Museu de Electricidade Casa da Luz

The museum is built around one story: how Madeira powered itself. The displays run from oil and diesel generators to the hydroelectric, wind and solar systems that replaced them, with the machinery and hand tools of each stage set out along the way. Dioramas trace the spread of electric lighting across the islands. The building is part of the subject — Casa da Luz was Funchal's power station before it was a museum.

The presentation is plain rather than interactive, and the labelling is uneven: the ground floor carries English descriptions, the floor above has far fewer. Staff know the collection and are used to filling the gaps. A set of photographs of the February 2010 floods hangs among the exhibits and has nothing to do with turbines.

• English labels are a ground-floor thing. The lower displays are described in English; upstairs there is little or none.
• Half an hour covers it. The museum is small, and the rooms are densely filled rather than large.
• The temporary exhibition space can be empty. Come for the permanent displays; anything extra is a bonus.
• There are toilets inside, and free public toilets stand within about 100 m of the entrance.
• It works for children. Dioramas, switchgear and old machinery hold attention better than the subject suggests.

The museum stands in central Funchal, close to the seafront. Buses stop directly outside, so the walk from the stop is a matter of metres. Drivers have two car parks within about 100 m, one of them surfaced in stone setts. From either, the approach is flat pavement and the entrance is at street level, with no steps or stairs to negotiate before the door. The ruins of São Filipe Fortress are about 100 m away, if you want to pair the two.

Better: an overcast or wet day, when the viewpoints and levada walks give nothing back.

Avoid: Sundays and Mondays, when the museum is closed, and the middle of the day, when it shuts for lunch.

Everything here is indoors and takes about half an hour. That makes it an easy fill for a gap in the day rather than a destination you build the day around.