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Calheta

🏘️ Calheta · Calheta

A communion of sea, cliffs and late sunsets: Calheta is the Region's largest municipality, 116 km² and about 12,000 inhabitants in eight parishes (Arco da Calheta, Calheta, Estreito da Calheta, Fajã da Ovelha, Jardim do Mar, Paul do Mar, Ponta do Pargo, Prazeres), with one of the island's lowest rainfall rates and a mild climate all year. The town lines up its imported-sand beach (2004, Blue Flag) and its 337-berth marina, the Engenho da Calheta — one of the island's oldest cane mills, for honey and aguardente — and, on the hill, Casa das Mudas, an award-winning contemporary-art museum (Alvar Aalto medal 2012). Rabaçal, Paul da Serra and Ponta do Pargo lie within it.

  • Largest municipality (116 km²)
  • Sandy beach and marina
  • Casa das Mudas and sugar mill
  • Sunsets
GPS
32.71969, -17.17456
🧭 Getting there
The place stands in the locality of Calheta, parish of Calheta (Calheta).
🅿️ Parking
The nearest car park is Onda Parque, 68 m away.
🗺️ See it on the map🧭 Go there
Good to know about Calheta3

  • The icons — Santana houses, Monte sledges, cable car, Santana Biosphere Reserve (2011)

    Triangular houses of wood and thatch, wicker sledges pushed by two carreiros since the 19th century, an Italian-style theatre of 1888, the country's oldest photo studio (1865), Funchal's museums, Casa das Mudas at Calheta, the Ethnographic Museum at Ribeira Brava, the Whale Museum at Caniçal.

  • Leaving from Calheta — The municipality that emigrated most

    Calheta is, according to its own Câmara, probably the municipality that sent the most Madeirans to every corner of the world. Emigration has left a lasting mark on the island's west, on its houses and on its returns.

  • Sand — Black and natural at Seixal, Alagoa and Prainha; golden and imported from Morocco at Calheta (2004) and Machico

    Praia Formosa, the largest public beach, lines up more than 2 km of pebbles and black sand west of Funchal. Calheta was the island's first artificial beach.

Services within 1.5 km8

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