Macau, one of China's cities, is located less then 100km away from Hong Kong. A city with two faces, Macau has on one side the fortresses, churches and food of former colonial Portugese masters, and a uniquely Mediterranean style on the other. And yet Macau is also the self-styled Las Vegas of the East. The last few years have seen once-sleepy little Macau booming.

Today's Macau woos commerce and tourism like never before, taking a tradition of gambling to new extremes. While the profileration of mega-casinos means there's plenty of places to try your hand with Lady Luck, many of Macau's pleasures are relaxed and laidback, architectural and atmospheric.

Macau has a sub-tropical climate, with a yearly average of 20°C (68°F). Humidity is highest through the typhoon season in June, when 30°C (86°F) temperatures accompany torrential downpours that continue through until September. Autumn (October-December) brings a cool change and the humidity declines a little. The winter period (January-March) can be cold (down to 10°C/50°F), but the sun is never far away. From April Macau starts to get muggy again, maintaining a yearly humidity average of between 70% and 90%.

A-Ma Statue
Address: Estrada do Alto de Coloane, Coloane Island
This colossal 20m statue of the goddess atop Alto de Coloane, was hewn from a form of white jade quarried near Beijing and was erected in 1998. Below it is enormous Tian Hou Temple (08:00 - 19:30), which, together with the statue, form the core of A-Ma Cultural Village, a religious complex containing a museum, retreat and medical centres, a vegetarian restaurant and handicraft shops. It’s a good spot to get a birds-eye view of Hác Sá beach on a clear day. A free bus runs from the A-Ma ornamental entrance gate on Estrada de Seac Pai Van every half-hour from 08:00 to 18:00. Otherwise you can reach both by following the Coloane Trail (Trilho de Coloane) from Seac Pai Van Park.

A-Ma Temple
Address: Rua de Sao Tiago da Barra, Southwest Macau Peninsula
North of Barra Hill, this temple - called Ma Kok Miu in Cantonese - is dedicated to the goddess A-Ma, better known as Tin Hau. The original temple on this site was probably already standing when the Portuguese arrived, although the present one may only date back to the 17th century.

At the main entrance is a large boulder with a coloured relief of a lorcha, a traditional sailing vessel of the South China Sea. The faithful make a pilgrimage here during the A-Ma Festival sometime between late April and early May.

Casa Garden
Address: 13 Praça de Luís de Camões, Northern Macau Peninsula
This colonial villa was the headquarters of the British East India Company when it was based in Macau in the early 19th century. Today the villa houses the Oriental Foundation (Fundação Oriente; 2855 4699; www.foriente.pt), an organisation founded in 1996 to promote Portuguese culture worldwide, and an exhibition gallery (398 1126; admission free), which houses both exhibits of Chinese antiques, porcelain and contemporary art.

Chapel of St Francis Xavier
Address: Avenida de Cinco de Outubro, Coloane Island
This delightful little church on the waterfront was built in 1928 to honor St Francis Xavier, a missionary in Japan. For many years a fragment of the saint's arm bone was kept in the chapel, but it has now been moved to St Joseph Seminary on the Macau Peninsula. Have a look in the room to the right of the chapel, where an interesting painting of a Kum Iam-like Virgin Mary is on display. Today Japanese Catholics still come to Coloane to pay their respects. In front of the chapel are a monument and fountain surrounded by four cannonballs that commemorate the successful - and final - routing of pirates in 1910.

Chapel of St Joseph Seminary
Address: Rua do Seminário, Central Macau Peninsula
To the southwest of the Dom Pedro V Theatre is the Chapel of St Joseph, consecrated in 1758 as part of a Jesuit seminary. Its 19m-high domed ceiling has exceptionally fine acoustics, and the church is used as a concert venue.

Cheoc Van Beach
Address: Coloane Island
About 1.5km down Estrada de Cheoc Van, which runs east and then southeast from Coloane Village, is the beach at Cheoc Van (Bamboo Bay). There are public changing rooms and toilets and, in season, lifeguards (10:00 - 18:00 Mon-Sat, 09:00 - 18:00 Sun May-Oct) on duty.

Chinese Reading Room
Address: Rua de Santa Clara, Central Macau Peninsula
This attractive octagonal structure, with its double stone staircase and little round tower, is a wonderful mix of Chinese and Portuguese styles that could only be found in Macau.

Church of St Anthony
Address: cnr Rua de Santo António & Rua do Tarrafeiro, Northern Macau Peninsula
Located just outside the Casa Garden and next to the roundabout, this church, built from 1558 to 1608, is considered to be the oldest in Macau and was the Jesuit's earliest headquarters. The local Portuguese used to hold wedding ceremonies here, hence its name in Cantonese: Fa Vong Tong (Church of Flowers). It burnt down three times and the present architecture is a restoration from 1930.

Church of St Augustine
Address: Largo de São Agostinho, Central Macau Peninsula
Southwest of Largo do Senado via Rua Central is the Church of St Augustine. Though its foundations date from 1586, the present church was built in 1814. The high altar has a statue of Christ bearing the cross, which is carried through the streets during the Procession of the Passion of Our Lord on the first Saturday of Lent. At the time of writing, the church was closed for maintenance.

Church of St Dominic
Address: Largo de São Domingos, Central Macau Peninsula
Northeast of Largo do Senado, this 17th-century baroque church is a replacement of a chapel built by the Dominicans in the 1590s. Today it contains the Treasury of Sacred Art (Tresouro de Arte Sacra; 2836 7706; admission free; 10:00 - 18:00), an Aladdin's cave of ecclesiastical art and liturgical objects exhibited on three floors.

Church of St Lawrence
Address: Rua de São Lourenço, Central Macau Peninsula
Enter Macau's most fashionable church from Rua da Imprensa Nacional. The original was built of wood in the 1560s but was reconstructed in stone in the early 19th century and has a magnificent painted ceiling. One of the church towers once served as an ecclesiastical prison.

Dom Pedro V Theatre
Tel: (853) 2893 9646 (info)
Address: Calçada do Teatro, Central Macau Peninsula
Opposite the Church of St Augustine, this colonnaded, neoclassical theatre built in 1858 is the oldest European theatre in China and is sometimes used for cultural performances.

Fire Services Museum
Tel: (853) 2857 2222 (info)
Address: 2-6 Estrada de Coelho do Amaral, Northern Macau Peninsula
Housed in the former headquarters of the Macau fire brigade, the museum holds a small but interesting collection of old fire trucks from the 1940s and '50s, a manual pump from 1877, lots of helmets and boots.

Four-Faced Buddha Shrine
Address: cnr Estrada Governador Albano de Oliveira & Rua de Fat San, Taipa Island
Northeast of the Macau Jockey Club racetrack's main entrance is the Buddhist shrine guarded by four stone elephants and festooned with gold leaf and Thai-style floral bouquets. It's a popular place to pray and make offerings before race meetings.

Government House
Address: cnr Avenida da Praia Grande & Travessa do Padré Narciso, Central Macau Peninsula
South of the Church of St Lawrence is monumental Government House, a pillared, rose-coloured building erected for a Portuguese noble in 1849. It's now the headquarters of the Macau SAR government. It is open to the public for a day, usually scheduled in September or October.

Grand Prix Museum
Tel: (853) 798 4108 (info)
Address: 431 Rua de Luís Gonzaga Gomes, Southern Macau Peninsula
Cars from the Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix, including the bright-red Triumph TR2 driven by Eduardo de Carvalho that won the first Grand Prix in 1954, are on display, while simulators let you test your racing skills.

Handover Of Macau Gifts Museum
Tel: (853) 791 9800 (info)
Address: Avenida Xian Xing Hai, Southern Macau Peninsula
This new museum, next to the Macau Cultural Centre, is a crowd-pleaser among visitors from the mainland. It displays art pieces and handicrafts presented by China's various provinces and regions to Macau to mark the return of Chinese sovereignty in 1999. Some exhibits are kitsch in the extreme.

Kun Iam Statue
Address: Avenida Doutor Sun Yat Sen, Southern Macau Peninsula
This 20m-high bronze figure, emerging Virgin Mary-like from a 7m-high lotus in the outer harbour, is probably the only statue of the goddess of mercy in the world not facing the sea. It is quite relaxing once you've entered Kun Iam's 'blossom' - the Kun Iam Ecumenical Centre (Centro Ecuménico Kun Iam; 2875 1516; admission free; 10:00 - 18:00 Sat-Thu). Information is available on Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism.

Kun Iam Temple
Address: Avenida do Coronel Mesquita, Northern Macau Peninsula
Dating from 1627, this is Macau's oldest and most interesting temple. The likeness of Kun Iam, goddess of mercy, is in the main hall while the adjacent rooms honour her with a collection of pictures and scrolls. On a less religious note, the first treaty of trade and friendship between the US and China was signed in the temple's terraced gardens in 1844. These days the incense-shrouded complex is thronged with fortune tellers and visitors.

Leal Senado
Address: 163 Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro, Central Macau Peninsula
Facing Largo do Senado to the west is Macau's most important historical building, the 18th-century 'Loyal Senate', which now houses the Instituto para os Assuntos Cívicos e Municipais (IACM; Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau) and the mayor's office. It is so-named because the body sitting here refused to recognise Spain's sovereignty during the 60 years that it occupied Portugal. To the right of the entrance hall is the IACM Gallery (988 4180; admission free; 09:00 - 21:00 Tue-Sun), which features changing exhibits. On the 1st floor is the Senate Library (2857 2233; admission free; 13:00 - 19:00 Mon-Sat), which has a collection of some 18,500 books, and wonderful carved wooden furnishings and panelled walls.

Lin Fung Temple
Address: Avenida do Almirante Lacerda, Northern Macau Peninsula
Built in 1592 as a Taoist temple but now dedicated to Kun Iam, it's where mandarins from Guangdong province would stay when they visited Macau. The most celebrated of these visitors was Lin Zexu , the commissioner charged with stamping out the opium trade, who stayed here in September 1839.

Lou Kau Mansion
Tel: (853) 399 6699 (info)
Address: 7 Travessa da Sé, Central Macau Peninsula
Near the Macau Cathedral is this well-preserved traditional Cantonese-style mansion built in 1889. It belonged to tycoon Lou Wa Sio, father of Lou Lim Ioc, who made his fortunes in Macau during 19th century. The mansion has kept its elaborated brick relief and lattice carvings on windows, as well as some hybrid East-West architecture. Interestingly there is no kitchen in the mansion, as the owner's concubines were supposed to bring him pleasure rather than cook.

Lou Lim Ioc Gardens
Tel: (853) 988 4178 (info)
Address: 10 Estrada de Adolfo de Loureiro, Northern Macau Peninsula
Among the best of Macau's gardens, and the only Chinese-style garden you can find in Macau, is cool and shady Lou Lim Ioc Garden, with huge shade trees, lotus ponds, bamboo groves, grottoes and a bridge with nine turns (to escape from evil spirits who can only move in straight lines). Local people use the park to practise t'ai chi or play traditional Chinese musical instruments. Adjacent to the garden is the recently opened Macao Tea Culture House (Caultura do Chá em Macau; 09:00 - 19:00 Tue-Sun), displaying the Guangdong tea culture with exhibits of various teapots.

Luís De Camões Garden
Address: Praça de Luís de Camões, Northern Macau Peninsula
Also known as Praça de Luís de Camões, This lovely garden is popular with local Chinese, who use it to 'walk' their caged songbirds or play Chinese chequers. In the centre of the park is the Camões Grotto (Gruta de Camões), which contains a 19th-century bust of the one-eyed national poet of Portugal, Luís de Camões.

Macau Cathedral
Address: Largo da Sé, Central Macau Peninsula
East of Largo do Senado is the cathedral, a not particularly attractive structure consecrated in 1850 to replace an earlier one badly damaged in a typhoon. The cathedral, which was completely rebuilt in 1937, has some notable stained-glass windows and is very active during major Christian festivals and holy days in Macau.

Macau Cultural Centre
Tel: (853) 2855 5555 (info) / (853) 2870 0699 (info)
Address: Avenida Xian Xing Hai, Southern Macau Peninsula
This US US$100 -million centre is the territory's prime venue for theatre, opera and other cultural performances.
Web: www.ccm.gov.mo

Macau Fisherman's Wharf
Address: Southern Macau Peninsula
Bordering the east of NAPE (pronounced 'NA-pay'), a rectangular area of reclaimed land, is Macau Fisherman's Wharf, a rather tacky 'theme park' built partially on reclaimed land. It combines attractions, hotels, shops, and restaurants, and is divided into three sections. Tang Dynasty focuses on Chinese history and culture; East Meets West is a 30m-high working volcano, an Africa Fort funfair for kids and the Greek Square leisure and performance park; and Legend Wharf features landmarks from around the world.
Web: www.fishermanswharf.com.mo

Macau Museum
Tel: (853) 2835 7911 (info)
Address: Praceta do Museu de Macau, Fortaleza do Monte, Central Macau Peninsula
This wonderful museum housed in the fort tells the story of the hybrid territory of Macau through a host of multimedia exhibits.

On the 1st level, the Genesis of Macau exhibit takes you through the early history of the territory, with parallel developments in the East and the West compared and contrasted. The section devoted to the territory's religions is excellent.

On the 2nd level (Popular Arts & Traditions of Macau), you'll see and hear everything from a re-created firecracker factory, and a chá gordo (fat tea) of 20 dishes enjoyed on a Sunday, to the recorded cries of street vendors selling items such as brooms, tea and scrap metal. You can also hear a recording of the poet José dos Santos Ferreira (1919-93), known as Adé, reading from his work in local dialect.

The top-floor Contemporary Macau exhibit focuses on the latest architecture, literature and urban-development plans.

Macau Museum of Art
Tel: (853) 791 9814 (info)
Address: Avenida Xian Xing Hai, Southern Macau Peninsula
This vast five-storey complex within the Macau Cultural Centre houses some excellent exhibits and permanent collections of Chinese traditional art and paintings by Western artists who lived in Macau, such as George Chinnery . There's a library with art-related titles on the ground floor.
Web: www.artmuseum.gov.mo

Macau Security Forces Museum
Tel: (853) 2855 9999 (info)
Address: Calçada dos Quartéis, Southern Macau Peninsula
Housed in the 17th-century St Francis Barracks (Quartéis de São Francisco), this museum has two rooms of exhibits relating to the police and their work. The building is set in the lovely St Francis Garden (Jardim de São Francisco).

Macau Tower
Tel: (853) 2893 3339 (info)
Address: Largo da Torre de Macau, Southwestern Macau Peninsula
Macau Tower, at 338m, is the 10th-tallest freestanding structure in the world; it stands on the narrow isthmus of land southeast of Avenida da República. The squat building at its base is the Macau Convention & Entertainment Centre. The tower houses observation decks on the 58th and 61st floors; restaurants and bars such as the revolving 360° Café on the 60th floor; and the 180° Lounge a floor below it.

If none of this takes your fancy, you might be interested in the activities of the New Zealand-based extreme-sports company AJ Hackett (988 8656), which organises all kinds of adventure climbs up and around the tower. The truly intrepid will go for the Mast Climb, in which you go up and down the mast's 100m of vertical ladders to the top in two hours. The Skywalk is a twirl around the covered walkway - you're attached to a lanyard - under the pod of the tower (on the 57th floor) and 216m above ground. The Skywalk X is a rail-less walk around the outer rim, some 233m high, on the 61st floor.
Web: www.macautower.com.mo

Macau Wine Museum
Tel: (853) 798 4188 (info)
Address: 431 Rua de Luís Gonzaga Gomes, Southern Macau Peninsula
This museum is a rather inert display of wine racks, barrels, presses and tools used by wine makers, as well as a rundown of Portugal's various wine regions. Some of the recent wines of the more than 1300 on display are available for tasting, which is included in the entry fee.

Maritime Museum
Tel: (853) 2859 5481 (info)
Address: 1 Largo do Pagode da Barra, Southwestern Macau Peninsula
Opposite the A-Ma Temple, the Maritime Museum has interesting boats and artefacts from Macau's seafaring past, a mock-up of a Hakka fishing village, and displays of the long, narrow boats that are raced during the Dragon Boat Festival in June.

Monte Fort
Address: Central Macau Peninsula
On a hill and accessible by an escalator just east of the ruins of the Church of St Paul, Monte Fort was built by the Jesuits between 1617 and 1626 as part of the College of the Mother of God. Barracks and storehouses were designed to allow the fort to survive a two-year siege, but the cannons were fired only once: during the aborted attempt by the Dutch to invade Macau in 1622.

Museum of Sacred Art & Crypt
Address: Travessa de São Paolo, Central Macau Peninsula
This small museum behind the ruins of the Church of St Paul contains polychrome carved wooden statues, silver chalices, monstrances and oil paintings, including a copy of a 17th-century painting depicting the martyrdom of 26 Japanese Christians by crucifixion at Nagasaki in 1597. The adjoining crypt contains the remains of the martyrs, as well as those of Vietnamese and other Japanese Christians killed in the 17th century. Also here is the recently unearthed tomb of Alessandro Valignano, the Jesuit who founded the College of the Mother of God and is credited with establishing Christianity in Japan.

Museum of Taipa & Coloane History
Tel: (853) 2882 7103 (info)
Address: Rua Correia da Silva, Taipa Island
The museum is built on the remnants of the former Island Municipal Council and tries to be a mini-Macau Museum with a focus on Taipa and Coloane, although the collections are not nearly as good as those on Monte Fort. There is a display of excavated relics and other artefacts on the first floor that represent the earlier cultural history of Taipa and Coloane, while the second floor contains religious objects, handicrafts and architectural models.

Museum of The Holy House of Mercy
Tel: (853) 2857 3938 (info)
Address: 2 Travessa da Misericórdia, Central Macau Peninsula
Established in 1569, it is the oldest social institution in Macau, serving as a home to orphans and prostitutes in the 18th century. Today it is a two-room museum containing items related to the house, including religious artefacts; Chinese, Japanese and European porcelain; the skull of its founder and Macau's first bishop, Dom Belchior Carneiro; and a portrait of Martha Merop, an orphan who became a tycoon and a patron of the House, painted shortly before her death. Its restaurant (2833 5220; 10:00 - 18:00 Mon-Sat) at the basement serves very affordable and decent meals during lunch time.

Old Protestant Cemetery
Address: 15 Praça de Luís de Camões, Northern Macau Peninsula
To the east of the Casa Garden is the final resting place of many early non-Portuguese residents of Macau. As Church law forbade the burial of non-Catholics on hallowed ground, there was nowhere to inter Protestants who died here, and they were often buried clandestinely in the nearby hills. The governor finally allowed the British East India Company to establish the cemetery in 1821. A number of old graves were then transferred to the cemetery, which explains the earlier dates on some of the tombstones. Among the better-known people interred in this well-kept cemetery are the artist George Chinnery and Robert Morrison (1782-1834), the first Protestant missionary to China and author of the first Chinese-English dictionary.

Ox Warehouse
Tel: (853) 2853 0026 (info)
Address: cnr Avenida do Coronel Mesquita & Avenida do Almirante Lacerda, Northern Macau Peninsula Near the Canidrome is the Ox Warehouse, home to a group of avant-garde artists working in a variety of media. It's also known as Old Ladies' House Art Space, where a number of installations and performances are hosted in the two exhibition halls. The lovely courtyard makes it a cheerful rest area amid the densely populated northern Macau.
Web: www.oxwarehouse.blogspot.com

Pawnshop Museum
Tel: (853) 2892 1811 (info)
Address: 396 Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro, Central Macau Peninsula
Housed in the former Tak Seng On (Virtue and Success) pawnshop built in 1917, the museum incorporates the fortresslike eight-storey granite tower with slotted windows where goods were stored on racks or in safes. Sharing the same building is the Cultural Club Clube Cultural, which claims to look at various aspects of everyday life in Macau but is little more than a souvenir shop.

Penha Hill
Address: Southwestern Macau Peninsula
Towering above the colonial villas along Avenida da República is Penha Hill, from where you'll get an excellent view of the central area of Macau and across the Pearl River into China. The Bishop's Palace (built in 1837) is here, as is the lovely Chapel of Our Lady of Penha (Capela de Nostra Señora da Penha; 09:00 - 17:30), once a place of pilgrimage for sailors.

Pou Tai Temple
Address: 5 Estrada Lou Lim Ieok, Taipa Island
This Buddhist temple is the largest temple complex on the islands. The main hall, dedicated to the Three Precious Buddhas, contains an enormous bronze statue of Lord Gautama, and there are brightly coloured prayer pavilions and orchid greenhouses scattered around the complex. The temple also contains a popular vegetarian restaurant.

Ruins of the Church of St Paul
Address: Rua de São Paulo, Central Macau Peninsula
The most famous sight in Macau, the façade and stairway are all that remain of this early-17th-century Jesuit church, called Tai Sam Ba in Cantonese. With its wonderful statues, portals and engravings that effectively make up a 'sermon in stone' and a Biblia pauperum (Bible of the poor), some consider the ruins to be the greatest monument to Christianity in Asia to help the illiterate understand the Passion of Christ and the lives of the saints.

Sam Kai Vui Kun Temple
Address: Rua Sui do Mercado de São Domingos, Central Macau Peninsula
Literally 'a community hall for three streets', this temple was a meeting place for merchants then an adjudication court before the Chinese Chamber of Commerce came into existence in 1912. Also known as Kwan Tai Temple, dedicated to Kwan Yu, the god of war and justice, it gets particularly busy in May, June and July when locals celebrate three festivals in the god's honor.

Seac Pai Van Park
Tel: (853) 2887 0277 (info)
Address: Estrada de Seac Pai Van, Coloane Island
At the end of Cotai, this 20-hectare park, built in the wooded hills on the western side of the island, has somewhat unkempt gardens sprouting species of plants and trees from around the world, a children's zoo, a lake with swans and other waterfowl, and a decaying walk-through aviary which contains a number of rare birds. The Museum of Nature & Agriculture (Museu Natural e Agrário; 2882 7277; admission free) has traditional farming equipment, dioramas of Coloane's ecosystem and displays cataloguing a wide range of the island's fauna and flora.

Sound of the Century Museum
Tel: (853) 2892 1389 (info)
Address: 13-15 Rua Das Estalagens, Central Macau Peninsula
Whether you are a phonograph enthusiast or not, this private museum is eye-opening. The personal collections of the owner of Tai Peng Electronics include 200 items, from antique phonographs to tournaphones and echophones dating back to as early as 1882. Prior appointment is required.
Web: www.tai-peng.com/antique

Sun Yat Sen Memorial Home
Tel: (853) 574 064 (info)
Address: 1 Rua de Silva Mendes, Northern Macau Peninsula
This strangely Moorish-style memorial house pays homage to the founder of the Chinese Republic, who practised medicine in Macau for several years before turning to revolution and the overthrow of the Qing dynasty. The first memorial house blew up while being used as an explosives store, but an assortment of flags, photos and relics remain.

Taipa House Museum
Tel: (853) 2882 7103 (info)
Address: Avenida da Praia, Taipa Island
The five lime-green villas facing the water were built in 1921 by wealthy Macanese as summer residences and three of them collectively form this unusual museum. The two houses east of where Avenida da Praia meets Rua do Supico are used for receptions and special exhibitions; the three to the west house permanent collections.

The House of the Regions of Portugal (Casa das Regiões de Portugal) contains costumes and examines traditional ways of life in Portugal. The House of the Islands (Casa das Ilhas) looks at the history of Taipa and Coloane, with interesting displays devoted to the islands' traditional industries: fishing and the manufacture of oyster sauce, shrimp paste and fireworks. The last is the Macanese House (Casa Macaense), a residence done up in traditional local style that looks like the dom e doña (husband and wife) residing here just left. The mix of furnishings - heavy blackwood furniture and Chinese cloisonné with statues and pictures of saints and the Sacred Heart - offers a snapshot of life in Macau in the early 20th century.

Tap Seac Gallery
Address: 95 Avenida Conselheiro Ferreira de Almeida, Northern Macau Peninsula
Also housed in a Moorish-style mansion dating back to the 1920s, this gallery is arguably the best place to view contemporary art in Macau, and exhibitions change regularly. Check their website for details. The gallery keeps the original patio in the middle of the house, which creates a light-filled, relaxed setting.
Web: www.macauart.net/TS

Casablanca Café
Tel: (853) 2875 1281 (info)
Address: Avenida Doutor Sun Yat Sen, Macau Peninsula
Next to the famous Moonwalker is this favourite hangout for the Portuguese. It has a long list of cocktails, plays cold jazz in the background, and is considered the best spot to chill out in NAPE.

Casino Lisboa
Tel: (853) 375 1111 (info)
Address: 2-4 Av de Lisboa, Macau Peninsula - centre
With its garish 1960s exterior and decades of experience catering to Asia's gamblers - both high- and low-rollers - the Lisboa is the best known casino in Asia. Despite a recent makeover it retains much of its old raunchy personality, with the Crazy Paris Show still sending out the dancing girls, and punters still cramming into smoke-filled gaming rooms.

Crazy Paris Show
Tel: (853) 2838 2828 (info)
Address: Avenida de Lisboa, Macau Peninsula
The Crazy Paris Show features a multitude of leggy women onstage strutting around in a couple of beads and a feather or two. Leave the kids at the hotel.

Crown Macau
Tel: (853) 2886 8888 (info)
Address: Avenida de Kwong Tung, Taipa Island
This self-proclaimed six-star hotel-casino has 220 gaming tables and targets high rollers. Ostentatiousness is readily displayed. Not conducive to those of us with mortgages.
Web: www.crown-macau.com

D2
Tel: (853) 2872 3777 (info)
Address: 301 Avenida Comercial de Macau, Macau Peninsula
To strut your stuff on the dance floor, head to the latest incarnation of DD, the former (in)famous bar and dance club. It's smaller than its predecessor but more fashionable. It's full of young women dancing by 03:00. A place to revel, and to flirt.

Emperor Palace Casino
Tel: (853) 2888 9988 (info)
Address: 299 Avenida Comerical De Macau, Macau Peninsula
The Emperor Palace is worth a visit, if only for its entrance. The princely concourse, with incantation on the marble columns and pure gold bricks on the floor, is where you'll find deployment of the art of Feng Shui to make fortunes, if not to show off.

Grand Lisboa Casino
Tel: (853) 2838 2828 (info)
Address: Avenida de Lisboa, Macau Peninsula
Connected to the Lisboa Casino by a footbridge is the new, plush Grand Lisboa, with its glowing golden bulb and truly kitschy lotus-shaped towering structure. The interior ventilation works much better here.

Jai Alai Show Palace
Tel: (853) 2872 6126 (info)
Address: Travessa do Reservatório, Macau Peninsula
Come to witness lots of women wannabes (it's a transvestite show) doing what the girls in the Crazy Paris Show do - only much better. Again, leave the kids at the hotel.

Lisboa Casino
Tel: (853) 2837 5111 (info)
Address: 2-4 Avenida de Lisboa, Macau Peninsula
This once-monopolistic old-timer used to be a bizarre icon in Macau. Those days are gone, but the tightly packed baccarat tables and pungent clouds of smoke live on.

Mandarin Oriental Casino
Tel: (853) 2856 4297 (info)
Address: 956-1110 Avenida da Amizade, Macau Peninsula
Though the Mandarin cannot compete with the other casinos listed here in terms of size and riches, its gentility earns it a name among those who fancy the games of chance.

Moonwalker Bar
Tel: (853) 2875 1326 (info)
Address: Avenida Doutor Sun Yat Sen, Macau Peninsula
Moonwalker features fun live entertainment on most nights (usually Filipina chanteuses), and is considered the most famous (and expensive) one among its neighbours.

Mp3
Tel: (853) 2875 1306 (info)
Address: 1333 Avenida Doutor Sun Yat Sen, Macau Peninsula gnd fl
With live shows and music, plus the unbeatable all-you-can-drink at around MOP$100 during happy hour, this has become a popular spot along the strip. DJs spin all kinds of music while drag queens and pose dancers dazzle your eyes.
Web: www.mp3barlounge.com

Nicole Fashion Club
Tel: (853) 2872 8922 (info)
Address: Macau Peninsula
This glitzy bar is where partiers dress to impress or be impressed. Resident and visiting DJs host dance parties almost every night, making it the best place on the Wharf.

Old Taipa Tavern
Tel: (853) 2882 5221 (info)
Address: Rua dos Negociantes, Taipa Island
Known as 'OTT', its location next to the Pak Tai Temple at Taipa Village makes this bar delightful. A wonderful band plays every Saturday. You can also have a sip while watching ritual performances at the temple.

Sands Macau
Tel: (853) 2888 3377 (info)
Address: 23 Largo de Monte Carlo, Macau Peninsula
Run by the consortium from Las Vegas leading Macau's renaissance in gambling business, Sands Macau is the largest casino with 277 gaming tables. It has a spacious atrium allowing natural light together with a fantastic array of crystal lights. Only high rollers with a minimum bet of around US$100 are invited to stay in their hotel.

Sky 21
Tel: (853) 2822 2122 (info) / (853) 2872 3344 (info)
Address: 301 Avenida Comercial de Macau, Southern Macau Peninsula
Located in the same building as D2, this three-storey multiplex flashy club has a more distinguished atmosphere, and ambitiously caters to people from all walks of life. DJs from Portugal host dancing parties and Troupe from Amsterdam dances everything from hip hop to salsa. A big plus is its superb view of Nam Van Lake and Macau Tower.
Web: www.sky21macau.com

Vasco
Tel: (853) 793 3830 (info)
Address: 956-1110 Avenida da Amizade, Macau Peninsula
For a quiet place to drink, the new Vasco lounge in Mandarin Oriental Hotel is populated mostly by beautiful urbanites. In the afternoon it serves tapas -style afternoon tea.

Whisky Bar
Tel: (853) 2838 3838 (info)
Address: Avenida da Amizade, Macau Peninsula
The tacky Star World casino-hotel somehow has a cheerful bar where you can have a pleasant glimpse of the Guia Lighthouse flashing at night. Get a window seat.

Macau opened a flash new airport on Taipa Island in December 1995, with high hopes for a tourism-led boom. Only trouble is there are few direct flights from Europe, so the dream of visitors jetting in direct to Macau rather than via Hong Kong is still to be realised. The airport is one of Asia's least used, so you'll whiz through immigration and baggage pick-up. But one, and possibly two, new low-cost airlines based in Macau are set to make the ultramodern airport much busier.

New long-haul budget airline Viva Macau (www.flyvivamacau.com) is expected to service destinations including Milan, Moscow, Mumbai, Delhi, Jakarta, Manila and Abu Dhabi by late 2007. For now, Air Macau (www.airmacau.com.mo) has the lion's share of the traffic.

Macau Airport has direct links to Asian cities like Bangkok, Singapore, Seoul, Taipei and Manila; mainland China destinations include Beijing, Shanghai, Fuzhou and Guilin. You can catch a helicopter to Hong Kong if you've got cash to spare.

Hong Kong is linked to Macau by more than 150 sea crossings every day, with a choice of jetfoil, turbocat, foilcat or express ferry services; the trip takes just under an hour by jetfoil. There's a daily ferry crossing to Shekou in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, north of Hong Kong. The Zhuhai Special Economic Zone town of Gongbei borders Macau to the north, on the other side of the historic Barrier Gate, and there are regular buses to Gongbei and Guangzhou.

To/from the airport: catch the airport bus AP1, which zips around Taipa before heading to the Macau ferry terminal and the Border Gate. The bus stops at a number of major hotels en route and departs frequently. Otherwise hire a taxi or there are bus services to Coloane (Nos 21 and 26) and the A-Ma Temple (No 21).

Other than walking, the best way to get around the Macau Peninsula is by air-conditioned bus or minibus. Routes take in most of the sights. Taxis are metered and reasonably priced, but not too many drivers speak English. As for those touristy three-wheeled pedicabs (triciclos) clustered round the Jetfoil pier and Lisboa Hotel - well, they can be more expensive than the taxis, plus they're slow-moving and restricted to touring the waterfront. Bicycles can be hired from Taipa Village but remember you cannot cross the Taipa-Macau bridges on a bike. Driving in Macau can be a somewhat hair-raising experience - there are way too many cars in too small a space, and the drivers all seem to think they're Grand Prix heroes. Cars can be hired though the traditional Mokes (Jeep like-convertible) may soon be phased out. Either way, they're best reserved for more tranquil Taipa and Coloane.

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Official: Mandarin

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