Another much-loved tourist spot, Eagle Beach is located walking distance from the low-rise hotel area, and it's quieter and usually less crowded than Palm Beach. It looks stunning with its fine sugary sand, and is the perfect spot to relax under the shade of umbrellas or the characteristic divi trees. Bars and cafes await right on the sand, and snorkelling here is great.

If you’re ready to swap Paris’s romantic boulevards for a different kind of magic, head to Disneyland Paris. The resort has two parks: Disneyland Park, packed with rides, shows, restaurants, cafés, and endless shops; and Walt Disney Studios Park, which adds movie sets, live performances, and behind-the-scenes fun to the mix. Stroll down Main Street, U.S.A., set sail for Adventureland, or meet your favourite characters in Fantasyland. Whether you’re a kid, a grown-up, or somewhere in between, there’s more than enough here to keep the magic alive all day.

In September, Vila Baleira honours Christopher Columbus, who once lived in the archipelago. The festival commemorates the discoverer’s presence on the Madeira Islands and his voyages to the Americas with performances that recreate the atmosphere in the time of the Portuguese explorers.

Originally built as a church to house the reliquary of Saint Genevieve, this neoclassical building in the Latin Quarter, modelled after the Pantheon in Rome, is the final resting place of numerous writers, philosophers, poets and scientists, such as Rousseau, Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Émile Zola, and Marie Curie.