Madeira

⚠️ Entry rules and local regulations change without notice. Before booking, check entry requirements and local rules — visas, access, nature reserves, visitor quotas — with the official authorities.

Madeira, a Portuguese island in the North Atlantic nicknamed 'the island of flowers', is a green paradise rising from the ocean 1,000 km off the coast of Morocco. Funchal, its capital with colourful tiled façades, overlooks an amphitheatre-shaped bay of striking beauty. The island is world-famous for its levadas — a 2,500 km network of irrigation channels carved into the rock since the 15th century, today turned into exceptional hiking trails through the UNESCO-listed laurisilva forest. The cliffs of Cabo Girão (580 m) are among the highest in Europe. Porto Santo, a small neighbouring island, offers 9 km of golden sand beach, a rarity in this volcanic archipelago. Madeira is also the homeland of Cristiano Ronaldo, born in Funchal in 1985, and the birthplace of Madeira wine, a fortified wine aged with characteristics unique in the world.

A mountain in the Atlantic

Madeira is not a beach island, and it is better to know that before booking: the coast is cliff and shingle, the few stretches of sand are man-made, and swimming happens mostly in natural pools — the lava-carved ones at Porto Moniz being the most famous. Anyone who wants sand takes the ferry to Porto Santo, two and a half hours across for nine kilometres of golden beach.

What you come here for is the mountain. The island rises to 1,862 m at Pico Ruivo, and the path linking it to Pico do Arieiro, through tunnels and along ridges, ranks among the finest in Europe. Everywhere else run the levadas, fifteenth-century irrigation channels whose maintenance paths now form a walking network unlike any other, cut into the mountainside and often along a drop.

In the north, the laurisilva — a laurel forest surviving from the Tertiary era — is a World Heritage site. In the south, Funchal descends in an amphitheatre towards its harbour, with the Lavradores market, its gardens, and the Monte cable car, from which you come back down by carro de cesto, wicker toboggans pushed by two men in straw boaters.

Permanent spring, changeable sky

Temperatures sit between 18 and 25 °C all year, which makes Madeira a mid-winter destination. The real variable is not the season but altitude and aspect: it can rain in the north while Funchal is in full sun on the same day, and the summits are often in cloud early in the morning. Three dates mark the calendar: the New Year firework display, long a world record holder, the Flower Festival in spring and the Wine Festival in September.

Walking, driving, tasting

Two precautions for the levadas: some require a head torch for the tunnels, and several routes now need a ticket booked online, since a charge was introduced on the main paths. Check the state of the trails too — they close after a landslip.

A car earns its keep, but be warned: the roads climb at startling gradients, and Funchal airport, built on stilts above the ocean, is known for its sporting landings. At the table, espetada — beef marinated and grilled on a bay-laurel skewer — bolo do caco with garlic, poncha made with cane rum, and of course Madeira wine, the best of which is served by the glass in the historic lodges of Funchal.

Essentials & your questions