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Area guide

Machico

The bay where the island was first settled, its imported-sand beach, the road to the PR8 trailhead, and a live camera over the port.

Machico from the hill above the bay: a curve of pale sand and a marina behind a breakwater, the town packed along the shore, and the airport runway on its embankment further along the coast.
The imported sand and the island’s only runway are both in this frame — the beach on the near shore, the strip on its embankment further along the coast.Vitor Oliveira · CC BY 2.0

The island was settled from this bay, and the beach in it is younger than most of the people on it: 125 m by 70 m of sand shipped in from Laayoune and opened in 2008. Round the headland at Caniçal, Prainha is the opposite case — dark sand nobody imported, a Blue Flag, and the shortest bathing season of any flagged beach on Madeira.

Live right now

These are live cameras, not photographs. They start on their own as you reach them.

The bay, the other imported-sand beach, and the town the island was first settled from.

Camera operated by Webcamtaxi

The cameras are hosted on YouTube, so opening this page contacts Google. Optional analytics is separate and loads only if you allow it.

What is here

Each of these is a page on this site about something in this area. The line under it is why you would go, not what the page is called.

  • PR8 · Vereda da Ponta de São Lourenço

    The busiest trail on the island starts out past Caniçal, in this same municipality, and its official hazard warning is about the cliff edge rather than about fitness.

  • Madeira’s beaches

    Both of Machico’s beaches are in the national bathing register, with their 2026 seasons published to the day.

  • Getting around without a car

    Bus 702 runs here direct from Funchal — one of only four destinations this site prints a route number for.

The shoreline, as the paperwork describes it

Surface, entry and lifeguard cover, from the 2026 bathing portaria and the municipalities’ own published tariffs.

  • Praia da Banda d’Além, Machico

    Imported sandFreeLifeguard: Assured

    Blue Flag 2026

  • Prainha, Caniçal

    Natural dark sandFreeLifeguard: Assured

    Blue Flag 2026

On film

The whole trail at walking pace, uncut and without commentary, so you can judge the exposure and your own footing honestly. This is the trail whose official hazard warning is about the cliff edge.

Filmed and published by Greg on the Move.

Getting there

East of Funchal on the expressway, past the airport. Bus 702 does it direct, and this is a short day rather than a full one, so the last bus back constrains you less here than it does inland.

Getting around without a carTransport and services