Santo da Serra Farmers Market — Local services in Santa Cruz

First of all, as far as I know, this market only opens on Sundays. Keep that in mind when plan planning your visit. The amount of hustle and bustle there is directly related to the weather. If it rains cats and dogs you will have a calmer visit. On sunny days it plays out differently. There are loads of farmers from the island, selling regional produce. Some stalls look as if the produce comes from the green market, so watch for seasonal fruits and veggies. Try for instance the short and fat carrots that are grown in the volcanic soil. Or treat yourself to some meat that you can barbecue yourself in the left hand corner of the market. Need something sweet? Buy cookies or cakes. Need a drink? Have a poncha or a sidra at one of the many stalls. You can also buy plants, but it might be useful to find out beforehand if they can survive the climate you are planning to plant them in. Parking is directly across the main entrance and costs 50 cents for a whole day. The clothes and goods sold in that part of the market are mostly from China and in my experience don’t warrant...

If you have nothing better to do or you rely on internet blogs then by all means visit this place, otherwise you will be wasting your time coming here. There is nothing that cannot be obtained with better experience elsewhere. You can have better experience of food in may a local restaurants near to you in more comfortable and cleaner environment. You can buy better produce in your local supermarket with better browsing experience. You can get better poncha in many a taverna local to you and you can certainly get get better choice and see more variety of plant material at better price in Fruiticultura and Cooperative agricola in Funchal and floricultural in Tabua, If like browsing for nick naks than by all means come here. However if you are on Holiday to Madeira than this place is certainly a let down. It is OK for locals. You will have better memory and experience of Madeira any where in...

Arrive by 10am to beat the biggest crowds. Grilled meat stand and grilled chicken stands are something we visit regularly. Plants and various local veggies and fruits are offered - these days at more touristy prices - but still ok. Half of the market is local produce and cooked food with very local flavour and of various kind - you can see this is a meat eating culture .... and half is various more tourist orientated clothing, bags and such. Something for everyone I would say. The town is nice to walk around and there are places to have lunch - at very reasonable prices. Even an all you can eat buffet just down the road for a very reasonable price. Pleasant people - most speak just a bit of english - but you'll expect to need your hands and feet :) overall very enjoyable and we...