Did you know that if you fly to Hong Kong International Airport, you can transfer to Macau by bus without even entering Hong Kong? This is possible even if you were traveling with luggage as it gets routed directly to the bus terminal. There’s only very little information available about all this online, so I decided to write a post about it.
Where to Book the Tickets?
You should use the official Macau HK Airport Direct website to book your bus tickets. I would suggest you to do this online before you arrive at Hong Kong. There’s a bus once an hour and the seats are limited – you don’t want to find out at the airport that all buses are fully booked if you travel without a pre-booked ticket. The booking system will ask for your flight details, so make sure you have them ready. If you arrive earlier or your flight is delayed, the bus company staff members seemed to be more than happy to book you on a different bus with no extra charge. I wish it was like this everywhere in the world!
Arriving at Hong Kong International Airport
When your flight arrives at Hong Kong, you need to head to the bus transfer desks located at E2. Do not go to luggage claim, connecting flights or border control!
Checking in and luggage
At the transfer desk, you will check in for your bus ride and you will get a physical bus pass. Give the check-in agent the boarding pass of your previous flight and luggage reclaim tag so that they can reroute your bag to the bus terminal.
Getting to the SkyPier bus terminal
Now that your bag is checked in and being forwarded to the bus terminal, it’s time to hop on a train and get there too. The terminal is called SkyPier and it it can be accessed by train.
SkyPier
SkyPier terminal looks nice, but in terms of services, it’s a bit sad. It mainly has waiting areas and a luggage belt before the bus gates. There are bathrooms, a 7 eleven and a place to fill your water bottle. But no lounge, unfortunately.
Getting to the bus
The waiting area and boarding gates are next to the luggage belt. You are in no rush to get there because they will deliver all the bags at once around the time the bus will leave. In my case, everyone was still waiting for their bags until 20 minutes past the scheduled departure time. No worries, everyone is on the same boat and they won’t leave you behind if you are not the first one to pick up your luggage.
Arrival in Macau
The bus will arrive at the bus terminal called “Posto Fronteiriço Da Ponte”. This was a bit unclear for me, but that’s the name of the place in case you want to look up how to get to your hotel from there. Bus lines 101X and 102X depart from the bus terminal. You will go through border control and customs in this bus terminal. You will pickup your bag directly from the bus and walk with it through the terminal.
If you are planning on taking a bus, get an mCard from the convenience store that’s in the terminal after migration and before the exit. mCard comes with some balance and it serves as a payment method in buses and convenience stores.
Conclusion
If you have ever wanted to visit Macau, it’s way much easier than what you might have initially thought. Just fly to Hong Kong and the bus company will take care of your check-in bag. And coming back is even easier if you fly Cathay Pacific or Lufthansa, you can even check your bag in to your final destination in Macau before boarding the bus. It’s also possible to check your bag in at Hong Kong airport if you prefer that.
