Machico Aerial

Banda d'Além is the yellow-sand beach, on the right bank of the mouth of the Ribeira de Machico. Visit Madeira says it has a parking area. It does not print a charge or a count of ordinary spaces. The Blue Flag file for the same beach, code PTMK9E, gives the address as Rua do Leiria and says there are 3 parking spaces reserved for people with reduced mobility, plus an adapted toilet and access walkways. The concessionaire on that file is Câmara Municipal de Machico, 291 969 990, ambiente@cm-machico.pt. The file also names Departamento Marítimo da Madeira - Capitania do Porto do Funchal as the maritime authority on the application. It does not print a 2026 flag year in the text that could be read.

São Roque is the pebble side of the same bay, between the river mouth and the chapel built in 1489. Visit Madeira says to use the Fórum Machico car park nearby. It does not price that car park. The Fórum is at Edifício Fórum, Praia de Machico, 9200-108 Machico. The building is open Monday to Friday, 09h às 17h30, phone (+351) 961 190 526. Those hours are the cultural centre. The page does not say the car park keeps the same hours.

The getting-around page describes parking colours for the island, not a tariff for this beach: white lines free (some of them for residents only), blue lines paid, yellow lines no stopping. Payment is generally Monday to Friday 8h-20h and Saturday 8h-14h. Sundays and holidays are free. Pay at the meter or in the iPark Driver app. The beach pages do not say which colour the sand parking area uses.

SIGA’s page for this town is titled Machico. On 7 October 2026 it showed the old number 23 and the new number 701, and it links sam_23.pdf. The page says the timetable viewer is still in development. The PDF header is Companhia de Autocarros da Madeira. The renumbering sheet, in force from 09/03/2026, is the CAM page, and the row is 23 to 701, Funchal / Machico. The SIGA notice of 20/03/2026 says the new numbers do not change the route or the timetable. Stops change over to the new numbers gradually, digital first. 23 701 Funchal / Machico. 130 725 Machico / Água Pena - Sant'ana. 201 726 Machico / Ribeira Seca - Pastel. 202 727 Machico / Maroços. 9 500 Aerobus - Aeroporto. 113 702 Funchal / Caniçal - Baía D'abra.

The legend that could be read in sam_23.pdf dates the school period and the school holidays to 2024, and the English half says "25 th December" buses do not run. The sheet mixes those columns with other CAM lines. No departure clock is copied here. Open the PDF before you travel.

The same SIGA page gives these phones for timetable trouble: CAM +351 291 201 151, Horários do Funchal +351 291 705 555, SIGA Rodoeste +351 291 220 148. imt@madeira.gov.pt, +351 291 145 180, 9:00-12:30, 14:00-17:30. Horários do Funchal is a contact on that page. The PDF is CAM’s. Aerobus, old 9 and new 500, is named Aerobus - Aeroporto on the CAM sheet. Visit Madeira names Aerobus for the airport to Funchal. The sheet does not call it a Machico bus.

Visit Madeira, read 7 October 2026: Banda d'Além is about 70 metres long and 100 metres wide. The sand is yellow, from Morocco. The Portuguese page says areia amarela, proveniente de Marrocos. The English page says golden sand, imported from Morocco. It lists a lifeguard during the bathing season, changing cabins, showers, toilets, a parking area, access walkways, and conditions for people with reduced mobility. It does not print the months. It does not print a price for a sun lounger.

São Roque is rolled pebble, free to enter, with toilets, showers, a first-aid post, a parasol area, and restaurants and bars nearby. Visit Madeira says lifeguards during the bathing season and does not print the months.

Portaria n.º 206/2026, 13 de maio de 2026. PTMU7X Alagoa, dash, 8 de junho a 27 de setembro. PTMK9E Banda d'Além, praia de banhos, 16 de junho a 27 de setembro. PTMT8M Maiata, dash, 8 de junho a 27 de setembro. PTMU8H Prainha, praia de banhos, 30 de junho a 27 de setembro, praia de uso limitado. PTMD2C Ribeira do Natal, praia de banhos, 16 de junho a 27 de setembro, praia de uso limitado. PTMU2P S. Roque, praia de banhos, 26 de junho a 27 de setembro. PTMW3X Quinta do Lorde, dash, 1 de junho a 30 de setembro. A praia de banhos is a beach where lifeguards are present during the bathing season. Article 2 says a bathing water that is not a praia de banhos did not have bather surveillance assured on the day the ordinance was published. On 7 October 2026 the Banda d'Além season in that ordinance had ended. The portaria does not say who is on the sand once it has ended.

On 20-06-2026 the regional health authority lifted a temporary ban on bathing at Banda d'Além, after a new sample on 18 de junho de 2026, under Decree-Law 135/2009. The season dates are not a promise the water stayed open every day inside them.

Machico and the airport are on the same east coast. Santa Cruz is the airport municipality, 18 km from Funchal on the Visit Madeira page. Machico is the next municipality east, "a 22 km do Funchal, sensivelmente". The only timed drive on the getting-around page is airport to Funchal, "cerca de 20 a 25 minutos". This site has the airport pictures.

Visit Madeira’s Machico page says the municipality has about 20 mil inhabitants on 68 km², in five parishes: Água de Pena, Caniçal, Machico, Porto da Cruz, and part of Santo António da Serra. The landing it dates is July 1419. Ponta de São Lourenço, on that page, is nove quilómetros long and a partial nature reserve.

Toward that peninsula the expressway section is VR1/ER 106, Machico (Fazenda, ER 101) to Caniçal (ER 214). SIGA’s page for the last bus is titled Caniçal - Baía D'Abra. On 7 October 2026 it showed the old number 113 and the new number 702, and it links sam_113.pdf. The viewer on that page is still in development. No departure clock is copied here. PR8 Vereda da Ponta de São Lourenço starts at Baía d'Abra. The fee is on the Visit Madeira PR8 page. It is not copied here. Prainha, in Caniçal, is a beach of natural volcanic sand, copper-coloured, with the Dunas da Piedade, and Visit Madeira says it has a parking area. It does not price it. This site has the Caniçal pictures.

The picture on this page is the NetMadeira camera, over the bay. Use it for cloud on the valley and for the colour of the water before you go down. It is not a lifeguard flag, and it does not show a free space in the parking area.

The sand picture is Madeira-Web Beaches Live. That one is the beach and the port, not a boarding time and not the trail at Baía d'Abra.