Route: Madeira Botanical Garden, Funchal
Area: Madeira
Date of walk: 1st February 2025
Walkers: Andrew and Gilly
Distance: 2.0 miles
Ascent: 200 feet
Weather: Mostly sunny
Earlier in the day we enjoyed a walk along the Levado do Caniçal. When we arrived back at the start there remained time for a couple of garden visits from our base in Funchal, the capital of Madeira. The first of these was to the Madeira Botanical Garden. Thanks to the subtropical climate of Madeira a huge variety of flora flourishes here all year round, even in January
Quinta do Bom Sucesso, home to the Madeira Botanical Garden, was established in 1881 by the Reid family. The Botanical Garden was created in 1960 with the aim of preserving endangered flora, and it houses a collection of species from all over the world. There is also a Natural History Museum and a Herbarium within the grounds, which extend to about eight hectares
We parked our hire car in the car park next to the gardens, but they can easily be accessed by bus or taxi. There’s no need to follow a set route so I’ve not provided the usual route map, but the maplink below shows the location of the garden. As we wandered around we marvelled at the diversity of the trees, plants and shrubs – too many to list. There are wonderful views from the terrace over Funchal and out to sea. We had a thoroughly enjoyable time here and I highly recommend a visit to this place
As this was our final day on Madeira we were keen to make the most of it, and had just enough time for another treat. The Botanical Garden Cable Car to Monte is located at the top of the garden and this was too good an opportunity to miss as it provides access to another well known garden, Monte Palace Tropical Garden – see my next post
Click on the icon below for the location of Madeira Botanical Garden
Scroll down – or click on any photo to enlarge it and you can then view as a slideshow
We enter into the Madeira Botanical Garden, which covers about 8 hectares
The Choreographed Gardens below are a famous feature of the Madeira Botanical Garden
The area is made up of a colourful mosaic of beef plants (Iresina herbsii)
The Atlantic Ocean
A few photos of our wander around the garden...
Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia), the national flower of Madeira
Camellia
Magnolia
Agapathus - in January
View over Funchal from one of the viewpoints in the garden
We walk back down to the Choreographed Gardens, the centrepiece of the Madeira Botanical Garden
The end of a wonderful visit. We could have spent much longer here but were running out of time and wanted to visit the nearby Monte Palace Tropical Garden
We catch the Botanical Cable Car which takes us from one garden to the other, see my next post
