Macau day tour from Hong Kong: book or DIY

What you're booking

This is a full-day guided tour, not an entry ticket. It lasts about ten hours, and the booking calendar shows the start time for your date. The booking covers a live guide in Chinese or English, transport from Hong Kong to Macau and back, hotel pickup and drop-off for selected hotels, an air-conditioned vehicle for transfers and a buffet lunch. Tips and any Macau visa are not included. Your Hong Kong guide gives you the ferry tickets and sees you off, and a Macau guide meets the group when the ferry arrives.

• Included: guide, transport both ways, lunch, selected hotel pickup
• Not included: tips, any Macau visa
• Language: choose Chinese or English when you book

Tour or do it yourself?

You can make this trip without a tour. The Hong Kong government lists two ferry companies on the route, TurboJET and Cotai Water Jet, and both board at the Hong Kong-Macao Ferry Terminal in Sheung Wan. A shuttle bus also crosses the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. Going alone gives you your own pace and your own choice of lunch. The tour gives you a guide, set transport and a plan. Chinese and Portuguese are Macau's official languages, and the tourism office says English is generally used in tourism, so independent travel is workable. The tour mainly saves you the planning.

What the old town is

The old town on this tour is the Historic Centre of Macao, a UNESCO World Heritage Site inscribed in 2005. UNESCO describes a group of buildings and public spaces that show the meeting of Eastern and Western influences in an old trading port. Macao became a Portuguese settlement in the mid-16th century and returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1999. UNESCO points to foreign building types introduced here, among them China's first western-style theatre, university, hospital, churches and fortresses, many still in use. Your tour covers a selection of these places on foot, not the whole district.

The Ruins of St Paul's

The Ruins of St Paul's are the front wall of the Church of Mater Dei, built between 1602 and 1640 and destroyed by fire in 1835, according to Macao's tourism office. Only the facade survives, at the top of a staircase. UNESCO notes that Chinese characters appear as decorative ornaments on the baroque-mannerist facade, a sign of Eastern design inside a Western church. The tourism office adds that a Christian college stood beside the church, where students such as Matteo Ricci prepared for work as Christian scholars at the Imperial Court in Beijing. The tour stops here to learn about the history.

Senado Square

Senado Square has been Macao's urban centre for centuries, and the tourism office says it is still the most popular place for public events and celebrations. The Leal Senado building beside it was originally built in 1784. Since the early 1990s the whole area has been paved in Portuguese pavement and closed to traffic. The itinerary also mentions St Dominic's Church nearby and free time to shop for souvenirs at pavement stalls. The order of stops can change on the day, so treat the sequence in any write-up as a guide.

A-Ma Temple

A-Ma Temple honours Mazu, the sea goddess, and dates from the late 15th century. The tourism office says it existed before the city of Macao did. Its history page explains that when the Portuguese arrived in the early 1550s, locals also called the place A Ma Gao, meaning place of A Ma, and the Portuguese adopted the name, which gradually became Macao. The temple has several parts, including a gate pavilion, a memorial arch, a prayer hall and a Hall of Guanyin. The tour visits the temple and its statue of the goddess A-Ma.

The casino stop

The tour includes a brief casino stop of about 30 minutes. Your guide stays outside, and the stop is for entertainment only, so nobody has to gamble. Smart casual dress is required, and men wearing shorts are refused entry. Which casino the group visits is not stated, so don't plan around one resort. Cotai, Macau's casino district, is reclaimed land between Taipa and Coloane, created to give the city new gambling and tourism space, but that does not tell you where this stop is. Treat it as a short look inside, not an evening out.

Macau Tower and the other stops

The itinerary also names Macau Tower and the Kun Iam Statue, a statue of the Buddhist goddess of mercy. The tower is 338 metres tall. Whether the group goes up it is not stated, so ask your guide on the day instead of counting on a view from the top. Between the stops the vehicle handles transfers. The tour's terms allow the order of the itinerary to change with the day's conditions, which is why this guide gives no fixed running order and no clock times.

The way home: ferry or bridge

You can return by ferry or by the shuttle bus over the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. The bridge opened in 2018, and the whole system is about 55 km long, with a 6.7 km undersea tunnel in its main section. Shuttle buses run between the Hong Kong Port and Macao Port, and the Transport Department says the Hong Kong Port operates 24 hours. How and when you choose your return is not stated, so ask your guide. Our practical guide compares the two and covers the border checks.

Read next: Macau border crossing: ferry or bridge back

Before you book: a short checklist

A few checks prevent most problems. The operator asks for your Hong Kong hotel details and a contact number at least a day before departure, and for your passport and contact details for insurance purposes. Pickup covers selected hotels only, and eligibility is confirmed after you book, so don't assume yours is covered. In the morning the group may wait for guests arriving on different boats. You can cancel up to three days ahead for a full refund when you book through GetYourGuide, and the operator cancels the tour in bad weather.

• Passport with you, and any visa arranged
• Hotel details and phone number sent a day ahead
• Pickup eligibility confirmed after booking
• Smart casual clothes for the casino, no shorts

Who this isn't for

The tour is not suitable for wheelchair users, and infants must sit on laps. It isn't for anyone who wants to choose their own stops or spend a long time in one place, because the group moves through a set itinerary. It isn't for you if you want an evening in Macau, since this is a day trip that returns to Hong Kong. It also isn't for anyone who has not checked whether their nationality needs a Macau visa. If you want to set your own pace, the ferry and the bridge shuttle are open to independent travellers.