So glad I decided to take the \~2 hour trip from Shenzhen on my day off. A city with some of the greatest contrasts I’ve ever seen.
Most people think of it as just modern casinos, but the best part was honestly just wandering around with no plan.
You can be standing under something huge and futuristic like the Grand Lisboa, then walk a few blocks and suddenly you’re in these tight old streets with crumbling apartments, laundry hanging everywhere, air conditioners sticking out of every window, and cables tangled across the buildings. It feels really lived in and kind of chaotic in a great way.
There are all these little details if you just walk around: old Portuguese tiles on shopfronts, tiny stores selling random stuff, faded doors with Portuguese writing, narrow alleys that suddenly open up into little squares. At one point I walked past a small pavilion where a group of older guys were just sitting around a table playing a board game. It didn’t feel touristy at all, just everyday life happening.
One surprisingly useful thing is the casino shuttle buses. Pretty much every big casino runs free shuttles from the ferry terminal and between properties, and nobody checks if you’re actually staying there. You can basically use them like a free transport network to get around the city.
But honestly the best part of Macau is just getting lost in the back streets. The mix of Chinese and Portuguese history, the old buildings, and the contrast with the giant casinos makes it a really fun place to explore if you just wander around.