Monte Palace Tropical Garden Funchal Madeira Portugal 🇵🇹🌷 4K HDR 50 FPS

MONTE BOTANICAL GARDEN - ETERNAL SPRING IN MADEIRA
You can reach the Monte district by car, bus, or the Teleférico cable car. From the cable car, you can enjoy views of the city panorama and the vast Atlantic waters, and sometimes you can spot liners docking at the port. A round-trip adult ticket for the cable car ride costs 15 euros. Additionally, you can purchase entry to one of the botanical gardens with the cable car ticket. The cable car ascends to a height of 560 meters at a speed not exceeding 5 m/s, and the ride takes between 11 to 15 minutes.
Monte Palace Tropical Garden is open from 9:30 AM to 6:00 PM, and the entrance fee is 12.50 euros. Youth under 15 can enter for free. The garden covers an area of 70,000 square meters and houses an extensive collection of exotic plants from around the world. The garden is owned by a foundation established by Portuguese businessman and art collector José Berardo. At the center of the garden is a lake fed by a waterfall, also designed by Berardo.
In the garden, you can see swans and ducks swimming in the lake, as well as peacocks, chickens, and turtles walking along the paths. The animals and plants are carefully selected, considering their symbolism. For example, peacocks, which are revered and protected in India for religious and practical reasons, play an important role here. They are symbols of divinity and immortality and are often used as decorations in Hindu temples. The peacock also has significant roles in Vietnamese and Chinese folklore as a messenger of peace and prosperity. Occasionally, you can also spot a grey heron.
The lakes are home to Koi fish in various sizes and colors. Koi are esteemed in Eastern culture as symbols of luck and aspiration for betterment. According to legend, they can swim up the Yellow River to transform into a dragon.
The botanical garden boasts one of the world’s largest collections of cycads (Cycadopsida), mainly from South Africa. Known as “living fossils,” cycads appeared 200 million years ago and have survived significant climate changes without evolving. Although often mistaken for palms, cycads are very sensitive plants. In the park, they look remarkably natural.
The garden also protects the biodiversity of Madeira’s flora, responding to the need to conserve native species endangered by deforestation and fires. An example is the dragon tree (Dracaena draco), which produces a red sap known as “dragon’s blood,” used in paint production and as a varnish for violins. Another endemic species is Euphorbia piscatoria, which blooms from April to May and whose toxic sap was used by ancient fishermen.
The Monte Botanical Garden is also home to an impressive collection of artworks from various parts of the world. Walking along the paths, you can admire granite sculptures of four angels symbolizing the senses: smell, sight, hearing, and taste, as well as marble “Fo” dogs from Chinese and Japanese traditions. The garden also features Buddhist sculptures and stone lanterns once used to light paths to tea houses in Japan.
Due to the dense plant cover, most of the garden is in semi-darkness, with sunlight breaking through only above the lakes and bridges, reflecting off the waterfalls. We sit on a bench, listening to the sound of flowing water and admiring nature.
One of the garden’s most interesting features is a collection of tiles along the paths and among the plants. The collection includes Spanish-Moorish tiles from the 15th and 16th centuries and panels made in Portugal from the 19th to 20th centuries, depicting social, cultural, and religious scenes.
Walking through the garden, we come across a panel titled “A Aventura dos Portugueses no Japão,” consisting of 166 tiles commemorating the 450th anniversary of the arrival of the Portuguese in Japan.
The garden also houses a museum with three floors, two of which are dedicated to sculptures, and the third to a rich collection of minerals from around the world. The museum also features stone sculptures representing contemporary African art.
There is also a building inspired by palace architecture, which in the 18th century was transformed into the Monte Palace Hotel.
Walking along the paths of Monte Palace Tropical Garden, you can easily spend several hours. It is definitely an attraction worth visiting on the island of eternal spring. After a long walk, we return to our car and head off to see a completely different face of Madeira - the wind-swept and sun-scorched Sao Lourenco Peninsula.
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