Most visitors see Macao in two parts: the old city around Senado Square and the towers of Cotai. There is a third Macao, and it is the one that takes people by surprise. Taipa Village and Coloane Village are small, low and quiet, and they sit within sight of some of the largest resorts in Asia. From the door of The Venetian you can walk into Taipa’s old lanes in about 15 to 20 minutes.

These villages are not part of the UNESCO Historic Centre, which covers the peninsula only. That is part of their interest. Nobody has framed them as a monument. They show what ordinary life looked like on the edge of Portuguese Macao: fishing, boatbuilding, small temples and a thin layer of colonial administration.

From islands to one strip of land

It helps to look at the map first, because the map has changed. Taipa and Coloane were separate islands. Taipa itself is usually described as two smaller islands that silt gradually joined. For most of their history the only way to reach them was by boat, and Portugal’s hold on them came later and was thinner than its hold on the peninsula.

Three pieces of engineering ended that isolation. A causeway linked Taipa and Coloane in the 1960s. The Governor Nobre de Carvalho Bridge connected Taipa to the peninsula in 1974. Then, from the 1990s on, land reclamation filled the shallows between the islands to create Cotai, the name itself a blend of Coloane and Taipa. The resorts stand on what was recently open water. The villages stand on the old shorelines, and that is why they feel so different from the buildings next to them.

Taipa Village: a small town with a big neighbour

Rua do Cunha. Most people arrive at Rua do Cunha, a narrow lane that has been pedestrianised since 1983. It is short and often crowded, with almond cakes, egg rolls, peanut candy and free samples pressed on you from every doorway. Enjoy it, but do not stop there. The village’s better kitchens and its quietest corners are in the lanes one or two turns away. For the food history, see our guide to Macanese cuisine.

Pak Tai Temple. A short walk from the lane, Pak Tai Temple dates from 1844. Pak Tai, the Northern Emperor, is a Taoist deity associated with water and protection, a sensible patron for a community that lived from the sea. The temple sits on a shaded square that is still used as a village space. It is much smaller than A-Ma Temple on the peninsula, and usually far calmer. Our article on Macao’s Chinese temples sets it in context.

Church of Our Lady of Carmel. Follow the steps up the hill to this pale neoclassical church, generally dated to 1885. Its setting tells you as much as the building does. It stands above what was once the waterfront, overlooking the small colonial quarter below. Compare it with St. Lawrence’s Church or St. Dominic’s Church on the peninsula and you can see the difference in scale between a wealthy trading city and a remote island parish.

Taipa Houses Museum. Below the church are the five mint-green villas of the Taipa Houses Museum, built in 1921 as homes for officials and senior families. They face what used to be the shore. The old bay is now a wetland and, beyond it, the skyline of Cotai. It is one of the best views in Macao if you want to understand the territory in one look: colonial bungalows, mangrove and marsh, and a replica of the Eiffel Tower, all in the same frame. One house is furnished as a Macanese family home, which is the closest you can get to the domestic life behind the cuisine.

Coloane Village: the far end of Macao

Taipa is lively; Coloane is slow. Coloane Village sits on the southwest shore, facing Hengqin in mainland China across a narrow channel. You can see the towers of the mainland side from the promenade, which is a useful reminder of how small and how exposed these communities were. The old settlement was built around fishing, and the waterfront still shows traces of that in its stilted sheds and old shopfronts.

Chapel of St. Francis Xavier, and a common mistake. The small cream-and-blue chapel at the end of the square was built in 1928. You will often read that Francis Xavier, the Jesuit missionary, died on Coloane. He did not. He died in December 1552 on Shangchuan, an island off the Chinese coast, while waiting for a chance to enter China, and he never set foot in Macao, which the Portuguese settled only a few years later. The link is a relic: for some decades a bone said to be from his arm was kept here, and it has since been moved to the peninsula, to St. Joseph’s Seminary and Church. So the chapel commemorates a saint who was never here. It is no less pleasant for that.

The 1910 pirate monument. In front of the chapel, in the square, stands a monument to the fight against pirates in July 1910. Coloane had long been a hideout for pirates working the Pearl River Delta, and the usual account says the 1910 episode began with children being held for ransom. Portuguese forces attacked, and after the fighting the island was brought more firmly under Macao’s control. Details vary between Portuguese and Chinese accounts, so treat the story with some care. Still, it explains something important. As late as the early twentieth century, this quiet village square was a frontier.

Tam Kong Temple. Walk along the waterfront road to the end of the village to find Tam Kong Temple, generally dated to 1862. Tam Kong is a Taoist protector of seafarers, venerated mostly in this part of southern China. The temple is known for a long model boat carved from a whale bone, a fitting offering in a fishing village. Nearer the middle of the village is a smaller temple to Tin Hau, the same sea goddess honoured at the A-Ma Temple under another name.

Lord Stow’s Bakery. Yes, it is worth the queue. Andrew Stow began baking his egg tarts in Coloane in 1989, and the original shop is close to the square. Eat one while it is still hot. Then look at the square around you and notice that one of Macao’s most famous exports comes from a place this small.

Coloane Library. On the way, look for the tiny yellow building with neoclassical columns, dated to 1917 and still used as a public library. It takes a minute to see, and it is one of the charming details that make this village worth walking rather than just visiting for a tart.

Further out: shipyards, beaches and the hilltop

Lai Chi Vun. A short way south of the village, along the coast, is the former shipbuilding area of Lai Chi Vun, where wooden junks were built for much of the twentieth century. The trade died, some of the sheds collapsed or were pulled down, and a public campaign to save what remained began in the late 2010s. Conservation work has been continuing, so check what is open before making a special trip. Even so, it is the most direct physical evidence that the island once made its living from the sea.

Cheoc Van and Hac Sa. Coloane has Macao’s two main beaches. Hac Sa means “black sand”. They are not reasons to fly to Macao, but they are a pleasant way to end a hot day, and the hiking trails in the hills behind them show how much of Coloane remains green.

A-Ma Statue. On Coloane’s highest ground stands a large white statue of the goddess A-Ma, finished in the late 1990s. It is a modern monument and not a historic site, but the views are good. Like the Kun Iam Statue on the peninsula’s waterfront, it belongs to the years just before Macao’s 1999 handover.

A one-day route

  • Morning: Coloane. Start at the far end, because Coloane is quietest early and the tarts are freshest. Walk the square, the chapel, the monument and the promenade, then go along to Tam Kong Temple. Allow two hours.
  • Lunch: Coloane or Taipa. Coloane has a handful of long-running Portuguese and Macanese restaurants. Taipa has more choice. Book ahead on weekends.
  • Afternoon: Taipa Village. Pak Tai Temple first, then Rua do Cunha, then up to the church and down to the Taipa Houses Museum as the light softens over the wetland. Allow two to three hours.
  • Evening: your choice. Walk over to Cotai if you want contrast, or return to the peninsula for the lights around Senado Square and the Ruins of St. Paul’s.

With only one day in Macao, spend it on the peninsula instead: the walking route in our Macao travel guide is the better use of your time, with Mount Fortress and Lou Kau Mansion high on the list. With two days, make this your second day. It is also a welcome change after a long, hot day of churches and fortresses (see Macao’s Fortresses).

Getting there and practical notes

  • By bus. Public buses are cheap and the usual choice. Routes 21A, 25 and 26A have served Coloane from the peninsula, and the trip takes about 40 to 60 minutes. Routes and fares do change, so check a current map before you set out, and carry coins or a Macau Pass.
  • By taxi. Quickest between the two villages, but waits can be long in Coloane late in the day. Do not leave your return until the last minute.
  • Taipa Houses Museum. Hours and fees change, and museums in Macao often close on Mondays. Check before going if it is your main reason for the trip.
  • Timing. Weekdays are noticeably quieter, especially at Lord Stow’s and on Rua do Cunha. During a typhoon signal, buses and outdoor sites may stop or close, and low parts of the waterfront can flood.
  • Respect. The temples and chapel are in use. Keep your voice down, and ask before photographing people at worship. Coloane in particular is a place where people live, not a film set.

Why bother leaving the peninsula?

The Historic Centre tells you how Macao saw itself: a church on every hill, a senate, a fort. The villages tell you what lay around the edges of that story. They were places where the Portuguese flag was a recent arrival and pirates a recent memory. That story is easy to lose in a territory now known for its resorts, and these villages are among the few places where it is still easy to see.

If you want those stories told as you walk, the Macao Heritage Walk audio guide includes Coloane Village, Rua do Cunha, Pak Tai Temple and the Taipa Houses Museum among its 40 stops, alongside the sites of the peninsula.