Zona Velha (Rua de Santa Maria)

Funchal's first settlement, today its liveliest quarter: narrow cobbled lanes, old façades and, since the "Portas Pintadas" (Painted Doors) project, doors and fronts handed to artists that turned Rua de Santa Maria — one of the city's oldest streets — into an open-air gallery. At the heart of the quarter, the Corpo Santo chapel, one of the few 15th-century buildings still standing; up the street, traditional houses such as the Fábrica de Chapéus and the Fábrica de Botas de Vilão, then the Baroque Socorro church and a small lookout. By day for the heritage, by night for the buzz.