The visual record
Santo António da Serra: town in Madeira
Santo António da Serra sits in the municipality of Santa Cruz, Madeira. Its population is around 1,800.
Inland plateau parish known locally as Santo da Serra, famous for its Sunday market, with a 27-hole golf course and apple orchards.
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About Santo António da Serra
Santo António da Serra is part of the municipality of Santa Cruz, with a population of around 1,800
Santo António da Serra sits where dry eastern ridges and deep coastal inlets meet the sea, which shapes its layout and its everyday rhythm: fishing, agriculture, and increasingly tourism. Spending half a day here gives a much better feel for the island than only visiting Funchal.
Santo António da Serra, which almost everyone calls Santo da Serra, is a plateau parish at around 670 m, between Machico and Santa Cruz. It is cooler and greener than the coast, with apple orchards, pasture and woodland, and it often sits inside the cloud while the shoreline below is sunny.
It is best known for its Sunday-morning market beside the church: fruit and vegetables from local growers, flowers, home-made cakes, bolo do caco and poncha. It is one of the most traditional markets on the island and worth arriving early for.
Next door is the Quinta do Santo da Serra, a former Blandy family estate turned municipal park, with the Miradouro dos Ingleses viewpoint looking out over Machico and Ponta de São Lourenço.
Golf is the parish's other big draw. The Santo da Serra Golf Club overlooks the bay of Machico, where the Portuguese navigators first landed. The original course was built in 1937 and completely redesigned in 1991 by Robert Trent Jones Senior into a 27-hole layout: three nine-hole loops named Machico, Desertas and Serras, set in wooded grounds with four lakes. The Machico and Desertas loops were the usual combination for the Madeira Island Open, the parish's European Tour tournament, and Severiano Ballesteros played here in 2001. Each hole has four sets of tees, so it suits casual holiday rounds as well as serious players, and visitors can book tee times on the club's website.
What to know before you go
- Most cafés, bakeries and family-run restaurants take cards; small village shops sometimes still prefer cash for under €5.
- Buses connect the main towns through the day, but a small rental car is far more flexible if you want to chain villages together.
- Old-town streets are tight and one-way; use the signed car parks on the outskirts and walk the last few minutes in.
Best time to visit
Santo António da Serra is comfortable year-round, but spring and early autumn give the best mix of warm afternoons and low cloud cover.
Location
Central east, Madeira · Open in OpenStreetMap · Google Maps
32.72640, -16.82000
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Frequently asked
Is Santo António da Serra worth visiting?
Yes. Santo António da Serra shows a quieter, more local side of Madeira than central Funchal, and pairs naturally with the trails, beaches and viewpoints in the same valley.
How do I get to Santo António da Serra from Funchal?
20–35 minutes east of Funchal on the VR1, easy day-trip distance, and Aerobus / SIGA lines run through regularly.
When is the Santo da Serra market?
On Sunday mornings, beside the church. Expect local produce, flowers, cakes and poncha, arrive early for the best choice.
Are Santo da Serra and Santo António da Serra the same place?
Yes. The parish's official name is Santo António da Serra; locally it is almost always called Santo da Serra.
Can visitors play at Santo da Serra Golf Club?
Yes. The 27-hole course (three loops: Machico, Desertas and Serras) is open to visitors, with tee times bookable on the club's website. It is a few minutes above the village, overlooking Machico bay.
Plan around Santo António da Serra
The nearest town, viewpoint and walk: the three things most visitors pair with Santo António da Serra in a day.
Nearby on Madeira
Other places within easy reach of Santo António da Serra.
Plan the rest of your trip
The four guides most first-time visitors reach for.
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