Luxury Hotels Atlas / Places / Portugal / Madeira / Saccharum
Saccharum
Madeira, Portugal · Savoy Signature · Core Luxury
Nini Andrade Silva, who grew up on the island, built the whole interior around that: brown brick, concrete floors stained honey, and enormous photographs of the cane harvest along the walls. There are 243 rooms above the marina and the beach, the best suites with plunge pools on the terrace, and a spa that borrows from Ayurveda and hides a salt room.
- 243 rooms
- Opened 2015
- Neighborhood: Arco da Calheta
- Rooms from 344 sq ft (32 m²)
- Architect: RH+ Arquitectos
- Interiors: Nini Andrade Silva
About Saccharum
- Saccharum is the botanical name for sugar cane, the crop that made Madeira rich long before wine did. The resort sits on the site of an old cane-rum mill and honey factory.
- The interiors are the work of Nini Andrade Silva, a Madeiran designer, with RH+ Arquitectos, who drew the colours and materials straight from the sugar-making process.
- Conde Nast Traveller readers placed Saccharum twenty-fifth among the best hotels in the world in the 2025 Readers' Choice Awards.
- The spa works from an Ayurveda-inspired menu and runs to a halotherapy salt room, an ice fountain, a Turkish bath, sensory showers and a heated indoor pool.
- Entry-level rooms start at 344 sq ft (32 m²).
History
Saccharum opened in April 2015 on the coast at Calheta, on the site where a honey works and a mill making sugar-cane rum once stood. The interiors are by Nini Andrade Silva, the Madeira-born designer, working with RH+ Arquitectos. The idea runs through everything: brown brick walls, stained concrete floors marked in honey colours, guest rooms in cane hues and dry greens balanced with wood, and outsized photographs along the public areas showing the planting, cutting and processing of the cane. The Saccharum Spa carries the same thread, its treatments drawn from Ayurvedic practice and its sensory rooms named and coloured for sugar. The resort holds 243 rooms and suites, most with balconies over the ocean, and the SPE Pool Suites add private plunge pools on their terraces. It operates under Savoy Signature, alongside the group's other Madeira hotels, and Conde Nast Traveller readers ranked it twenty-fifth in the world in the 2025 Readers' Choice Awards.
The setting
Calheta is on Madeira's south-west coast, a stretch that stays sunnier and drier than Funchal an hour to the east. The hotel sits at Arco da Calheta beside the marina and the imported golden-sand beach, wedged between the mountains and the water, and it is known on the island for its sunsets. The Casa das Mudas Arts Centre, a much-praised piece of modern Portuguese architecture, is a three-minute drive away, and the laurisilva forest that UNESCO protects, along with the 25 Fontes and Risco waterfall walks, is up the hill behind.
Experiences
- Bossa Nova Sundays — Sundays to the rhythm of bossa nova.
- Tropical Beats — Celebrate the summer with an epic sunset party.
- Fire Pit @Calhau Beach Club — Fire pit by the sea, every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
- Wine Tasting — Madeira's culture and flavours, revealed in its wines.
- Romantic Dinner — Dinner for two, in a private lounge featuring stunning views.
- Pool & Spa Day — Perfect your zen game and invest in dolce far niente.
Amenities
- Pool Day: sun, glamour and hotel pool access for the day
- Pool & Spa Day: pool and spa access package
- Wine Tasting
- Romantic Dinner in a private lounge featuring stunning views (dinner for two)
- Local Food Workshop
- The Art of Mixology
Awards
- Condé Nast Traveller Readers' Choice Awards (2025)
Open Saccharum in the atlas for live weekend rates, photos, and the full folio.