Senado Square: Macau Peninsula Travel Guide (4.3★)

Black and white stones ripple under your feet in waves, like a tide drawn on the ground. Pastel façades in mustard, rose and cream line both sides and lead you uphill. A fountain marks the middle. Senado Square is the main square of the Macau Peninsula, and it is laid out to pull you through it rather than keep you standing still.

The wave pavement of Largo do Senado

Look down before you look up. The square is paved in Portuguese calçada, small hand-set cobbles of basalt and limestone. They are laid in a wave pattern that refers to Portugal’s seafaring past. The paving dates from the early 1990s, but it follows a tradition you will also find on the streets of Lisbon.

That stone is polished smooth by millions of shoes. After rain it gets properly slippery, so wear soles with some grip. Choose those over anything with a slick leather bottom.

The square is shaped like a long funnel. It is narrow at the bottom, where it meets the traffic of Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro, and it climbs gently and widens towards the top. Most visitors bunch up at the fountain. Walk on past them and the views back down the slope are better.

Reading the buildings around you

Senado Square is a core piece of the Historic Centre of Macao, which became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005. Every building you can see from the fountain played a part in four centuries of Portuguese rule. Most of them now hold shops and restaurants on the ground floor.

• Leal Senado Building: the white neoclassical building across Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro, at the foot of the square, built for the old municipal council. Step into the courtyard to see its blue-and-white azulejo tiles.
• Holy House of Mercy (Santa Casa da Misericórdia): the white arcaded façade on the square’s lower edge. The charity behind it was founded in 1569.
• St. Dominic’s Church (Igreja de São Domingos): the yellow baroque church with green shutters at the top of the square. It is one of the oldest churches in Macau.

The arcades along the sides keep you dry in a downpour and cool in the summer sun. That is also why the edges of the square fill up first.

Getting to Senado Square

The square’s address is 11 Largo do Senado. In Chinese it is 議事亭前地, which is handy to show a taxi driver. It sits right off Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro, the peninsula’s main commercial street, which locals call San Ma Lo.

• On foot from the Lisboa area: roughly a 10-minute walk west along Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro from the Grand Lisboa. Many day-trippers ride the free casino shuttles from the ferry terminals or the border to the Lisboa area, then walk from there.
• By bus: several public bus routes stop on Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro, right at the foot of the square. Look for stops named after Almeida Ribeiro.
• By taxi: ask for Largo do Senado or the Leal Senado. Traffic gets heavy on San Ma Lo, so you may be dropped a short walk away.

Eating within sight of the fountain

The streets around the square are where most visitors first eat in Macau. The square itself is lined with restaurants. Wong Chi Kei, a long-running Cantonese noodle shop known for wonton noodles and congee, faces onto the square.

Down a lane off the square’s lower end is Margaret’s Café e Nata. Its Portuguese-style egg tarts draw a queue that tells you you’ve found it. Pork chop buns, serradura pudding and almond cookies are the other snacks you’ll see in hands all around the plaza.

The climb from Senado Square to St. Paul’s

Most visitors don’t stop at the square. Head up past St. Dominic’s Church and follow the signs. Lanes like Rua de São Paulo climb for about 10 minutes to the stone façade of the Ruins of St. Paul’s.

The route is lined with shops selling almond cookies, egg rolls and sheets of sweet barbecued pork jerky. Staff stand outside handing out samples. You can take one without any pressure to buy. If you’d like a quieter walk, the side streets around St. Dominic’s are worth a short detour before you rejoin the main climb.

Moving through the crowds on Largo do Senado

This is one of Macau’s most-visited spots, and you will rarely have it to yourself. The square never closes, and that is the most useful thing to know. Day-trippers from Hong Kong and tour groups mostly arrive from late morning, so first light gives you the wave pavement nearly empty. Late evening, once the shops have shut, is the other quiet stretch.

• Paying: the Macau pataca is the local currency, but Hong Kong dollars are widely accepted around the square, usually at par. Your change often comes back in patacas, which are hard to spend outside Macau. Many shops also take mobile payment.
• Tipping: snack stalls and noodle shops don’t expect a tip. Sit-down restaurants often add a service charge to the bill, so check before adding more.
• Queues: the egg tart and snack queues move quickly. Have your order and your money ready before you reach the counter.
• Photos: tour groups pose at the fountain in waves. Wait a minute between groups rather than shooting over them.
• Inside St. Dominic’s: it is a working church, so keep your voice down and your shoulders covered if a service is on.

Signs use Chinese and Portuguese, and Cantonese is the everyday language. English works at most shops on the square, but having the Chinese name 議事亭前地 saved on your phone helps with taxis.

After dark and on festival nights

The square is open 24 hours, and it changes character at night. The façades are floodlit and the crowds thin out, so the wave pattern shows more clearly than it does at midday.

Senado Square is often used for public events, and it is Macau’s main stage for seasonal decorations. Red lanterns go up for Chinese New Year, elaborate lantern displays mark the Mid-Autumn Festival, and a Christmas tree and lights fill the square in December. These periods are the most photogenic and the most packed. Go early in the evening if you want the displays without shoulder-to-shoulder crowds.