Easy to spot, but taxing to reach, it's worth the slog up to this rock-top fortress northwest of the city centre for the stupendous views, possibly the best of Funchal in its entirety you'll get anywhere. Built in the 17th century as a surveillance point, the building has been Portuguese navy property for the last seven decades. Undervisited, it now has a cafe and an exhibition but also serves as a tranquil, if sometimes windy, picnic venue.
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
0.15 MILES
Now a museum, the Quinta das Cruzes is a quintessential old Madeiran manor house complete with gardens and a private chapel. Originally the home of João…
0.86 MILES
Once a run-down area between the Mercado dos Lavradores and the Fortaleza de Santiago, in recent years the 'Old Zone' of merchant's houses and 19th…
0.72 MILES
Built in 1940 by architect Edmundo Tavares, Funchal's art deco market is one of its top attractions as well as still serving as the island's best fresh…
0.5 MILES
Funchal's 16th-century cathedral once oversaw the world's largest diocese – all of Portugal’s overseas territories from Madeira to Brazil to Angola – and…
2.11 MILES
Anyone who says Madeira has no beaches should hop on bus 1 or 43 to the boulders and browny-black sand of this wild strand in Funchal's western suburbs…
1.46 MILES
One of the island's top tourist attractions, Madeira's famous botanical gardens are a must for most visitors. Extending over 80,000 sq metres, the gardens…
0.4 MILES
Run by the fifth generation of the D'Oliveira family, this is Funchal's most easily accessible wine experience. Anyone can enter the strongly aromatic…
5.61 MILES
Dramatically set at the bottom of a mammoth cauldron of rock, the village of Curral das Freiras is one of the most popular daytrips from Funchal. Some…
Nearby Funchal attractions
0.15 MILES
Now a museum, the Quinta das Cruzes is a quintessential old Madeiran manor house complete with gardens and a private chapel. Originally the home of João…
2. Universo de Memórias João Carlos Abreu
0.16 MILES
Housed in an elegant 19th-century mansion, this museum–arts centre is another repository of knick-knacks donated to the city by an avid collector, this…
0.17 MILES
The highlight of this 15th-century convent, once the island's richest, is one of the island's most attractive churches, with floor to ceiling azulejos…
4. Casa-Museu Frederico de Freitas
0.2 MILES
Built by the counts of Calçada in the 17th century, this tasteful mansion was purchased by a local lawyer, Frederico de Freitas, in the 1940s. An avid…
0.26 MILES
This old-fashioned museum, housed (in classic Funchal fashion) in a surplus palace, has an ageing aquarium on the ground floor, and stuffed local fauna,…
0.33 MILES
Created from an old sugar works – hence the huge chimney in the middle and old bits of machinery scattered around the place – this undervisited city…
0.36 MILES
Verdant old park in the city centre, created on the site of the Convent of San Francisco, with tens of exotic labelled trees, twittering birds, basalt…
8. Museu Photographia Vicentes
0.38 MILES
Set up by Vicente Gomes da Silva in 1865, this exquisitely preserved photographic studio, above a shady cobbled courtyard, was in use until 1982. The…