Around Hong Kong
Hong Kong beyond the Macau day trip
The crossing takes one day. Here's how it sits alongside the rest of a Hong Kong stay, and what's on the doorstep near Shun Tak Centre.
See Macau day trip tickets on GetYourGuide ↗Fitting it into a Hong Kong trip
| When | Why it works | |
|---|---|---|
| Macau day trip | A full day, pickup to return | Best given a day with nothing else booked |
| Sheung Wan and Central | Any morning or evening | Close to the ferry terminal itself |
| Victoria Peak | Clear evening | Best in good visibility — check the weather |
| Star Ferry, Victoria Harbour | Any time | A short, cheap contrast to the TurboJet crossing |
| Lantau Island | Full day | A different full-day trip — don't stack it with Macau |
Give the day trip its own day
At around ten hours door to door, this is a full day in its own right, not a half-day add-on to something else in Hong Kong. Trying to fit the Macau crossing alongside another full-day plan — a hike, a separate island trip, a long museum day — tends to squeeze both experiences and leave you tired for whichever one comes second. The more comfortable approach, especially on a first visit, is booking Macau on a day that has nothing scheduled either side of it, and treating the early pickup and late return as the day's own natural bookends rather than something to work around. On a short Hong Kong stay of three or four days, that usually means giving Macau one full day out of the middle of the trip, with an easier half-day either side of it rather than a packed schedule on both sides.
What's around Shun Tak Centre
The ferry terminal sits in Sheung Wan, on Hong Kong Island, connected to its own MTR station and worth allowing some spare time around rather than dashing straight to the pier. The surrounding streets are known for dried-seafood shops and antique dealers that have operated in the area for decades, alongside a newer wave of cafes and small galleries — a genuinely local Hong Kong Island neighbourhood rather than a purpose-built transit hub, and one that rewards a wander before an early pickup or after a late return.
Victoria Harbour, without the ferry ticket
The Star Ferry across Victoria Harbour, between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, is a different and much shorter crossing than the TurboJet to Macau — a useful, low-stakes contrast if the Macau ferry ends up being your first time on the water in Hong Kong. It takes a matter of minutes rather than an hour, costs a fraction of the price, and needs no passport at all, making it a good way to get a first taste of Victoria Harbour before or after committing a whole day to the longer Macau crossing.
The view from the Peak
Victoria Peak's tram and viewing terraces remain the classic Hong Kong Island evening out, offering a panorama over the harbour and the skyline on both sides — weather and visibility permitting. Haze is common enough in Hong Kong that a clear night isn't guaranteed, so it's worth checking the forecast rather than assuming any given evening will deliver the view you've seen in photographs, and saving the Peak for a night that actually looks promising rather than the only free evening you happen to have.
Don't stack it with Lantau
Lantau Island, home to the Big Buddha at Ngong Ping and the cable car that reaches it, is its own full day, in a different direction from the city and from Macau entirely. Both Lantau and the Macau day trip are worth doing on a longer Hong Kong stay, but treating them as two separate days — rather than trying to compress both into a single exhausting itinerary — keeps either one from feeling rushed, and leaves enough energy to actually enjoy the day you're on rather than watching the clock for the next connection. Travellers with only a few days in Hong Kong are usually better off picking one of the two — Macau's old town and Cotai, or Lantau's cable car and monastery — rather than attempting both back to back and remembering neither one clearly.