Macau Travel Guide

Macau (also spelled Macao, 澳門, Oumún in Cantonese) is a former Portuguese colony, a world-renowned gambling destination, and one of the world's most densely populated places, with a population of 667,000 people (2016) in an area half the size of Manhattan Island. Returned to Chinese rule in 1999, it is now a semi-autonomous "Special Administrative Region", a status it shares with nearby Hong Kong. Macau is best known as a major destination for gambling. This goes back to colonial times, when Hong Kong had tight limits on gambling—it was legal only at the horse racing track twice a week—but Macau had casinos. Today, Macau is the only part of China where casinos are legal under the auspices of the "One Country, Two Systems" arrangement. Macau overtook Las Vegas as the world's highest revenue gambling destination around 2008 and now has a substantial lead; several of the major Las Vegas-based casinos have built branches in Macau to cash in on the trend. Macau is by no means only a gamblin

For many years, the usual way to get to Macau was to fly into Hong Kong and take a ferry across to Macau. Today, Macau is becoming a low-cost airline hub, and some travellers are now arriving at Macau to later go to Hong Kong.

Unlike in mainland China, Google Maps is not blocked and can be used in Macau. Owing to privacy concerns, Macau's street views in Google Maps have not been updated since they were taken in 2008, so it's very outdated.

Similar toPortugaland other ex-Portuguese colonies, Macau has 2 distinct police forces, namely thePublic Security Police Force(Chinese:治安警察局/治安警, Portuguese: Corpo de Polícia de Segurança Pública, CPSP) andJudiciary Police[dead link](Chinese:司法警察局/司警, Portuguese: Polícia Judiciária, PJ).

The bulk of Macau's hotels are on thePeninsula, although there are also many options — including high-end ones — onTaipaand, increasingly, theCotaiStrip, which is challenging the Peninsula to become Macau's premier casino area.Coloanehas fewer and much quieter options, but among them is the beachside Pousada de Coloane.