Grutas e Centro do Vulcanismo de São Vicente

Closed. Shut when we last checked. It is kept here because guides and map apps still list it.

• Indoors
• From 4
• No price published
• Just turn up

Eight lava tubes from an eruption about 890,000 years ago, more than a kilometre of them and up to six metres high, with a volcanism pavilion next door - closed indefinitely.

This was the island's one proper rainy-day science stop, which is exactly why the closure matters: the operator's own homepage says the caves and the centre are encerrados por tempo indeterminado devido a trabalhos de manutenção, with no reopening date. Visit Madeira still lists the attraction as though nothing had happened, and that listing is how families end up in the São Vicente car park. Nothing else on the north coast replaces it.

Worth knowing: Check the operator's homepage before you set off - the notice is the first thing on it. Also note that an older domain for the caves now hosts an unrelated blog, so a search result showing normal opening hours is probably not them.

Opening hours

The operator publishes no opening hours. Phone before you drive.

Prices

No tickets are on sale and no current tariff is published while the site is shut.

Getting there

Prices and opening times change without notice, and on this island they change often. Everything here carries the date it was checked in our research notes; if a place has moved or closed, tell us and we will fix it.