Best known as the Las Vegas of China because of the giant casinos lining the Cotai Strip, Macau is home to a number of hiking and nature trails. On Friday mrC and a few of our Discovery Bay hiking friends joined the Hong Kong Hikers group for a leisurely sightseeing hike in the southern part of Macau, Coloane.
We met the group at the Macau Ferry Terminal in Hong Kong and then took the 70 minute Cotai Ferry to Taipa. After passing through immigration (Macau is an autonomous part of China), we grabbed taxis to take us to our starting point.
Macau Giant Panda Park - A perfect starting point because we were able to view the pandas, use the restrooms, and then hit the trail from inside the park. Plus the place was practically empty. Entrance was free, but we did pay MOP 10 (or $1.25USD) to enter the panda viewing pavilions.
Coloane Hiking Trail - Just south of the Cotai strip of flashy casinos, this 8km trail circles the hills of Coloane at an average elevation of 100m and is where we spent most of our hike. It is one of a network of trails that overlap making it easy to side step to popular attractions which is what we did. There were several observation points for taking a rest and taking in the views.
Reservoir Fitness Trail - We connected with this trail in order to loop the reservoir. Along the trail we passed several exercise stations before reaching a fun suspension bridge that took us across the reservoir. At the reservoir there were facilities for paddle boats and canoes that looked like a refreshing way to cool off.
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| Climb the pole, ring the bell ---> he did it! |
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| Love my Oiselle shorts for hiking. Just awesome! |
A-Ma Statue and Cultural Village - the most challenging climb of the hike led us to the cultural complex. First we saw the 19 meter statue carved in white marble of the Chinese goddess of seafarers and fisherman (aka Tin Hau - read about the festival I went to here). A little further on we reached the village where we were able to explore the courtyard and temple.
Hac Sa Beach - lunch at Fernandos - the chosen spot to end our hike because of the access to locally favored restaurants. Hac Sa Beach, named because the sand here turns black during the winter months and Hac Sa is Cantonese for black sand. We had an authentic Portuguese lunch at the famously recommended Fernando's (Anthony Bourdain says to eat here) and it was really good. I love eating family style and sharing dishes with a large group. Here's what we ordered: Fernando's style clams, oven roasted suckling pig, charcoal-grilled codfish, Macau fried rice, charcoal grilled chicken, and boiled green veggies
With the temperatures and humidity climbing, this was a perfect hiking adventure.
Other hiking posts of interest:
Lamma Island
