Taipa Village is a small and peaceful community with narrow streets, and picturesque markets. Portuguese-style offices, ancient temples and colonial villas blend effortlessly with the area’s old-fashioned street lamps, hanging flower baskets and street vendors. Food Street, which is also known as the Rua da Cunhna, draws many people over to the south of the island, eager to savour the true taste of Macau along with Cantonese and Italian cuisine.
Of course, there are several casinos (ubiquitous to Macau) and the Macau Jockey Club where you can watch races in air-conditioned comfort, but local charm wins out here. You'll also find the ruin of Sao Paulo (St. Paul’s) Church here – a single standing facade with no church behind it; unusual to say the least. The tree-lined esplanade on Avenida de Praia lends a colonial elegance to the area with its wrought-iron public benches overlooking a lake.
Highlights and Features
The area is popular with visitors, wishing to catch a glimpse of the old Macau and on a hill to the east of the village looking towards the causeway and Coloane Island is a neo-classical church Our Lady of Carmel, built in 1885. You’ll find paths winding down from the church square through the hillside Carmel Gardens to the Avenida da Praia, a tree-lined pedestrian area built in the early days of the 20th century.
Five restored Mediterranean-style residences constructed in the 1920s look out over the former anchorage of China trade clipper ships. One of these buildings, nowadays the Macanese House Museum, contains period furnishings of Chinese and Portuguese styles and mementoes of Macanese life at the time.
Taipa Village
- Location: South of the island
