Quinta Pedagógica dos Prazeres
Calheta
- Outdoors
- Ages 1-8
- No price published
- Just turn up
A working teaching farm at Prazeres with ponies, donkeys, goats, rabbits and birds, an orchard and herb garden, and a tea house that serves its own produce.
It was founded in 2000 as an environmental education project rather than an attraction, which is why the animals are handled rather than displayed and why the staff explain things properly. Ponies and donkeys are the headline for under-eights, and an hour to ninety minutes covers the whole place. It is exposed: in rain there is very little to do here.
Worth knowing: Open every single day of the year, and later at weekends and on holidays than on weekdays - useful on the west coast, where most things shut at six. No admission price is published anywhere, so phone ahead if the budget is tight. It is an hour or so from Funchal on the VE3 and a car is effectively required.
Opening hours
- Mon
- 09:00-20:00 (Apr-Sep), 09:00-19:00 (Oct-Mar)
- Tue
- 09:00-20:00 (Apr-Sep), 09:00-19:00 (Oct-Mar)
- Wed
- 09:00-20:00 (Apr-Sep), 09:00-19:00 (Oct-Mar)
- Thu
- 09:00-20:00 (Apr-Sep), 09:00-19:00 (Oct-Mar)
- Fri
- 09:00-20:00 (Apr-Sep), 09:00-19:00 (Oct-Mar)
- Sat
- 09:00-21:00 (Apr-Sep), 09:00-20:00 (Oct-Mar)
- Sun
- 09:00-21:00 (Apr-Sep), 09:00-20:00 (Oct-Mar)
Prices
Not published - neither the quinta's own site nor the municipal listings name a figure, so nothing is quoted here rather than guessed. The tea house is priced separately.
Season
Open all year. Closing shifts by an hour between the summer and winter timetables, and weekends and holidays run an hour later than weekdays.
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.