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Almirante do Atlântico
1 mi from the city centre · Calheta · Portugal
Coves and churches of Calheta
Calheta is known as one of the first areas of Madeira to be settled, in what the town council calls the archipelago's largest municipality. Read on for a parish church with Mudéjar ceilings and a royal gift, a lighthouse, a fishing village and two sheltered beach coves.
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Calheta lies between the south and the far west of Madeira and, according to the town council, is the largest municipality in the archipelago and one of the first areas of the island to be settled. Its name is linked to a small bay, and the place also served as a point where taxes on sugar and timber were collected. João Gonçalves Zarco, the discoverer of Madeira, chose this area for a large grant of land to his son João Gonçalves da Câmara and Beatriz Gonçalves.
Calheta became a town on 1 July 1502 by royal charter of Manuel I, 72 years after its foundation. In the parish church, the Igreja Matriz do Espírito Santo, look for the Mudéjar-style ceilings over the chancel and nave and an ebony tabernacle inlaid with silver, a gift from Manuel I. A stone in the pulpit bears the date 1639, when the church was completely rebuilt. The Misericórdia was founded in 1535, and the present municipality was created in 1835.
The council's timeline also records the 1901 visit of King Carlos I and Queen Amélia to Calheta and Rabaçal, the inauguration of the lighthouse at Ponta da Vigia, in Ponta do Pargo, on 5 June 1922, and the fishermen's housing block at Paul do Mar, opened in July 1944. The municipal holiday is 24 June, St John's Day, when the municipality holds its week of festivities with exhibitions, concerts and sports.
On the seafront, the Praia da Calheta is made up of two artificial coves separated by an opening to the Atlantic, about 30 minutes by car from Funchal, and access is free.
Craft beer in Calheta is a rare find on Madeira's west coast. Keep an eye out for something brewed on the island while you explore the coves and churches.
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Breweries in Calheta
Frequently asked questions
Calheta lies between the south and the far west of Madeira. According to the town council, it is the largest municipality in the archipelago and one of the first areas of the island to be settled. Its name is linked to a small bay, and it once served as a point for collecting taxes on sugar and timber.
It is one of Madeira's earliest settlements. The island's discoverer, João Gonçalves Zarco, chose the area for a large grant of land to his son, and the settlement became a town by royal charter of Manuel I on 1 July 1502, 72 years after its foundation. The present municipality was created in 1835.
Look up at the Mudéjar-style ceilings over the chancel and the nave, and look for the ebony tabernacle inlaid with silver, a gift from King Manuel I. A stone in the pulpit bears the date 1639, the year the church was completely rebuilt. The same king had made the settlement a town by royal charter in 1502.
The town beach is made up of two artificial coves separated by an opening to the Atlantic, and access is free. It lies on the seafront, about 30 minutes by car from Funchal. Elsewhere in the municipality, the council's timeline records a lighthouse at Ponta do Pargo and a fishermen's housing block at Paul do Mar.
Come around 24 June, St John's Day, the municipal holiday. That is when the municipality holds its week of festivities, with exhibitions, concerts and sports. The council's timeline also records a royal visit in 1901, when King Carlos I and Queen Amélia came to the town and to Rabaçal.