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Santa Cruz

🏘️ Santa Cruz · Santa Cruz

The gateway for those arriving by plane: Cristiano Ronaldo International Airport lies in the municipality, 18 km from Funchal, between ocean and mountain. One of the archipelago's oldest settlements — Zarco found old cedars here and had a cross made from them, hence the name — Santa Cruz has about 43,000 inhabitants and five parishes (Camacha, Caniço, Gaula, Santo António da Serra, Santa Cruz). In town, Praia das Palmeiras and its complex by the market, the Ribeira da Boaventura complex and the Aquaparque; at Caniço, the Garajau Partial Nature Reserve, created in 1986, and the Reis Magos and Garajau beaches.

  • Airport town
  • One of the oldest settlements
  • Praia das Palmeiras
  • Garajau reserve
GPS
32.68838, -16.79056
🧭 Getting there
The place stands in the locality of Santa Cruz, parish of Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz).
🅿️ Parking
The nearest car park is Parque Centro de Saúde, 363 m away.
🗺️ See it on the map🧭 Go there
Good to know about Santa Cruz1

  • 1958–1966 — Levada dos Tornos — 63 km, the island's longest; 17.18 km northern section with three tunnels

    Rising at the Ribeira dos Tornos (Boaventura, 660 m), it feeds the Fajã da Nogueira power plant and then the municipalities of Funchal, Santa Cruz and Machico for drinking water and irrigation — a leap in habitability for the south-east coast.

Services within 1.5 km8

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