Santana, Madeira: the thatched houses, the theme park and the 801 bus

Santana is the village on every postcard of Madeira, and the trip to see it goes wrong in two ordinary ways. The theme park that most families come for is shut on Mondays. And the last bus back to Funchal leaves before that park closes its gates.

Neither is hard to work around once you know. Both are easy to walk into, because the park's own page still gives bus numbers that stopped existing in March 2026, and because the north coast runs on a handful of buses a day, three on a Sunday, where the south side runs one every half hour.

The triangular thatched cottages are not a theme invented for visitors, and the shape is practical rather than decorative. They were built of wood, which was cheap and plentiful here and which evens out the temperature inside. The roof was thatched with straw from the wheat and rye the same families grew, and pitched that steeply so the rain ran off instead of soaking in. The blue, red and white came later and stuck.

Inside there is less than the outside suggests: a loft for storing farm produce, and a single ground floor divided into a kitchen and a bedroom. That is the whole house, and standing in one is the part of the visit that tends to stay with people.

The row to look for is the Núcleo de Casas Típicas, next to the town hall in the middle of Santana. Neither the tourism board nor the municipality publishes opening hours or an entry price for it, so treat the interiors as a bonus. The exteriors are what you came for, and you can see those from the street at any hour. Allow twenty minutes. Several of the houses work as craft shops.

The park is the other reason people drive up. It is seven hectares of grounds on the edge of the village, open since October 2004.

Admission in 2026 is 13 euros for an adult, 9 euros for a child or junior aged 6 to 14, 3 euros for a child of 4 or 5, and 9 euros at 65 and over. Under-3s are admitted on request. Every ticket covers the whole park and all its attractions, so there is nothing to buy again inside.

It opens 10h00 to 18h00 and it is closed on Mondays. That one line undoes more Santana trips than anything else on this page, because a wet Monday is exactly when a family decides to drive north and find something indoors.

What is in it: a village of traditional Santana houses you can go into, a small working farm called the Quintinha, the Fantastic Voyage ride, the Pavilhão Júnior for younger children, and a lake with Câmara de Lobos fishing boats that give rides, linked by a replica of the old Monte train. The park suggests two to four hours, which is about right if the boats and the train are running. They may not be. The park's own visitor page says the simulator, the boats, the train and the demonstrations run at specific times or in particular conditions, and asks you to check availability when you arrive. Ask at the gate before you pay for a family of four on the strength of the train.

Parking on site is free. The address is Estrada do Parque Temático n.º 1, and it is signposted from Machico up the expressway, 35 to 45 minutes from the airport.

The park's own how-to-get-here page sends you to routes 56 and 103. Both numbers were retired in the SIGA renumbering of 9 March 2026, which is why so much of the advice online now points at buses that do not exist. What they became:

• Route 56 is now 801, Funchal to Santana, the direct one.
• Route 103 is now 850 going out and 860 coming back, Funchal to Arco de São Jorge, which calls at Santana on the way.
• Shorter local services around the village are 802, 803, 804 and 875.

All of them are run by CAM, not by the Funchal city operator, and they leave from central Funchal. The road climbs over the mountains past Ribeiro Frio, which is why the trip takes an hour and a half when the map suggests forty-five minutes.

Monday to Friday there are ten departures from Funchal, at 07.30, 08.10, 09.00, 10.00, 13.45, 16.00, 17.05, 18.00, 18.30 and 19.30. Nine of them reach Santana, at 09.00, 10.00, 10.25, 11.25, 15.27, 17.00, 19.02, 20.07 and 20.57; the 17.05 turns off before the village. Saturdays there are four departures, at 07.30, 10.00, 13.30 and 18.00. Sundays and public holidays there are three, at 07.30, 10.30 and 18.00. Nothing runs on 25 December.

Certain journeys carry a footnote reading "direct connection to Madeira Theme Park": the weekday arrivals at 09.00 and 10.00, the Saturday arrivals at 09.13 and 11.20, and the Sunday arrivals at 09.18 and 12.00. Those are the buses that set you down at the gate instead of in the village, and they are the most useful line on the sheet. On a weekday that means leaving Funchal at 07.30 or 08.10, which puts you at the park as it opens.

Some services carry a second mark, "serviço a pedido". Those run only if someone asks for them, and you have to book by 16h00 on the previous working day, by email to info@cam-madeira.pt or by phone on 291 201 150. On Saturdays and Sundays that applies to half the timetable, so read the sheet itself and not somebody's summary of it.

Going out is the easy half. The return is the constraint, and it is tighter than the park's hours.

The last bus from Santana to Funchal leaves at 17.25 on weekdays, arriving at 19.00. On Saturdays, Sundays and holidays it is 17.28, arriving at 19.20. The park closes at 18.00.

So a bus day ends at the park gate by about a quarter past five, half an hour before closing, and you spend that half hour walking to the stop instead of seeing the last pavilion. Plan the visit backwards from the bus and it is a comfortable day. Plan it forwards from the opening time and you will be running.

The combinations that work: on a weekday, out at 08.10 for a 10.00 arrival and back at 17.25. On a Saturday, out at 10.00 for 11.20 and back at 17.28. On a Sunday, out at 10.30 for noon and back at 17.28. On a Monday, do something else.

A car turns Santana from a day into a morning, and the drive itself is a reason to have one. The expressway from Machico has tunnelled most of the old pain out of the north coast, and the 35 to 45 minutes from the airport is realistic.

It also opens up everything around the village that no bus reaches: the viewpoints along the coast road, the forest park at Queimadas above the village, and the option of carrying on west to São Jorge and Arco de São Jorge instead of turning round.

The trade-off is the mountain road if you come the direct way, through Ribeiro Frio. It is slow and often in cloud, and it is not the drive to do in the dark on your first day.

Below the village the cliff drops to a fajã, the flat shelf of land at the bottom, and the water off it has been a protected marine reserve since 1997. It covers 1,710 hectares between Ponta de São Jorge and Ponta do Clérigo, out to the hundred metre depth line, and takes in two islets, Rocha das Vinhas and Viúva. Gillnets and spearfishing are banned inside it; amateur diving is not.

The tourism board names three ways to see it: the Rocha do Navio viewpoint, a footpath, and a cable car down the cliff. The viewpoint is free and takes five minutes from the village.

The cable car is harder to plan around. Neither the municipality nor the tourism board publishes a fare or a timetable for it, the figures circulating on travel sites contradict each other by a factor of nearly three, and so do the reports of whether a refurbishment has finished. Take cash, and treat any price you have seen online as a rumour until you are standing at the top station.

The whole municipality has been a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since its nomination in 2011: 15,218 hectares, of which 9,554 are on land and 5,664 at sea, with a population of 6,710.

Santana is also the road head for the Levada do Caldeirão Verde, which starts at Queimadas Forest Park above the village and is one of the two best known levada walks on the island.

It is a full day on its own, not an add-on to the theme park, and it needs paperwork. Since 1 January 2026 every classified PR trail has required a timed booking through the regional SIMplifica portal, in 30-minute entry slots, at 4.50 euros a person for the general public and 3 euros if you walk with a company holding an IFCN protocol. Residents are exempt but still have to reserve. Payment is in advance, because the phone signal up there is unreliable, and walking in without a valid booking counts as an infraction and can be fined.

Queimadas is a taxi ride above Santana. There is no bus.

For most people this is a day out from Funchal and should stay one. The buses only run from there, the choice of rooms is wider, and a night in the north buys you nothing for a visit built around a park that shuts at six. One practical note either way: the north coast buses leave from the centre of Funchal, so wherever you sleep in the city you start your morning there.

Basing yourself in the hills above Funchal rather than on the seafront suits this kind of trip. You get the cooler nights, the view over the bay, and the Ribeiro Frio road starting more or less outside the door.

If that is the base you want: our partner Madeira with Views has apartments in exactly that band of the city, above the bay and on the Monte side of town.

Staying in Santana itself makes sense for one reason only, which is the walking. If Caldeirão Verde and the forest park are the point of your week, sleeping at the trailhead instead of ninety minutes away is worth a lot. Accept that the village is quiet after dark and that bus connections along the north coast are thin.

Is the Madeira Theme Park open on Mondays? No. It opens 10h00 to 18h00 and closes on Mondays. That is the single most common wasted trip to Santana.

How much is the Madeira Theme Park? In 2026, 13 euros for adults, 9 euros for ages 6 to 14, 3 euros for ages 4 to 5 and 9 euros from 65. One ticket covers everything inside.

Which bus goes to Santana? The 801 from Funchal, which used to be the 56, and the 850 out and 860 back, which used to be the 103. The park's own website still prints the old numbers.

What time is the last bus back from Santana? 17.25 on weekdays, arriving in Funchal at 19.00, and 17.28 at weekends and on holidays, arriving at 19.20. The park closes at 18.00, so leave the park early.

Can you go inside the thatched houses? Some of them, at the Núcleo de Casas Típicas beside the town hall, though no official opening hours are published. The reconstructed village inside the theme park is the reliable way to see an interior.

• Parque Temático da Madeira, tickets and plan your visit for the prices, the hours, the Monday closure, the address, the parking and the note on which attractions run when.
• Visit Madeira, Madeira Theme Park and Direção Regional da Cultura for the October 2004 opening, the seven hectares and the attractions.
• SIGA, route 56 to 801 and route 103 to 850 and 860 for the renumbering of 9 March 2026, and the CAM "Rede Santana" timetable sheets linked from both for the departures, the theme park footnote, the on-request services and the 25 December note.
• Visit Madeira, Casas de Santana for the construction, the colours and the interior layout.
• Visit Madeira, Rocha do Navio Nature Reserve for the 1997 creation, the 1,710 hectares, the boundaries and the islets, and Decreto Legislativo Regional n.º 11/97/M for the fishing rules.
• UNESCO, Santana-Madeira Biosphere Reserve for the 2011 nomination, the areas and the population.
• Visit Madeira, hiking and SIMplifica for the 2026 trail booking and fees, under Portaria n.º 801/2025 as amended by Portaria n.º 48/2026.