Quinta das Cruzes Museum

The house is a Funchal manor of the 18th century, and it is furnished rather than staged. The rooms carry a great deal of English Chippendale. The silver is the strongest single group on show, with ceramics, jewellery, paintings and religious works around it. Some of the furniture was built on Madeira from the wood of Brazilian sugar chests, a craft that grew straight out of the island's sugar trade.

Outside, the garden holds several outsized specimen trees and is quiet enough that you hear birds over the city. The café at the end has a terrace facing due south and a clear view across Funchal.

• Labelling is sparse. Objects carry little written explanation, so the rooms reward looking rather than reading.
• Closed two days a week, and again over lunch. Check the hours before setting off; the midday gap catches people out.
• Toilets on site and wheelchair-accessible, with more public toilets a couple of hundred metres away.
• The café is part of the visit. It serves proper food, not just coffee, and the terrace looks out over Funchal.

Quinta das Cruzes Museum stands above the old centre of Funchal, and walking up means a steep climb — the stretch past the English Church is the worst of it. In heat, a taxi is money well spent. Drivers get off lightly: there are car parks right by the gate, and bus stops are close enough that the last leg is a level stroll rather than a climb.

Better: first thing after opening, or straight after the midday break, when the rooms are emptiest.

Avoid: the middle of the day, when the museum shuts for lunch, and Sundays and Mondays, when it does not open at all.

The café terrace faces due south and takes full sun through the middle of the day. That is welcome in winter and hard work in summer heat; the garden under the big trees is the easier place to sit.