Sao Vicente Caves

The Grutas de So Vicente (Sao Vicente Caverns in Portuguese) are caves in the parish and county of So Vicente, Madeira. Adult admission is €8, although the museum has been closed since March 2020. This is one of the most beautiful caves in Portugal.

A volcanic eruption near Paul da Serra created these caves some 890,000 years ago, and they ran down to the sea. As a result, the outside, which was exposed to lower temperatures, froze quickly, but the inner liquid continued to flow with many gases, generating a series of lava tubes that are now known as the So Vicente caverns. Locals found the caverns in 1885, and alerted James Yate Johnson, an English naturalist in Madeira, who went on to study them further. The caverns were first opened to the public on October 1, 1996, and were one of the first caves of volcanic origin in Portugal.

You may go through the lava tubes and caves of Sao Vicente, and at the end of the journey, visit the Volcano Center, which provides an informative viewpoint on the geological marvel. The Sao Vicente Caves and Volcanic Center is open from 1000 to 1800 hours seven days a week. There is a cost to enter. They're in the valley, and you can't miss them if you're staying in town or just visiting Sao Vicente for the day.

Length: 1,000 m

Address: Sao Vicente, Portugal