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Madeira - My Way - Your Way - Which Way?
The little island of Madeira (just 35 miles long by 14 miles wide) – famous for its sweet Madeira wine, balmy climate and rich flora – has long been popular with tourists from the UK looking to escape our cold and increasingly wet weather. I visited Funchal on a day trip many years ago and was left with fond memories, so this Spring, we decided to make a longer return trip.
Madeira - My Way
Although we have enjoyed many walking holidays on previous trips, for various reasons, we wanted this trip to be a combination of walking and sightseeing so decided to hire a car for the week.
Jet 2 made everything very easy to arrange as they had a good value package deal with a hotel that looked perfect for our needs and offered a car hire package and flight with the deal too. It worked out cheaper than some of the walking holidays we have taken in the past and we had the bonus of having the car available for sightseeing as and when we wanted it.
Where We Stayed
The Blandy family first established themselves in Madeira back in 1808 and began producing the now famous Madeira wine shortly afterwards. The 7th generation of the family now lives in private gardens in the grounds of one of their original properties – the Casa Velha do Palheiro. The property was tastefully converted into a 5 star Relais et Chateaux hotel and golf course in 1997 and was where we chose to base ourselves on our week long trip to Madeira at the end of March 2026.
Located around 6 miles (17 minutes) drive outside Madeira’s capital Funchal, the Casa Velha do Palheiro made a quiet and peaceful base for a relaxing week away in low season. We booked on a half board basis and the daily changing menu in the restaurant offered a choice of beautifully prepared courses which were a highlight of our holiday. The hotel has both an indoor and outdoor swimming pool and sauna/steamroom/spa facilities available for hotel guests.
The hotel is situated close to the golf course which they also run and many of the guests were staying on a golf break mixing golf and sightseeing with a few relaxing hotel based days. The golf club is a short stroll away and has a sunny terrace overlooking Funchal’s harbour which is a lovely place for a leisurely sundowner with prices significantly cheaper than the hotel drinks menu as a bonus. The golf club also serves food if you want a more flexible arrangement than half board.
Another bonus is the immaculate tropical gardens surrounding the hotel, where the Blandy family still have a residence in their private area. Hotel guests have a card allowing free entry to the gardens which have a charming tea house serving light lunches and afternoon tea/cakes giving even more flexibility for dining arrangements.
The hotel runs a daily shuttle bus into Funchal departing mid morning with a trip back at around 3.45 in the afternoon. This is handy and saves you having to drive the car into Funchal and finding somewhere to park in the busy city centre. The shuttle doesn’t run at night though, so if you want to dine out in Funchal, you would need to either drive yourself or book a taxi at a cost of around 25 euros (one way).
The generous breakfast buffet is everything you would expect from a hotel of this standard and the service all round was faultless. Highly recommended.
Getting Around on Madeira
Hiking in Madeira
The first thing you will notice when you visit Madeira is that it is one of the most mountainous regions in the world. Volcanic in origin, Madeira is the tip of a massive shield volcano. Everything about the island’s topography is extreme from the mountainous centre to the dramatic crags of the coastline plunging down into the Atlantic Sea. Funchal is about the most gentle patch of land you will find on the island, so it is no wonder it became the capital and is where around half of Madeira’s population live today.
Whilst there is plenty of unspoiled land in Madeira that would normally make exploring on foot a real pleasure, you do have to face the fact that the majority of walks on the island will involve steep ascents and descents. There are also very few circular walks meaning that – unless you are happy walking/cycling quite long distances with steep climbs involved both ways – you will need to book a taxi or wait for a bus to bring you back to your base/car which needs a good amount of pre-planning.
Many of the walks have narrow paths with sheer drops and growing tourist number mean that you are increasingly likely to meet hikers coming the other way which can present a challenge. If you suffer from any degree of vertigo, then a hiking holiday in Madeira is definitely not for you!
In response to ever increasing tourist numbers and swelling armies of cruise visitors, new fees and mandatory online reservations have recently been implemented for many of the popular popular, high-traffic levada (irrigation channels) and hiking trails on Madeira. The island is very different from the one I remember visiting (albeit briefly) some 20 years ago.
Don’t expect to be able to go on long beach walks either. Madeira does have lots of beaches, but they are either stony or black sand and not particularly big or suitable for a long walk from one end to the other. There are some man made beaches with golden sand, but they are built for sunbathers and families with young children in mind – not hikers. If you want a long, golden sandy beach, you have to join the throng heading to the neighbouring tiny island of Porto Santo, which is a boat ride away.
As a result, we ended up doing substantially less walking than we had hoped we might.
Driving in Madeira
Brace yourself is the best advice I can give you! Many of the hire cars are automatics these days – if you get a manual car, you will get plenty of practice with hill starts. If you suffer from travel sickness, you are likely to find the labyrinth of narrow, winding roads a bit of a challenge too. To navigate the mountainous terrain, Madeira has constructed a vast infrastructure of modern tunnels spanning some 80 kilometres in all, with one tunnel 3 kilometres long! Add to that the misty conditions in the mountains, cows on the road and frequent rocks falling from the craggy cliffs onto the roads and you can see why opting for full car hire insurance is essential. Expect the car you hire to have seen a little life and photograph it carefully on collection to avoid any unfair penalties.
Although small, the challenging topography of the island means that it takes quite a long while to get anywhere – and then – you have to get back! Although the expansive network of tunnels and bridges have reduced the time taken to drive from one side of the island to the other considerably from the many hours/full days it used to take to around 2 hours these days, it is still quite a journey though – especially if you have to do it both ways. You could drive around the coastline of the island in one full day, but that would allow very little time to stop off and see anything on the way.
Choosing to have a single base near Funchal meant that we spent more time on the road – often the same road/tunnel – than we would have liked.
What is Madeira’s Climate Like?
Madeira’s climate is one of its trump cards. Known as the land of eternal spring, Madeira enjoys a subtropical climate with hot and dry Summers, a pleasantly warm Spring/Autumn season and enticingly mild Winters with temperatures rarely falling much below 14 degrees.
That said, it can be very windy making even warm days feel a bit chilly in low/mid season. Madeira is also an island of two halves climate wise: the north tends to be cooler and wetter than the south. The cool mists high up in the mountains also require wearing plenty of layers as the weather can change very quickly at altitude.
What is There to See and Do on Madeira?
As the hiking didn’t appeal to us too much on this trip, we spent most of our time exploring the island by car and drove every road during our week there. The highlights are set out below to give you an idea of what the island has to offer. There will undoubtedly be places I miss out that others will consider “must dos” and if they exist, I regret not having found them myself and being able to point you in the right direction. What you will always get from Love to Wander is an honest view: free of the bias to which a guidebook wanting to sell millions of copies may fall victim and free too of the need to attract tourist income to an island with little else on which to base its economy. My honest view of what there is to see and do in Madeira is – “not a lot”!
Funchal
Walk from Praia Formosa Beach to Funchal Old Town
Encouraged by the Lonely Planet Pocket Guide to Madeira, we devoted the bast part of a day of our short week in Madeira to a walk along the Funchal Frente Mar from the black stony beach of Praia Formosa to Funchal’s vibrant and lively Old Town. The walk is about 3 miles long and if you are not in a hurry, you can (just about) make it last half a day. We took a taxi from central Funchal to the end of the beach and walked back.
If you wanted to make it last a whole day, you could walk in the other direction from Funchal and back again, but to be honest, the viewpoints and restaurants/cafés strung out along the route didn’t really warrant making that much effort or taking that much time over it? The time would be better spent in Funchal itself? I think the difficulty with Madeira is that I love quiet, natural coastlines where you feel alone with the power of the sea. This stretch of Madeira’s coast is lined with concrete swimming pools and man made lidos which just aren’t really my cup of tea. Plenty of people were splashing about happily in them though, so I guess it just depends on what your own preferences are.
Monte Palace Tropical Garden/Tropical Garden of Madeira
Disappointingly, when we visited Madeira in late March, there were not many flowers in full bloom. We saw some wonderful bird of paradise flowers, proteas, camellias and jasmine (in the gardens), but the beautiful blue agapanthus that clothe the island were barely in bud at the end of March. The island had a very lush, tropical feel, but not really much colour.
The Flower Festival is held at the end of April, so I think that would have been a much better time to visit, although the high tourist numbers were a problem enough in March, so may be considerably worse in April/May? My previous visit was in mid October and I remember that being a good time for flowers too.
Fortunately, although the island itself was not in full bloom, Madeira has botanical gardens where you can see all the many plants that are endemic to the island and much more besides. There are actually 2 botanical gardens located in Funchal: Monte Palace Tropical Garden and the Botanical Garden of Madeira. A little research convinced me that the Botanical Garden of Madeira would be the best garden to visit.
The Monte Palace Tropical Garden can be reached by cable car from the seafront of Funchal. You then have the option to take another cable car or take a taxi/hike the 5 kilometres to the Botanical Garden of Madeira. The Monte cable car wasn’t running during the week we visited – it was down for repairs – so that made the choice of which garden to visit easier and we decided to drive to the Botanical Garden of Madeira and spent a very pleasant and peaceful morning strolling through it.
Many tourists opt to take the Monte cable car and then take a hair-raising slide back down the mountain via a toboggan. I can’t tell you what that experience is like – you’d have to try it for yourself. You can see the wicker sledges in in action on their website.
Funchal Old Town
There is enough to occupy sightseeing wise in Funchal for a day or two, but probably no more than that. If you like the vibe though, it’s a good place to just hang out for a few days and indulge yourself in a spot of people watching. The highlights are:
- Mercado dos Lavradores – The flower and food market – very colourful, but visit early before tour groups arrive. Friday’s is best if you want to see fresh fish.
- The Madeira Story Centre: Where you can learn all about the history and culture of the Madeira.
- Take Afternoon Tea at Reid’s Palace – something of a legend on Madeira.
Ponta do Sol
Working anti-clockwise around Madeira’s coastline for ease of reference from Funchal, the first places of interest on the South of the island are Ribeira Brava, Ponta do Sol and Madelena do Mar. There is a small stony beach at Madalena do Mar which is a good place to admire the steep jagged cliffs that are such a feature of Madeira’s coastline
Calheta
A little further up the coast brings you to Calheta, which was one of our favourite spots. It has a small harbour and a nice vibe in the restaurants by the side of its two artificial beaches which are made of imported sand.
Praia Paul do Mar
If you didn’t stop for lunch in Calheta – or were sensible enough to leave some room for an afternoon treat, then the Kamoshi shop in Praia Paul do Mar is worth seeking out, It is easy to spot by the long queue at the door – it took 20 minutes for us to be served. Kamoshi bakery specialises in slow fermented artisan sourdough bread and pastries and serves specialty coffees. It is a real treat to pick out your chosen pastry and perch on the harbour wall outside the bakery with your pastry in one hand and a cortado coffee in the other. It’s these sort of moments that holidays are all about?
Porto Moniz
Continuing around the island to the cooler north west side will lead you to Porto Moniz. We drove through a scary amount of low cloud/mist on our visit there. Porto Moniz is worth visiting for its natural volcanic swimming pools which are formed by lava rock and filled naturally by the Atlantic tide. It is a pretty place, but even out of season, it was still very busy.
Praia do Säo-Jorge
Continuing along the northern coastline, the next port of call is Praia de Säo Jorge. The restaurant on the shoreline – Restaurant Calhau de Säo Jorge – has a good menu of regional specialties. If you want to try something fresh and local, this is a good place to do it. Be warned though – the portions are very generous! There are man made swimming pools below the restaurant and its nice to take the short walk down to the shore and watch the North Atlantic Ocean pound the coastline for a while.
Santana
The next settlement of any size along the North coast is Santana – famed for its traditional Madeira houses. It is in all the guidebooks and tourist information office pamphlets though, so you won’t be there alone! We parked up for half an hour (chargeable), just to take a quick look at the houses but decided not to stay any longer.
Ponta do Castelo/Ponta de Säo Lourenço
The furthest point on the north side of the island is the rocky outcrop containing Ponta do Castelo and Ponta de Säo Lourenço. This was something of a disappointment to visit. We should probably have realised when the sat nav showed the road leading down to the rocky promontory as a solid red line. Although we were there at about 10am, the car park at the end was already full and police were in place to ensure that visitors parked their cars along the roadside instead.
We walked around 1.5 kilometres steeply up hill to reach the end of the road. When we arrived, we found that it cost 9 euros to go anywhere beyond the car park. There was little to tell you what to expect once you had paid your fee. There were a lot of people already making their way to onto the rocky trail and we decided that we wouldn’t join them, so I am afraid I can’t tell you what splendours lay along that little piece of rock. If you visit, do be kind enough to send me some photos.
If I missed something great, I will kick myself, but I don’t think that’s very likely really? By the time we had made the downhill walk back to our parked car, the queue of parked cars had grown very much longer. If you want to explore this place, visit early and don’t expect to be able to enjoy the wonder of the natural world for free. That joy, I am sad to say, belongs to the Madeira of yesteryear.
Machico
The last place of any note that we visited was little Machico on the east coast. It’s a tiny, sleepy place – but there was one café open serving drinks and toasted sandwiches, so that was all good.
Foodie Firsts
If you are a regular visitor to Love to Wander, you will know that I always like to find a “Foodie First” on any trip to a new place. Madeira gave me two new experiences – both alcoholic drinks – Poncha and Malmsey Madeira.
- Poncha is ubiquitous on the island. It is traditionally made with sugar cane spirit sweetened with honey and a dash of lemon juice which – at least for the one I sampled – gives it an overall sour kick. There are lots of versions of the drink served in all the cafés and bars with all manner of fruit added to give the drink a little more interest. I had one to try it. I didn’t buy any more
- Malmsey Wine is dark, rich and sweet. It tastes a bit like Christmas cake made into a drink and is usually served as a dessert wine. There are other sorts of Madeira – Malmsey is the sweetest.
- Blandy’s Sercia Madeira – Even the driest Madeira has quite a heavy taste to me though? We were give a half bottle of Sercia as a very thoughtful complementary gift by our hotel and chilled it to try as an aperitif. It was nice as a change, but not something I would order by choice.
Madeira - Your Way/Which Way?
With the wonderful benefit of hindsight which I am always delighted to be able to pass onto you in the hope of enhancing your own travel adventures, I would have tackled a week’s stay in Madeira differently. I can give you three alternative options all of which I think would have worked out better than mine.
Option 1 - Put Your Feet Up and RELAX!
I can 100% recommend the hotel where we stayed just out of Funchal for a very relaxing week in the sun. You could have easily availed yourself of Jet 2’s all inclusive transfers from the airport and not bothered hiring a car and venturing out on the labyrinthine road network. If you are a golfer and/or love spa treatments – why go elsewhere? The hotel has everything you need on the doorstep and the golf club and gardens give flexibility to avoid getting too bored with staying put in one venue all week. All you really need to pack is your sun hat, sun cream, swimwear – and a lot of good books?
If you did want to venture further afield, the Casa Vehlha’s free shuttle service to Funchal is there to help you. Funchal is such a mega tourist city that you could easily book a variety of day trips to any places that piqued your interest on the island, let someone else do all the driving and enjoy the company of your fellow tourists during the day to boot.
Option 2 - Spread Yourself Around
Alternatively, you could choose to base yourself in 2 or 3 hotels – or self catering villas – in different parts of the island thus avoiding the need to do the long drives backwards and forwards that basing yourself in one place requires.
Option 3 - The Adrenaline Rush
If you are young and fit (or old and really up for it!), I am sure you could have a great time burning through the calories either on foot or on a mountain bike on Madeira. It is an island of extremes and if you want the adrenaline rush of narrow ledges, steep drops and mega climbs and descents, then the island of eternal Spring has a lot to offer. It would definitely be necessary to prepare well and do your research before you travel though to ensure that you have a way home from one way hikes/cycle rides and know in advance where you have to pre reserve and/or pay to walk/cycle as this is an increasing requirement on this tiny island.
