Things to Do in Macau SAR

It’s no surprise that the House of the Dancing Water was introduced to Macau by former Cirque du Soleil director Franco Dragone. Macau’s most spectacular show, staged at City of Dreams, features stunts, acrobatics, and elaborate choreography in a theater that uses as much water as five Olympic-sized swimming pools.

A 32,000-square-foot (2,973-square-meter) indoor children’s amusement area, Warner Bros. Fun Zone at Studio City Macau is located inside the Studio City casino-and-resort complex. Attractions include a climbing wall, a shooting ride, a raceway, and an arcade center. The Tom & Jerry Picnic Playground caters to toddlers.

Macau’s only Suzhou-style Chinese garden, Lou Lim Ieoc Garden, often attracts locals who come to practice tai chi or play music in what was once the largest private garden in the city. Today the space is a 4.4-acre (1.8-hectare) public park, featuring traditional elements like ponds, bridges, rockeries, pavilions, and pagodas.

Plenty of cities have Ferris wheels, but Macau has one shaped like a figure eight, towering 425 feet (130 meters) above the Cotai Strip. Built into the facade of the Studio City entertainment complex, the Golden Reel offers some of the most beautiful views over Macau and the South China Sea.

Housed in a silver cone-shaped building designed by architect I.M. Pei, the Macao Science Center (Centro de Ciencia de Macau)is a science-themed museum and learning center. With exhibitions, films, live demonstrations, and interactive experiences across different science and technology themes, the museum offers a fun learning environment for the whole family.

Macau’s heritage has long been linked with the sea, and the Maritime Museum celebrates the connection while tracing the nautical histories of Portugal, China, and Macau. Fittingly enough, Macau’s oldest museum opened in 1987 near the spot believed to be where the first Portuguese traders came ashore.

Macau isn’t the most family-friendly destination, but Kids’ City inside the City of Dreams is designed for young visitors. This 17,000-square-foot (1,579-square-meter) indoor play park features slides, rope bridges, inflatable bounce castles, and ball pits, as well as crafting stations, a dress-up area, and an arcade.

Spanning 11.8 million square feet (1.1 million square meters), the Galaxy Macau is a massive resort on the Cotai Strip. Featuring six luxury hotels, over 120 restaurants and bars, more than 200 shops, and options ranging from gaming machines and tables to laser shows to wave pools and waterparks, there’s plenty to keep you entertained.

This 66-foot-tall (20-meter-tall) statue of Guan Yin, Buddhist goddess of mercy, is one of only a few such statues where the goddess faces inland rather than toward the sea. Designed by Portuguese architect Cristina Rocha, the statue stands atop the lotus-shaped Kun Iam Ecumenical Center, home to a library and museum of religious objects.

Centerpiece of a megaresort on Macau’s answer to the Vegas Strip, the Eiffel Tower at the Parisian Macao is a half-size replica of the Paris original. There are observation decks on the seventh and 37th floors, and a restaurant, La Chine, on the sixth floor. After dark, the Macau Eiffel Tower lights up in color every 15 minutes.

The immersive, pulse-racing 4D ride, Batman Dark Flight opened in late 2018 at Studio City Macau. Experience rain and wind; sudden stops, drops, and shakes; and state-of-the-art animations as you race through a 3D Gotham City with Batman combating super villains.

One of the three ancient temples of Macau, Kun Iam Temple was founded during the 13th century, although the present structures were built in 1627. Dedicated to Kun Iam, the Chinese representation of Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Mercy, this Buddhist temple is one of the largest and most important in Macau.

Situated on a forested hillside in the old part of town, Luis de Camões Garden and Grotto is a welcome oasis of calm in one of the most densely populated places in the world. Dedicated to the Portuguese poet and naval veteran Luis de Camões, this is the largest park in the city of Macau.