PR 23 · Levada da Azenha

At Caniço, on the east coast known for the transparency of its water, a small, well-equipped pebble beach: parking, toilets adapted for people with disabilities, a sports area, parasols, a restaurant and bar with a view of the Atlantic, lifeguards and a first-aid post. A concrete sun deck and a pier complete the pebbles. The Blue Flag flies here every year (2026 included). Bathing season 2026: 1 June – 30 September, a supervised beach with lifeguards assured. Blue Flag 2026. In a swell follow the flags: red = no bathing.

Madeira's first marine reserve, created in 1986 on the initiative of a group of divers alarmed by the impoverishment of the seabed: 376 ha along about six miles of coast south-east of Funchal, between Ponta do Lazareto and Ponta da Oliveira, from the high-tide line to the 50 m isobath (never less than 600 m from the shore). Fishing banned, navigation restricted, habitats representative for in-situ conservation; its calm, clear waters make it the island's reference dive site, with dusky groupers and giant manta rays. Land access by the Cais do Lazareto or Garajau beach (cable car); above, Ponta do Garajau (Natural Monument), the 1927 Cristo Rei and the Pináculo viewpoint, a Natura 2000 area important for Cory's shearwaters and terns. Regional forestry institute environmental-education visit programme for groups.

One of the island's oldest Marian churches, built in the first half of the sixteenth century near an estate called Fazenda das Moças, which belonged to the sisters Isabel Álvares and Leonor Álvares. The style is Manueline; the Renaissance-inspired carved wooden altarpiece and the chancel are what to look at. The chapel is open for visits and for mass, nearly five centuries after it was built.

Built in 1783 under licence from Father José Lomelino Barreto, it is the seat of one of the island's oldest parishes. Two earlier churches preceded it, one to Santo Antão, the other to the Holy Spirit. The plan is rectangular with a single nave, on the hinge between Baroque and Rococo: a main front with a gabled cornice, topped by a window and a rendering of the royal arms; inside, late eighteenth-century Rococo altarpieces in gilded and white carving.