73rd Macau Grand Prix: Dates, Tickets & Venue (Macau)

A Grand Prix on ordinary streets

For four days the city becomes the racetrack. The Guia Circuit is about 6.2 km of public road: harbour-front avenues, hotel corners and a narrow climb past Guia Hill. For the other eleven months of the year buses and taxis use the same tarmac.

The 73rd Macau Grand Prix runs from November 19 to 22, 2026. It is Macau’s most prestigious international motorsport event, held every year since 1954. The FIA FR World Cup main race closes the weekend on the final day.

For many fans, that one Sunday race is the reason to come. Macau’s single-seater race was run for Formula 3 cars for four decades. Ayrton Senna won it in 1983 and Michael Schumacher in 1990, so the event has long been a place where future Formula 1 drivers made their names. The FR World Cup took over that junior single-seater role.

How the four days run

November 19, 2026 is a Thursday. The race weekend therefore runs Thursday to Sunday, and the pace builds across it.

• Thursday and Friday: practice and qualifying sessions, with walls going up and grids being set.
• Saturday: support races and qualification races, depending on category.
• Sunday, 22 November: the FIA FR World Cup main race.

Traditionally the weekend has also included touring cars, GT cars and the motorcycle Grand Prix, which still races on a circuit most bike series would consider far too tight. The organiser’s official site carries the 2026 class list and session timetable. Grandstands on the early days usually hold smaller crowds than on Sunday, which makes Thursday and Friday a cheaper and quieter way to see the cars up close.

Reading the Guia Circuit

No other circuit has these corners. Knowing them is how you understand what you’re watching.

• The start/finish straight runs along the Outer Harbour near Fisherman’s Wharf. It is wide, fast and lined with the main grandstands.
• Lisboa Bend is a hard right-hander beside the Hotel Lisboa, at the end of a flat-out run. First-lap pile-ups here are part of Macau Grand Prix history.
• The mountain section climbs past Guia Hill between barriers so close that cars appear to brush them. Overtaking there is close to impossible.
• Melco Hairpin is among the slowest corners in international racing, tight enough that cars can jam nose to tail if one stalls.
• Fisherman’s Bend and R Bend take the cars back down to the harbour and onto the straight.

That combination is why Macau has the reputation it has. It mixes high-speed straights with a slow, unforgiving street section, and a small mistake ends a driver’s weekend against concrete. Spectators get the noise between buildings and a much closer view than at a purpose-built track.

Grandstands and tickets

All the main seating is around the waterfront. Paying spectators mostly use grandstands along the straight beside the Outer Harbour, with others at Lisboa Bend and near Reservoir Bend.

Seats on the straight give you the grid, the start and the pit activity. Seats at Lisboa Bend give you heavy braking and, often, the incidents. The mountain section is lined with barriers and fencing and has limited public viewing, so most of that part of the lap reaches spectators on the big screens.

The organiser publishes ticket categories, seating maps and purchase links on the official Macau Grand Prix site. No ticket prices appear in this guide. The official site lists the current price for each stand and day, and Sunday seats are usually the most in demand.

Getting in when the roads close

Race days change the way Macau moves. Large parts of the peninsula’s harbour-front roads are closed to traffic and bus routes are diverted around the circuit. Pedestrians cross over or under the track on footbridges and tunnels.

• From Hong Kong by ferry: the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal is beside the circuit. It is the most direct arrival for spectators.
• From Hong Kong by road: cross-border buses on the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge arrive at the bridge’s Macau port. From there, buses and taxis run toward the peninsula.
• From Taipa or Cotai: the Taipa line of the Macau Light Rapid Transit, buses and hotel shuttles cross the bridges. Spectators usually allow extra time because of traffic diversions near the track.

Many fans base themselves on the peninsula, close enough to walk to the grandstands. On race days, walking is often faster than any vehicle.

Race-week habits in Macau

Getting in is the hard part, and the regulars have a routine. Most collect their ticket and work out their footbridge before the session, not as cars warm up. The crossings choke as the grids form, and the marshals hold crowds at the barriers while cars are on track.

• Money: Macau uses the pataca, and Hong Kong dollars are widely accepted at shops and food stalls, usually one to one. Change usually comes back in patacas.
• Getting around: locals use a Macau Pass card on buses, and taxis rarely run near the closed roads on race days.
• Ear protection: the walls reflect the engine noise, and regulars bring earplugs, especially for motorcycle sessions.
• Language: Cantonese and Portuguese are the official languages, and the circuit corners are signposted in Chinese and Portuguese. Staff at grandstands and hotels usually speak some English.

Mid-November tends to be dry and mild in Macau, so most spectators bring a light layer for the evening rather than rain gear. Sunday’s main-race stands fill earliest. Seasoned fans spend the quieter practice days on the footbridges and in the free areas, then sit in a grandstand for the race.

Between sessions: the museum and the old city

The track runs past the places you’d visit anyway. The Macau Grand Prix Museum, reopened in 2021 after a large expansion, is on Rua de Luís Gonzaga Gomes near the circuit. It holds race cars and motorcycles from the event’s history, including machines linked to the drivers who later reached Formula 1.

From Lisboa Bend it is a short walk into the old centre. Senado Square and the Ruins of St. Paul’s are both part of the Historic Centre of Macau UNESCO World Heritage Site. Guia Fortress and lighthouse sit on the hill the circuit is named after. Fisherman’s Wharf, beside the start/finish straight, is where many spectators eat between sessions.

On race nights the casinos and hotels around Lisboa stay busy late. Many visitors end Sunday on the peninsula and leave on a Monday ferry, after the closed roads have reopened.