São Vicente is a municipality on the north-west coast of Madeira, where a river valley opens onto the Atlantic. Just over 3,000 people live across its 79 km² and three parishes: São Vicente, Ponta Delgada and Boaventura. The São Vicente Caves, tunnels left behind by lava, are the best-known sight. Steep escarpments and deep river valleys kept settlers out until the middle of the 15th century, long after the south of the island was taken, and the town became a municipal seat by royal charter in 1774. Roads run east to Santana and west along the coast.
São Vicente
- 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
High season
Jun – Aug
The dry stretch: daytime highs of 23–26 °C and little to no rain. The north coast of Madeira still runs about a degree cooler than the south, with more cloud and less sun, so bring a layer even in August. Sea temperature climbs to 24 °C.
Shoulder
Sep – Nov
Warm and wet from mid-September. Highs slide from 25 °C down to 23 °C and the rain returns, but the sea holds 24 °C into October — the warmest water of the year.
Low season
Dec – May
The cool wet season runs December to April, with highs of 18–21 °C and the sea at its lowest, 18 °C in February and March. Humidity sits near 75% all year, and cloud stacks up against this coast.
How long to stay
A day covers the core: the caves, the seafront, and the Nossa Senhora de Fátima Chapel on its hill. Two nights turn São Vicente into a base for the whole north coast, with Porto Moniz to the west and Santana to the east on the same road. Anyone chasing the levadas and the mountain passes inland will want longer.
Getting around
A hire car is what makes this corner of Madeira work. São Vicente sits on the north-west coast, with Porto Moniz to the west and Santana and Machico to the east, and the roadway links it to Santana and to the western end of the island. The airport is on the opposite, southern coast, so arriving means crossing the mountains through the tunnel road. Buses come over from Funchal. But the three parishes are spread across 79 km² — São Vicente on the coast with the municipal seat, Ponta Delgada wedged between two promontories, Boaventura on the north-east coast and the thinnest-settled of the three — and a car is what strings them together in one run.
What to see
Destinations in São Vicente
Frequently asked questions
Where is São Vicente?
On the north-west coast of the island of Madeira, west of Santana and Machico and east of Porto Moniz. The roadway links it to Santana and to the western part of the island.Is São Vicente wetter than the south of Madeira?
Yes. The climate is a very wet subtropical Mediterranean one, and the north coast of Madeira runs about 1 °C cooler than the south because of heavier cloud and less sunshine. Humidity stays around 75% through the year.What is there to see?
The São Vicente Caves, tunnels left in the rock by lava. Above the town, the Nossa Senhora de Fátima Chapel is a quadrangular, tower-shaped building with white façades and a spire, reached by a staircase; from the top there are mountains under dense forest on one side and the open Atlantic on the other.What are the three parishes?
São Vicente, the largest in population and density and home to the municipal seat; Ponta Delgada, a small parish between two promontories; and Boaventura, the largest in area, the least densely settled and the last part of the municipality to be settled.How old is São Vicente?
The first settlers arrived in the middle of the 15th century, much later than in the south of Madeira, because the escarpments and deep river valleys made the north hard to reach. São Vicente was separated from the Captaincy of Machico and raised to municipal seat by royal charter on 23 August 1774; its present boundaries date from 1898.