Places built for children rather than merely tolerant of them: indoor play, trampolines, soft play and the one theme park on the island.
Santana
Seven hectares outside Santana where children row a boat on a lake, ride a replica Monte train, run a maze and a large playground, and meet goats and ostriches between thatched houses.
Funchal
Seven separate play zones in central Funchal with a real brunch café attached, plus Laser Limbo - a laser-dodging arena game booked by the hour.
Porto Santo
Porto Santo's kart track at Penedo do Sono, and the only motorised attraction of its kind on the smaller island.
Santana
A full-size 1040-metre outdoor kart circuit on the north coast at Faial, run with the island's karting association, which rents karts by the fifteen minutes.
Funchal
A staffed indoor playground of 450 square metres in central Funchal with a proper café, sold in two-hour slots for children aged two to ten.
Funchal
A racing-simulator centre that ran in Funchal near the Jaime Moniz school. It is gone.
Funchal
Funchal's blacklit laser-tag maze, in the basement of the JoĂŁo de Deus building - and showing no sign of life.
Funchal
Funchal's original escape room on Rua da Fábrica, an hour-long mystery set in Zarco's day. It has stopped.
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.