Rua da Felicidade

Rua da Felicidade runs down towards the inner harbour, a narrow street of two-storey shophouses with red shutters and doors, and until the trade was banned in the mid twentieth century it was the centre of Macao's brothels and opium houses. The buildings were restored in the 1990s in a uniform red, and the street now holds restaurants, bakeries and shops selling almond biscuits and dried pork, with cooks working in the doorways.

What you actually see

• The red shophouses - the uniform shuttered facades restored in the 1990s.
• The food shops - almond biscuit and dried pork sellers along the street.
• The narrow scale - a lane closed to most traffic between taller streets.
• The quarter's history - the brothel and opium district it was until the 1940s.

When to go

October to December is dry and cool. Afternoons and evenings are when the food shops are busiest. It gets very crowded at holidays.

Honest expectations

The restoration was heavy and the uniform red is a modern choice rather than historic. It is crowded and heavily commercial. Sampling from every shop is the intended experience and it adds up.

Nearby

Senado Square is northeast, and the inner harbour is west.