Madeira Travel Overview
The idea that one can leave one’s remote English home in the morning and be somewhere very foreign indeed by lunchtime will never cease to excite me, yet I know members of younger generations who shrug it off as being an ordinary fact of everyday life. Perhaps it’s because I can remember when such a thing was rare - the preserve of the rich. Now most people enjoy blasting abroad once in a while and we are fortunate to have a regional airport that makes it all the more easy to do.
I recently left my Exmoor home early one rainy morning and I was enjoying a truly delicious dish of local seafood in a sunlit Funchal restaurant by lunchtime.
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That, to me, is amazing. The fact that there are now regular flights to this island from our own regional airport at Bristol is a wondrous thing. I can drive to the airport in an hour and leave the car in the new multi-storey car-park just a couple of minutes walk from the terminal. Then there’s the fact that modern aircraft have cut flying times so that Madeira is now only just over three hours away…
Yes, many frown upon flying. But air-travel for the masses is one of the most extraordinary leaps forward we have achieved as a race and the fact that aeroplane manufacturers are constantly making improvements to make airliners more efficient should not be overlooked. Let’s face it, no one’s going to put this genie back in the bottle, so perhaps it’s a case of… if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, and help the industry get better and greener.
You might want to add the idea that, if you’re going to fly, you may as well go somewhere special. And places don’t come much more special than Madeira. If, as a travel writer with more than 40 years experience, I was to make a short-list of destinations which would most appeal to the readership of this particular newspaper, I would put Madeira very near the top.
It is hugely scenic, it’s not that far away, it enjoys a truly enviable climate, it has a rather classy elegance, and it is safe.
Just about everywhere you can go on the 34-mile-long and 14-wide island will have a stunning backdrop. Equally important, right out there in the Atlantic Ocean the weather tends to be temperate so that in winter you can have lovely warm days while in summer you will rarely be hit by the exhausting heatwaves suffered by many other southerly destinations. The food and drink is superb and there is nothing at all tacky about the island’s tourist offering. Lastly, the chances of being harassed on the street or even mugged are just about zero
Even the island’s negative points can turn into plusses. For example, the fact that there are no wide sandy beaches means that you won’t find any of those mega-resorts that dominate many sunshine destinations. Such places are fine in their own way, but they do set a different tone. Longer airport queues (more queues everywhere, to be exact) and almost certainly a lot more frenetic activity and noise. If pounding music and all-day-full-English-breakfasts are your idea of holiday heaven, probably best avoid Madeira.
However, if you like exploring beautiful places and your idea of scenery is more Himalayan than Holland, this is the place for you. The island boasts some of the best scenic walking to be found anywhere, thanks partly to a unique network of irrigation canals, known as levadas. These narrow waterways - many built centuries ago - snake around even the steepest slopes of the mountains and could be described as early wonders of the engineering world. The wonderful thing for walkers is that many are accompanied by paths or narrow walkways so that staff maintaining the all-important irrigation system and water supply can attend to the upkeep. As most levadas follow contours with hardly any kind of gradient being involved, it means you can enjoy lengthy level walks in the steepest landscapes imaginable.
Unless you’re an old hand who has been to the island many times before, I’d recommend joining one of the guided levada walks. Some of the waterways can take you to fairly inaccessible and truly perpendicular places. And while you’re looking at the guided hikes on offer, you might also try one of the old “royal paths” - an extraordinary network of cobbled trails built by the decree of a 19th century Portuguese king who realised that his island subjects required an alternative transport system to the coastal boats which used to be the only link between communities.
Although these cobbled routes were designed as simple pathways for villagers and their oxen-drawn sledges, they represent incredible feats of engineering. And many demand a good head for heights - like the one I did (the Caminho Real do Paúl do Mar) from a village perched almost vertically 1800 feet above a small harbour. The cobbled pathway zig-zags down an extremely steep gorge and the one-and-a-half hour hike gives you some idea of how the folk of this island must have lived before the invention of the internal combustion engine.
If exploring steep natural scenery is not for you, then a perhaps a day strolling around Madeira’s elegant and charming capital is more the ticket. I’d certainly recommend it. Funchal is one of the loveliest cities I know. The place is both rich in history and good looks. Moreover, it enjoys that wonderful vibrancy which you sometimes get when a location is both home to a busy local population and throngs of admiring tourists.
One definite must-see is the Mercado dos Lavradores, Funchal’s market, where vendors have stalls displaying vast arrays of fresh fruits, vegetables, and flowers as well as some of the finest seafood you will see anywhere. Head upstairs to a section where they sell Madeiran specialities and you have the chance of sampling a selection of island fruits and delicacies. It’s a great idea - you’re served a plateful of delicious local morsels for about £4 and you can try a tot of ‘poncha’, a traditional alcoholic drink made with aguardente de cana (distilled alcohol made from sugar cane), honey, sugar, and, traditionally, either orange juice or lemon juice - although some varieties include other fruit juices. It certainly packs a punch, but at the same time it’s refreshing and rather welcome in the heat of the day.
Wander into the Old Town, not far from the market, you can explore an area of narrow, winding streets. Go early in the morning and the zone will be so quiet, you can almost feel what the city must have been like centuries ago when the island was regarded as one of the most remote places in the civilised world. The absence of crowds will also allow you to see how many of the buildings are adorned with painted doors and intricate tile-work. The doors are part of scheme designed to tell the stories of the city’s past.
As morning turns to afternoon you will see a very different place indeed. Now the streets will be packed as the restaurateurs haul their tables out into the cobbled alleyways and waiters weave through the crowds bearing trays of the island’s celebrated cuisine.
Which brings us to the cost of visiting Madeira. Being a Portuguese island, it is not particularly expensive, regardless of its classy elegance. A meal in Old Town will be around the same as in the UK, as will the booze. However, there are cheaper alternatives. Walk ten minutes back towards the heart of the city and up into the streets and squares around the historic city hall, and you will see restaurants advertising their menu of the day (menu do dia) for as little as 6 to 8 euros. That’s for a couple of courses - a single dish of the day might cost less than a fiver. Good local food… This is where the office workers and shop assistants come for lunch.
I was fortunate enough to dine at several restaurants in Funchal, including at the historic and stylish Theo’s situated, in the heart of the city close to the waterfront. Here chef Júlio Pereira creates world-class dishes with a heavy island influence. I had amazing local shrimp rissoles as well as a delightful airy concoction described as cod pani-puri with a potato emulsion. I particularly enjoyed a seafood stew featuring local scarlet prawns and several varieties of fish.
One evening we went to the stylish Quinta Magnólia restaurant (set in gardens near the heart of town) where I ate a magnificent fillet of the local black scabbard fish, served with the nicest tomato-based risotto imaginable. We also lunched at the new Basalto restaurant, perched on a cliff overlooking one of the swimming areas which, having narrow rocky beaches, Madeira specialises in. Here I enjoyed a leisurely lunch of limpets followed by a delightful ceviche, as well as a dish called ‘gaiado’, which is made from sun-dried bonito tuna.
On another day we travelled put to the amazing Sol Poente restaurant which is also perched on sea-cliffs, the time at the dramatically situated seaside resort known as Ponta do Sol. The seafood lunch we enjoyed there was one of the best of its kind I’ve had image, but I might be biased because the dramatic backdrop was so stunning I can’t imagine anyone would ever forget having had a meal there.
Back in Funchal the cathedral offers a welcome refuge on a warm afternoon, with its unique blend of Gothic and Romanesque styles. We also ventured along the waterfront so that we could take the cable car ride up to Monte. At the top, you can enjoy the wonderful Monte Palace Gardens and, if you wished you could enjoy the famous wicker toboggan ride back down towards town. I’ve done that before so contented myself with enjoying the gardens before taking a cab to my hotel, the Golden Residence, located west of the main city.
The hotel is perched on a cliff overlooking a wide bay containing a stony beach called Praia Formosa. There’s an amazing promenade for walkers, which runs for miles right along this section of coast. Anyway, one of the highlights of my stay was to have a barbecue dinner in the of the Golden Residence gardens. My table was perched close to the edge of the cliff and as the sun went down I could admire what must be one of the best dinner-time views imaginable, looking west to the vast cliffs of Cabo Girao.
Truly stunning. And made even more magical by the thought that, that very morning I’d left a very cold and rainy Exmoor.
Fact File
Martin visited the island as a guest of Madeira Tourism - to find out more visitmadeira.com/en
Direct flights to Madeira from the South West:
Bristol – Madeira
Operated by Easyjet
Weekly frequencies – Mondays, Thursdays & Saturdays
June 2024 until June 2025
Bristol – Madeira
Operated by Jet2.com
Weekly frequency – Mondays
June 2024 until December 2025
