Piscinas Naturais do Porto Moniz
Porto Moniz
Lava pools the Atlantic fills and refreshes, fenced and lifeguarded, with a separate children's pool and a playground on the terrace.
- Outdoors
- Any age
- Children free
Swimming
Lava pools, sea-water lidos, calm beaches and the water park - with which ones have a lifeguard and which of the identical-looking pools next door do not.
Complexo Balnear do Lido
Funchal
Funchal's municipal lido: two seawater pools, one of them shallow with play equipment, plus ladders straight into the Atlantic, for five euros a head.
- Outdoors
- Any age
- Children free
Complexo Balnear da Ponta Gorda
Funchal
Two seawater pools - one a proper children's pool with play equipment in it - plus a natural tidal pool, at the quiet end of the Funchal promenade.
- Outdoors
- Any age
- Children free
Piscinas da Ribeira Brava
Ribeira Brava
A modern indoor complex with a heated 25 m pool and a shallow learning tank, sold by the 50-minute slot and cheapest in the middle of the day.
- Indoors
- Any age
- Children from 2.2 €
Piscinas Paulo Camacho - Clube Naval do Funchal
Funchal
Two heated indoor pools, 20 m and 25 m, at the Clube Naval sports complex - the island's main children's swimming school, and open to non-members.
- Indoors
- Any age
- Children from 34.65 €
Praia da Calheta
Calheta
The one stretch of sea on the main island shallow and calm enough for a three-year-old to stand up in, with a first-aid post and changing rooms on the sand.
- Outdoors
- Any age
- Children free
Praia de Machico
Machico
A sheltered east-facing town bay where the sand shelves gently enough for children to walk a long way out, with showers and changing rooms at the town end.
- Outdoors
- Any age
- Children free
Praia do Porto Santo
Porto Santo
Nine kilometres of soft sand where a parent can walk a child fifty metres out and still be standing - the one beach in the archipelago that needs no excuses.
- Outdoors
- Any age
- Children free
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.