cellars and long golden beaches — where emperors once hunted the elixir of life and China's wine industry still begins.
Lianyungang
City guide · 12 tours
A working Jiangsu port with a myth in the middle of it — the Flower-Fruit Mountain of Journey to the West, a sea causeway to a big island beach, and some of the cheapest seafood on the coast.
Sanqing Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
A vertical forest of granite pillars in Jiangxi — the Python Out of the Mountain, the Goddess of the East Sea, two cable cars and a cliff-hugging walkway at 1,660 metres.
Tianjin
City guide · 12 tours
Beijing's port city next door — a river of 24 bridges, 2,000 colonial villas, and the best street breakfast in northern China.
Datong
City guide · 12 tours
A frontier capital of carved Buddhas — the Yungang Grottoes, a temple pinned to a cliff, and the oldest wooden tower in China.
Taiyuan
City guide · 12 tours
Shanxi's provincial capital and noodle heartland — the spring of Jinci, two Ming pagodas, and a museum that explains the whole province.
Pingyao
City guide · 12 tours
China's best-preserved ancient walled town — a Ming wall, the first Chinese bank, and two temples of painted clay just outside the gates.
Wutai Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
China's foremost Buddhist mountain — fifty-plus temples in one valley, crowned by five flat-topped peaks up to 3,058 m.
Hulunbuir
City guide · 12 tours
China's finest grassland — a 263,000 km² sweep of steppe, birch forest and border river, best driven with the windows down.
The Forbidden City
City guide · 12 tours
Beijing's 600-year imperial palace — 8,700 rooms behind a 72-hectare wall, and the largest surviving wooden palace complex on earth.
Sanya
City guide · 12 tours
China's only true winter-sun coast — four very different bays, a coral island and a 108 m sea Buddha, all at 18° north.
Haikou
City guide · 12 tours
Hainan's capital is the island's living city — 600-year-old arcade streets, a volcanic village, and a morning-tea-to-midnight food culture.
Beihai
City guide · 12 tours
24 km of fine white sand on one side, a volcanic island of coral and lava on the other — plus a 19th-century arcade old street in between.
Nanning
City guide · 12 tours
Guangxi's green capital is a gateway to Detian Falls, Beihai and Vietnam — and a genuinely excellent food city if you let it slow you down.
Guangxi
City guide · 12 tours
One autonomous region, a dozen landscapes — limestone peaks and rice terraces in the north, a Vietnam border and a warm gulf coast in the south.
Huizhou
City guide · 12 tours
A free West Lake, a Taoist mountain and 200 km of white-sand coast — the Pearl River Delta's most underrated weekend.
Beidaihe
City guide · 12 tours
Northern China's classic beach escape — one sunrise headland, 10 km of calm swimming water, and a bird flyway overhead twice a year.
Shanhaiguan
City guide · 12 tours
The town where the Great Wall stops being a rumour of mountains and walks into the Bohai Sea.
Baiyangdian
City guide · 12 tours
The biggest freshwater lake on the North China Plain — and almost none of it can be reached except by boat.
Qinhuangdao
City guide · 12 tours
126 km of Bohai coast in one municipality — a working port, two famous resorts, and the only desert dunes that meet this sea.
Yesanpo
City guide · 12 tours
Gorge country where the Taihang and Yan ranges collide — 52.5 km of canyon walls, a cave that spits fish, and a river to fall off.
Zhuhai
City guide · 12 tours
The delta's slow city: a 28 km promenade, 146 islands, oysters fattened where the river meets the sea.
Wuyi Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
Nine bends of clear water, red sandstone cliffs, and the tea that made a mountain's name.
Jiuzhaigou
City guide · 12 tours
108 mineral-blue lakes in one 55 km valley — the place that ruins water everywhere else for you.
Mount Siguniang
City guide · 12 tours
Four snow peaks, three valleys, and the friendliest 5,000 m mountain in China to stand on top of.
Hailuogou
City guide · 12 tours
A glacier that comes down to 2,850 m, hot springs in the forest, and Gongga Shan filling the sky above both.
Daocheng Yading
City guide · 12 tours
Three 6,000 m sacred peaks, glacial lakes at 4,600 m and twenty hours of road — the hardest, highest payoff in Sichuan.
Shunan Bamboo Sea
City guide · 12 tours
Seventy thousand mu of bamboo over twenty-eight hills, a red sandstone corridor under a closed green roof, and a banquet made entirely of bamboo.
Dujiangyan
City guide · 12 tours
Not a monument but a machine: three pieces of engineering with no dam, still doing their job after 2,270 years.
Qingcheng Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
The mountain where Daoism was organised, and the one Chengdu escapes to when the basin turns into an oven.
Qingdao
City guide · 12 tours
Red-tiled roofs, cold beer and a granite mountain that walks straight into the sea — the easiest good time on the Yellow Sea.
Mount Tai
City guide · 12 tours
1,545 metres, 6,290 stone steps and three thousand years of emperors — the one mountain in China that is also a document.
Jinan
City guide · 12 tours
A provincial capital with 700 springs under the pavement — people still queue at the spouts to fill their kettles.
Weihai
City guide · 12 tours
1,000 km of clean coast, a free bathing beach, the island where the Beiyang Fleet died — and thousands of wild swans every winter.
Qufu
City guide · 12 tours
One family, two thousand years of steles, and a ¥150 pass that covers the lot — the easiest serious day trip in Shandong.
Penglai
City guide · 12 tours
China's immortals' coast — a Song-dynasty naval harbour you can walk for free, a mythology nobody ever found, and the ferry to 32 islands.
Changdao
City guide · 12 tours
32 islands, one causeway, a ¥150 land pass, tens of thousands of gulls and nowhere you can drive — the place where everything happens by boat.
Nanjing
City guide · 12 tours
Capital of six dynasties, capital of the Republic, and the city that eats more duck than anywhere else on earth.
Suzhou
City guide · 12 tours
Two thousand five hundred years of canals, sixty surviving gardens, and a city that shuts its gates at half past five.
Zhouzhuang
City guide · 12 tours
Nine hundred years, fourteen bridges, one ticket — and a town that only makes sense before eight in the morning.
Tongli
City guide · 12 tours
Fifteen canals, seven islets, forty-nine bridges — and a town that still gets up at dawn because it lives here.
Wuxi
City guide · 12 tours
Taihu on one side, a Grand Buddha on the next hill, and ribs sweet enough to argue about — the most underrated city on the Yangtze delta.
Yangzhou
City guide · 12 tours
A city built by salt merchants who had more money than restraint — gardens, a narrow lake, and the best breakfast in China.
Zhenjiang
City guide · 12 tours
Three hills, one ferry landing, and an unreasonable share of Chinese literature — the Yangtze city people drive past.
Changzhou
City guide · 12 tours
A 2,500-year-old canal city that built a dinosaur park and refuses to apologise for it.
Wuzhen
City guide · 12 tours
A town that is two towns: the older, quieter East Zone and the lit-up West Zone you sleep inside.
Xitang
City guide · 12 tours
Nine canals, 122 lanes, one long roofed corridor — and a town that still works for a living.
Hangzhou
City guide · 12 tours
A lake in the middle of a city, a tea village in the hills, and two thousand years of getting the mood right.
Xixi Wetland
City guide · 12 tours
Ten square kilometres of marsh inside Hangzhou, and the only way into half of it is a boat.
Ningbo
City guide · 12 tours
A 7,000-year-old port with Asia's oldest private library, a free waterfront 20 years older than Shanghai's, and the best seafood before the islands.
Mount Putuo
City guide · 12 tours
A Buddhist island with no cars, three great temples and a ¥10 lunch that is the point of the place.
Qiandao Lake
City guide · 12 tours
A thousand islands that did not exist sixty years ago, and the cleanest big-lake water in China.
Shaoxing
City guide · 12 tours
Two and a half thousand years of water-town China, and Lu Xun's house is free.
Zhoushan
City guide · 12 tours
1,390 islands, one road bridge in, and a harbour that lands more fish than almost anywhere on earth.
Hengdian
City guide · 12 tours
A backlot the size of a town, where the palaces are copies and the film crews are real.
Yandang Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
A volcano that weathering turned into scenery — 500-odd sights of peak, cave and waterfall across eight scenic areas.
Zhejiang
City guide · 12 tours
One small, mountainous, absurdly rich province that holds a lake, two canal towns, a Buddhist island and a dead volcano.
Hong Kong Outlying Islands
City guide · 12 tours
Two hundred-odd islands, half an hour of ferry from the financial district, and not a car on three of them.
Hong Kong Shopping
City guide · 12 tours
A duty-free port where the tag starts lower, two citywide sale seasons knock a third off, and every mall sits on an MTR exit.
Urumqi
City guide · 12 tours
The city furthest from the sea, with a snow range on its doorstep and dinner starting at nine.
Hong Kong SAR, China
City guide · 11 tours
A harbour skyline you already know by heart, dim sum trolleys at dawn, and 260 islands an hour from the neon.
Taiwan, China
City guide · 11 tours
Night-market alleys, high-mountain railways, and a coastline that changes character every hundred kilometres.
Qinghai Lake
City guide · 12 tours
A 4,400 sq km inland sea at 3,200 m, ringed by rapeseed gold, prayer flags and the best cycling road in China.
Mount Emei
City guide · 11 tours
A 3,099-metre Buddhist summit you can reach by cable car before lunch — and a mountain full of monkeys that will absolutely rob you.
Beijing
City guide · 11 tours
Six centuries of imperial red walls, a Great Wall you can climb before lunch, and the best roast duck on earth.
Taipei
City guide · 11 tours
A 24-hour bookstore, a night market that never stops sizzling, and a city that apologises when you bump into it.
North Xinjiang
City guide · 11 tours
Alpine lakes the colour of poured enamel, a village of log cabins under birch trees, and the last tear the Atlantic ever sheds.
Lanzhou
City guide · 11 tours
A city split in half by the Yellow River, where beef noodles are a breakfast ritual and the Silk Road still runs through the streets.
Mount Hua
City guide · 11 tours
Five granite peaks, one plank road bolted to a cliff face, and a sunrise that justifies the 2am start.
Dunhuang
City guide · 11 tours
A desert oasis where Buddhist cave art survived a thousand years and a crescent lake refused to dry up.
Gannan
City guide · 11 tours
433 kilometres of the Yellow River's first bend, a 3.5 km prayer-wheel circuit, and Tibetan grasslands almost nobody has commercialised yet.
Sichuan–Tibet Highway
City guide · 11 tours
2,142 kilometres of cliff-edge switchbacks, four of China's most beautiful mountains, and a road the Tibetans walk on their knees.
Kangding
City guide · 11 tours
The town that gave Asia its most famous love song, a 7,556m sacred peak on its doorstep, and the last real Tibetan town before the road climbs to Lhasa.
Lhasa
City guide · 12 tours
A city of prayer wheels and butter lamps at 3,700 metres, where the sun shines 3,000 hours a year and the world's highest palace watches over it all.
Nyingchi
City guide · 11 tours
Tibet's greenest corner — peach blossom valleys, a 7,782 m peak that hides from almost everyone, and the world's deepest canyon.
Namtso
City guide · 11 tours
A 1,920-square-kilometre sheet of impossible blue at 4,718 metres, ringed by snow peaks and prayer flags.
Chongqing
City guide · 12 tours
A vertical city of fog, cable cars and cliff-side stilt houses, where the火锅 never stops boiling and the night skyline outshines Hong Kong.
Qiandongnan
City guide · 11 tours
A thousand Miao households stacked up a mountainside, drum towers and wind-rain bridges in Dong villages, and a 600-year-old Ming garrison town on the road to Guiyang.
Libo
City guide · 11 tours
Emerald rivers threading through karst peaks, a 600-metre forest growing out of a riverbed, and China's largest wild plum grove.
Guiyang
City guide · 11 tours
China's summer capital at 1,100 metres, where the nights run on sour fish soup, street-side barbecue and mahjong that never quite stops.
Zhenyuan
City guide · 11 tours
A 2,000-year-old river town where the Wuyang River carves an S through the mountains and every lane hides a story.
Huangguoshu
City guide · 11 tours
Asia's biggest waterfall, and the only one on earth you can walk behind, above and around — plus 600-year-old Ming dynasty villages a short drive away.
Harbin
City guide · 11 tours
Minus 30 degrees, a frozen river you can walk across, and a cathedral built by Russians who never went home.
Yunnan
City guide · 11 tours
Snow mountains, tropical rainforest, twenty-five minorities and a plate of rice noodles — all in one province.
Shanghai
City guide · 11 tours
A 1920s waterfront of colonial banks facing a science-fiction skyline, soup dumplings you eat with a straw, and 20 million people moving like clockwork.
Zhangjiajie
City guide · 11 tours
Three thousand sandstone pillars straight out of Avatar, a glass skywalk bolted to a cliff, and a cable car that leaves from downtown.
Guangzhou
City guide · 11 tours
A 2,200-year-old trading port where dim sum is a religion, colonial islands sit beside 600-metre towers, and the food never stops.
Guilin
City guide · 11 tours
Karst peaks rising straight out of a green river, rice terraces carved into mountainsides, and the best bowl of noodles you'll eat in China.
Shenzhen
City guide · 11 tours
A fishing village that became a megacity in forty years — and it still has 500-year-old banyans, empty beaches and dim sum worth the border crossing.
Chengdu
City guide · 11 tours
A 3,000-year-old city where the schedule is tea, mahjong and hotpot — and the pandas are just the opening act.
Xinjiang
City guide · 11 tours
Snow peaks, grassland, desert and oasis — one-sixth of China, and the longest road you will ever ride.
Xi'an
City guide · 14 tours
Thirteen dynasties of emperors, a terracotta army buried for 2,200 years, and a walled city you can cycle in 100 minutes.
Qinghai
City guide · 11 tours
China's high-altitude blue heart: a salt lake you can walk on, a 3,200-metre sea, and yak butter tea at the roof of the world.
Tibet
City guide · 11 tours
A plateau the size of Western Europe where the sky starts at your feet, prayer flags carry the wind, and the roads run past 8,000-metre peaks.
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