Praia Formosa

• Outdoors
• From 6
• Children free
• Just turn up

Funchal's biggest beach, free and lifeguarded through the season, with a defibrillator on site and nothing shallow for a small child.

It is the free alternative to the ticketed complexes a few hundred metres east, and the one with room to run about, but the water is the problem: large stones, a steep entry and a shore break that tips toddlers over. There is no children's pool and no sheltered corner. Older children who swim do fine, and the Accessible Beach certification means a pushchair or a wheelchair genuinely gets near the water along the promenade.

Worth knowing: With a non-swimmer, walk the ten minutes east and pay to get into the Lido or Ponta Gorda for the children's pool - there is nothing here that substitutes for it. Lifeguard cover stops with the bathing season, which is the fact worth carrying into October.

Opening hours

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

Prices

Free, with free parking behind the beach and bars on site. Sunbed concessions in season.

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.