Santa Cruz is a municipality, a parish and a city in the eastern part of Madeira, second only to Funchal in population: 43,005 residents across 81.5 km². Madeira's international airport occupies the eastern part of the municipality, and an expressway links the city to Funchal in the west and Machico in the east, with a secondary road running north to Santana. Five parishes make up the municipality — Camacha, Caniço, Gaula, Santa Cruz and Santo António da Serra — and the offshore Desertas Islands belong to the Santa Cruz parish. Agriculture and fishing remain primary industries alongside tourism.
Santa Cruz
- Currency
- Euro, in place of the escudo since 2002. Multibanco and ATM Express cash machines take international cards almost everywhere and mostly charge nothing of their own, while the Euronet machines clustered in tourist streets take high fees and give poor rates. VAT is already inside every price in shops and restaurants: 23% standard on the mainland, 22% in Madeira and 18% in the Azores.
- Language
- Portuguese, spoken here with a heavy accent even by mainland standards. English gets you about as far as it does on the mainland, and an attempt at a few Portuguese words is always taken well.
- Power plug
- Type C / F, 230 V, 50 Hz
- Visa
- Schengen: entry and short-stay limits follow the common Schengen rules.
- Time zone
- UTC+0 (UTC+1 in summer)
- Tap water
- Safe to drink across the country. Bottled spring water (água mineral) is sold everywhere for those who prefer it.
- Tipping
- Not expected, appreciated for good service. Around 8–10% in a restaurant if the service was exemplary, and it is perfectly acceptable to leave nothing if it was not. No tip for a coffee or a cake; €1–2 if you eat a full meal in a café. Nothing in pubs and bars. In a taxi, round the fare up and add €1–2.
- Emergency
- 112
When to go
Low season
Dec – Mar
The wettest stretch of the year. The high parishes inland — Camacha, Santo António da Serra — sit in cloud far more often than the coast, and the sea is at its coldest.
Shoulder
Apr – May
Clear light along the eastern coast and green hills after the winter rain, before airport traffic peaks.
High season
Jun – Sep
Warmest and driest. The coastal parishes, Caniço above all, are at their busiest, and so is the airport.
Shoulder
Oct – Nov
Rain returns to the slopes inland and the coast thins out, while the sea stays at its warmest of the year.
How long to stay
Two days is enough for the city itself, the seafront and a drive up to Camacha and Santo António da Serra. Santa Cruz makes more sense as a base than as a stop: the airport is here and the expressway puts Funchal and Machico within easy reach, so a week spent here covers the whole eastern half of Madeira without moving hotels.
Getting around
Madeira's international airport sits in the eastern part of the municipality, so nearly everyone who flies to the island touches down in Santa Cruz before going anywhere else. From there an expressway runs west to Funchal and east to Machico, and an ancillary road heads north across the island to Santana.
A hire car is the practical way to cover the municipality itself. The five parishes are strung out between the coast — Caniço, Gaula and Santa Cruz — and the high ground inland at Camacha and Santo António da Serra, and the road between the two climbs the whole way. Urban sprawl from Funchal now runs right up to the western edge of the municipality, so the boundary between the two is not something you notice from the driver's seat.
What to see
Destinations in Santa Cruz
Frequently asked questions
Is Madeira Airport in Santa Cruz?
Yes. Cristiano Ronaldo International Airport stands in the eastern part of Santa Cruz municipality, although it is commonly associated with Funchal and often called Funchal Airport.Which parishes make up the municipality?
Five: Camacha, Caniço, Gaula, Santa Cruz and Santo António da Serra. The offshore Desertas Islands are part of the Santa Cruz parish.How do you get from Santa Cruz to Funchal?
An expressway links Santa Cruz to Funchal in the west and to Machico in the east. A separate ancillary road runs north to Santana on the other coast.How large is Santa Cruz?
The municipality covered 81.50 km² with 43,005 residents at the 2011 census, making it the second most populous on Madeira after Funchal.Where does the name come from?
The first arrivals put ashore in a wooded valley and raised a cross there, giving the place the name Santa Cruz — Holy Cross. A second cross, in marble, was raised to mark it and was destroyed around 1889.