Most of Macau's attractions are clustered around the peninsula's centre - it's a hilly but rewarding walk from church to fort and back again.

A-Ma Temple
With a history of over 500 years , A-Ma Temple is the oldest Chinese temple in Macau. The temple is dedicated to the seafarers' goddess "A-Ma". Macau's Portuguese name is derived from this temple's Chinese name 'Ma Gua'. On 23 March every lunar year, the birthday of A-Ma, and in the spring festival, the Temple is crowded with worshippers.

The whole Temple includes the main hall, stone hall, great mercy hall and Kun lam (Goddess of Mercy, Avalokitesvara) hall four buildings. At the gate, there are stone lions guarding the temple and the eaves pointing the sky, full of Chinese folk characteristics.

The A-Ma Temple was built by the cliff. There are winding paths around upwards the hill. Along the cliff, there are many poems and verses inscribed on stone in all scripts, regular, cursive, seal character and official. Inside the courtyard, there is a relief stone sculpture of Chinese junk.

Legend has it that A-Ma sailed out to sea from her native land by this junk. After coping with strong typhoon and fierce-waves, she reached Macao safely. It is said, the Tin Hau, the Queen of Heaven and Protector of Seafarer who was from Pu Tien, Fujian Province, is otherwise known for Niang Ma. She could predict auspicious and inauspicious things and after death made her presence felt on the sea, helping merchants and fishermen to dispel calamity, overcome difficulty and turn danger into safety. Later generations built temple here to pay homage in her memory.

Many male and female disciples gather here to pay homage and to pray for good fortune. Even young men and young women in western-style clothes and in long boots and short skirts come to burn incense to pray for good luck, a quite warm scene.

Monte Fort
The ancient fortification built by the Jesuit Fathers in 1626, on the peak of the Monte Hill, perched high above the city centre was the chosen location for the Museum of Macao. Monte Fort's moment of glory came during an attempted Dutch invasion in 1622 when a cannonball from the fort's guns landed in the invader's powder Keg, creating total confusion. Today, the fort houses a small observatory museum, and offers visitors a splendid vantage point from which to view Macau and the surrounding areas of China's Zhongshan District.

This Fortress built in a quadrilateral shape with four bastions in the corners and thick exterior walls made from "chunambo", or taipa, a highly resistant material made from mortar containing sand, lime, fragments of shells and crushed oysters.

It is the largest remaining fort of Macau. The cannons command a wide field of fire; with the inner, outer harbors, and the Chinese border in range. The cannons were used only once in 1622 against the Dutch invasion. The fort was abandoned in the 1870's. After decades of decay, the Macau government decided to renovate and built the Macau Museum there in 1996. The remodeling work was completed in 1998.

Lou Lim Ieco Garden
This Chinese garden was built during the 19th century by a wealthy Chinese merchant Lou Kau, and was inherited by his son Lou Lim Ieoc in 1906. It was modeled in the classic Suzhou style. The garden is complete with bamboo, rock mountains, ponds, 9-turn bridge and other classic elements.

The garden began to fall to ruin after the decline of the merchant's fortune. In the 1974, the government renovated the park and opened it to the public.

The garden is modeled on those of Soochow, the most famous of all Chinese classical gardens. Enclosed by a high wall, it is a miniaturized landscape with narrow paths winding through groves of bamboo and flowering bushes, under moulded concrete "mountains" to a large pond filled with golden carp and lotus flowers. A nine-turn bridge zigzags across the pond (according to legend, evil spirits can only move in straight lines) to a large pavilion combining Classical and Chinese architecture elements. There are frequent art and craft exhibitions in the pavilion, which also serves as an auditorium for recitals during the annual International Music Festival.

Temple of Kum Iam
Temple of Kum Iam is one of the largest temple in Macau; with beautiful traditional landscape. The temple played a vital role in Macau's history, many treaty (i.e. leasing Macau to Portugal) and agreement were signed here. Incense and offerings always burn bright here; a sign of worshipper's strong faith.

Hotel Lisboa
As the pioneer 5 stars hotel in Macau, it also has the top casino and is a symbol of Macau. The architectural design is in accordance with the tradition Chinese "Feng Shui". The entrance resembles the mouth of a tiger, which take a bit out off the gamblers as they enter the casino. The main structure is a birdcage, which is meant to trap the money in. The constant renovation is also in line with feng shui beliefs.

Taipa House Museum
The Taipa House Museum has recently been renovated.It was originally a strip of houses that belonged to the wealthy on the coast of the Taipa Island. Now they are being restored to their original state and converted into a museum for people to see. The museum shows what colonial houses were like early this century in Macau.

Beside the actual house museum, it now has a art gallery, a house to display traditional Portuguese clothings, a section on Taipa and Coloane's history and an amphitheatre.

Museum of Macau
Situated in the Monte Fort and facing St.Paul's Ruins, it is one of the newest museums in Macau. It covers the Macau history starting from the Portuguese first landing. The innovative design involves visitors in learning more about Macau. Its aim is to preserve the cultural traditions, usages and habits, which specifically belong to Macau, in a place where East, and West have so peculiarly learnt how to meet and to live side by side along the centuries.

The Museum of Macao began planning in April 1995,construction was initiated in September 1996, and it was inaugurated on the 18 April 1998. The museum building in itself implanted within the interior of the fortress and the third floor above the soil level of the Fortress interior. Its total area is 2,800 meters square from which around 2,100 meters square is exhibition space.

The administrative building, already on the exterior of the fortress but joined to the Museum by way of a tunnel with escalators that pass under the walls, contains the technical and administrative offices of the museum as well as the management and technician centre security headquarters, auditorium, etc.

The exterior areas of the administration building which has the total area of 2,300 meters square house the museum shop and bar with esplanade to service the public and visitors.

As far as the thematic areas that The Museum of Macao features, they are divided into three main groups corresponding to each one of the three floors of the Museum building ,Genesis of Macao Region (floor 1),Popular Arts and Traditions in Macao (floor 2)and Contemporary Macao (floor 3).

Although the Museum does not possess a collection of a high monetary value, it includes a vast number of objects of a great historical value which have been carefully chosen and are appealingly exhibited. It is the wish of this museum to be able to show the way of life of the several communities, which have inhabited the city for ages.

Next to the fortress was the famous St.Paul's College also called the College of the Mother of God (considered as the first Western-type University in the Far East). The college was connected to the church bearing the same name and whose facade remains to be admired by all.

After a visit to the museum, a stroll around the Fortress exterior allows the visitor to indulge in a charming open area with unique views over the city of Macao.

Leal Senado
Leal Senade Square is the focal point and shopping center of Macau. The streets are paved with cobblestone in traditional Portuguese pattern and surrounded by colonial style buildings. Continuous waves of events are held here through-out the year. A favorite spot among locals and tourists.

The Cathedral of Sao Paulo
The great ruined facade and staircase of the Church of the Mother of God, now popularly known as the Cathedral of Sao Paulo, or St. Paul's, is probable the most famous of Macau's sights. The cathedral is thought to have been designed by an Italian Jesuit in the early seventeenth century and built with the assistance of Japanese Christian artisans. In 1835, it burned to the ground during a typhoon, leaving only the magnificent facade and impressive staircase to testify to its former glory.

Ruin of Chruch of St. Paul
The symbol of Macau, the St. Paul church was built by the Jesuit group in 1602, the stone facade was carved in 1620's by Japanese Christian and local craftsmen. A fire in 1853 burnt down the church; all that remains is the magnificent stone facade,The Sam Ba Sing Tzik. The restoration work between 1990 and 1995 added a museum and a crypt to the site.

From the relief sculpture on the Sam Ba Sing Tzik, one can see that the Dai Sam Ba is divided into four floors. On top of it, there stands aloft the Cross.