Botanical Gardens

Six of the nine sit on Madeira, five in Funchal alone, where the gardens climb the slope above the bay on stair terraces — orchids at Quinta da Boa Vista, camellias and rare trees at Palheiro Gardens, lakes and flamingos at Monte Palace Tropical Garden. The other three are Icelandic: Akureyri holds some 7,000 plant species 85 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle, and Skrúður in the Westfjords is entered through an arch of whale jawbones. On Madeira, expect to walk uphill.