Exploring abandoned places might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think about Madeira. We went to the island for the beautiful nature, awesome hikes and cute little towns. But once we started driving around the island, we came across more and more interesting ‘lost places’.

Most of them seemed to be traces of failed tourism projects, but we also found some atmospheric industrial ruins. Something we enjoy about finding these sites is that we usually get a glimpse of aspects of a place‘s history that are mostly not talked about in museums.

Here are our favourite abandoned sites on Madeira.

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The Best Abandoned Sites on Madeira

As always when checking out abandoned places, please watch out for your safety and always treat the locations with respect. Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints.

Swimming Pool of the Atlantis Hotel

This might not be the most impressive abandoned place we have visited, but it was definitely one of the most atmospheric, with little trees growing around the starting blocks at one end and a large diving tower at the other.

From what we could gather, it was once part of a hotel complex that had to go when they expanded the airport at the end of the 1990s, but the pool remained. There are lots of underground tunnels with changing rooms and some bigger spaces, which we assume once belonged to a restaurant (with windows opening into the pool).

We also liked the cool graffiti in the empty swimming pool. Of course I couldn’t resist climbing the diving tower, from where the views of the sea and the airport were pretty good. We also witnessed a few airplanes taking off while we were there.

The pool is in Machico’s Agua de Pena suburb, directly north of the eastern end of the Airport Runway. Thanks to the diving tower, it’s hard to miss.

Forte São João Baptista

Right by the beach in Machico, there’s a small abandoned fortress that’s worth a closer look. According to an inscription over the main gate, the structure dates to the early 18th century, so it’s by far the oldest place on this list.

Like the nearby Forte de Nossa Senhora do Amparo, which today holds the city administration, it was originally built to protect Machico against pirate attacks, which happened quite frequently at the time. After losing its military function, it was used on and off for other purposes (e.g. a cholera hospital at the beginning of the 20th century), before it was ultimately abandoned.

There are some interesting little architectural details, like a small remaining bastion at the north-western corner, but apart from that, there’s not a lot to see here and the interior is pretty overgrown. That said, we found the views of Machico Bay and the Desertas Islands alone worth the (very) short climb up to the fortress.

It’s right at the eastern end of the Machico beach and impossible to miss.

Rancho Madeirense Hotel

This is another site unlike any other abandoned place we have ever visited. In the forested hills south of Santana, there’s an abandoned hotel complex that’s slowly being swallowed by the surrounding vegetation.

There are 15 little bungalows in the complex, all of which are built in the style of Santana’s characteristic triangular Casas de Colmo. We couldn’t find any information on when it was built, but we found reviews on hotel websites which were as recent as 2010.

The bungalows all have two stories, with a little balcony in the upper level and while the inner layout is always the same, some of them still had lots of furniture inside, while others were stripped almost completely bare.

At the entrance of the complex is a bigger structure, which we guessed was once the reception building. Because of the location in the forest and the rampant vegetation slowly swallowing everything, we found the place super atmospheric.

To get there, you can park your car near the road at the car park for Parque Florestal Pico das Pedras (N 2°46.626 W 16°53.805), then walk north along the road for a few minutes and turn left at the first opportunity.

CARAM Slaughterhouse

If there was ever a perfect location for a cheesy 80s Slasher movie, it’s this abandoned slaughterhouse near Santo da Serra. We saw it while driving inland from the coast and of course, we had to stop and check it out.

Once again, we had trouble finding much information about the place online, except that it was run by a slaughterhouse company called CARAM, which was founded in 2006. It’s unclear when or why it shut down, but judging by the state of the place, it’s been at least a few years.

There’s not a whole lot to see and the buildings are mostly shuttered, but walking around the complex, we found plenty of ruins that were completely open (as well as many curious sheep roaming the area). The ruins are right by the ER202, which connects Santo da Serra to the ER103 Road and Ribeiro Frío.

The Old Fish Hatchery near Seixal

On the north coast near Seixal, we found the remains of an old fish hatchery right by the water. This part of the island has a long tradition of fishing, and places like this were once an important part of the local economy.

Apparently it was built in 1997 and used for the cultivation of seabream. It was abandoned around 2008, when rockfalls damaged both parts of the factory and the nearby access road (which is closed to cars nowadays).

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the most interesting feature to us were the many remaining fish pools, but there are lots of other cool details, like a large conveyor belt and some old trucks and excavators at the western end of the complex.

Clearly, people have used the place to dump trash and old appliances since it closed, but we also came across lots of documents and objects that clearly once played a role in the factory. We also had a look into the old cooling chamber, which still smelled pungently of rotting fish.

To get here, you can park your car on the old ER101 Highway at N 32°50.430 W 17°08.438 and then walk through the tunnel to reach the hatchery. The first part of the trail was completely flooded, so we had to improvise some waterproof shoes with a couple of trash bags, which worked surprisingly well.

Lugar de Baixo Marina

Near Ponta do Sol lie the remains of an abandoned marina, which was built at the beginning of the 2000s as a leisure centre and docking harbour for luxury yachts, but was quickly damaged by some large ocean waves and rockfall during a storm.

Once again, there is a big empty swimming pool, but there are also lots of buildings left, including a parking garage, some large shower rooms and what looks like the remains of a restaurant or café.

What we found most interesting was the tennis court on the roof of one building and a small open-air theatre in the courtyard between the buildings. We also loved the location of the place below a sheer cliff with a tall waterfall.

Finally, I thought it was cool that, as opposed to lots of other abandoned places, quite a few of the windows and other architectural features were still intact, which gave us the feeling that the place had only been deserted a little while ago.

To get here, you can park your car off the highway at N 32°40.781 W 17°05.508 and then just make your way down to the water and walk west along the harbour bay until you reach the first abandoned building, which is the parking garage.

Map of Madeira’s Abandoned Places

You can find all the places I described above in this map of Madeira.