Guide to traveling to Madeira, Don't travel without knowing this

After our recent trip to the Portuguese island of Madeira, which we have enjoyed like dwarfs, we want to give you some tips that we believe are necessary to be able to enjoy the island to the fullest.

To locate the island well Madeira, you have to know that it is located in the Atlantic, a short distance from the Canary Islands, and about 500 kilometers from the African continent.

Before visiting the island you should know that most of the flights to Madeira island They are carried out by the Portuguese flag company, TAP Portugal.

These flights are made from Lisbon In the case of arriving in Europe, although TAP It also has flights to Madeira from South America.

From Lisbon the flight has a duration of an hour and a half approximately, so getting there is very easy.

El island airport It is located in the city of Funchal, Which is the capital, so every traveler who wants know Madeira You will arrive at the same point on the island.

Madeira Airport

The first point of interest that you will find on your visit is curiously the airport itself.

It is an airport with a very peculiar location, since a section of the landing strip is built with dikes over the sea, and with the reputation of not being an easy place to land.

It has a terrace from which you can watch the takeoffs and landings of the planes, which you can do right at the end of your trip, when you are waiting to board your return flight.

As a curious fact, the funchal airport Since the end of March of this year 2017, it has been named after the most illustrious member of the island, the soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo.

How to get around Madeira by transport

Ok, we are already on the island at the airport, but how do we get to our hotel? ¿how we move around the island of Madeira?

The truth is that on our trip the public transport We didn't use it even once; As we wanted to get to know many different areas of the island in an agile way, it seemed like essential to move by car.

And we shouldn't have been the only ones because, right at the exit of the airport are the offices of various car rental companies, where it is common to find people collecting car keys.

After the trip I confirm that, without a doubt, the best option to visit the island is rent a car in Madeira.

If for whatever reason you are not going to rent a car there, one of the best options is to use a rental service. transfer to transfer you to your hotel comfortably.

The latter is a good option before the public transport, Well, you have to take into account the steep slope that exists in almost all the streets on the island, and if you come with suitcases it shouldn't be a good experience to walk carrying them up those slopes.

In the event that you want to explore the island, but do not want to rent a car, you always have the option of signing up for one tour or excursion with guide in Spanish

So they are the ones in charge of showing you the island without having to organize anything.

Where to look for a hotel in Madeira

When choosing a hotel, it may be important to keep in mind that there are what to see and do in Madeira so that you can program the route and based on that choose a hotel.

In our case we stayed at the hotel Vidamar en Funchal, a fairly central point that made it easy for us to explore the island.

Funchal It is the capital and the most important roads circulate through there, so we reached all the points we were going to see easily.

It is worth knowing before making this trip that the island of Madeira It is not a beach destination at all.

In fact, when its inhabitants want to go to the beach, they usually go to Porto Santo, a small island very close.

Madeira It is an island with a volcanic composition and that means that most of the beaches are made of stone; I don't want to say that there aren't sandy beaches, because there are, as in Punta do Sol, but they are not long sandy beaches, but rather small coves between cliffs.

That's why hotels They are not typical beach resorts, but establishments that focus on offering good restaurants, swimming pools with spas and services in general.

If you are going to want to go for a walk around the hotel, you may be interested in staying in the hotel area. funchal old town. although it won't be easy to park.

Although it must be said that most of the hotels that are not in the old town also have their streets full of restaurants, bars and shops in general.

When it comes to accommodation for your trip, it will be useful search hotels in Madeira through booking.com

What are the best viewpoints and cliffs in Madeira?

It's funny because what we saw the most on our entire trip were viewpoints, but not because we made a specific route of “the best viewpoints on the island”, but because with every step you take, there is one for each one better.

We went with the car stopping every so often to enjoy and take some photos of the spectacular views.

We leave you a list with some that we saw that seem highly recommended, but we know that there are many more all over Madeira.

Cabo Girao Viewpoint in Madeira

The best way to start this list is with the Cabo Girao Viewpoint, one of the most uneven viewpoints in Europe, where you also find a transparent platform that increases the feeling of height.

It is very close to Funchal, so it is usually one of the most visited on the island.

Two Fathers Girdle in Madeira

Very close to Cabo Girao Following the coast from Funchal, you will find Two Fathers Girdle.

You have to see it both from the beach and from the top of the cliff, which is where the cable car, from where you have beautiful views.

Christ the King in Madeira

A las outskirts of Funchal heading towards the airport, you find the statue of Christ the King, which is very similar to the very famous one that you can see in Rio de Janeiro en BrazilYes, much smaller.

It is an area with a lot of vegetation that provides views towards the funchal bay.

Ponta do Sol in Madeira

Although on our trip we did not have time to see the southwestern part of the island in detail, if we reached Ponta do Sol.

As its name indicates, sunlight is the clear protagonist as it creates impressive sunsets.

Porto Moriz natural pools in Madeira

To the northwest of the island are the natural saltwater pools created by the action of volcanic lava.

It is a totally paradisiacal place with crystal clear water with impressive views.

The pools are public and free, so don't hesitate to visit them and take a dip.

Funchal Cable Car

Already in the capital of the island, although there are a thousand points where you can see how the city extends along the slopes of the mountain, the cableway which rises just above the city is a place from where you will have the best views of Funchal.

Most beautiful landscapes in Madeira

It is very interesting to know that in Madeira there are many kind of landscapes within the same island; Below we indicate which are the areas where this variety is best reflected.

Serra da Agua in Madeira

In the interior the landscapes are very wooded, with farming terraces that take you to scenes that you associate with landscapes of Asian countries.

There are many points to stop at when you cross its mountains. We loved that feeling of driving in the car in silence watching the views of the mountains.

In the mountains are the leafy laurisilva forests and irrigation systems known as levadasdeclared Heritage awarded by the Unesco.

These levadas They are canals that crossed the mountains to supply water to the towns, and they are landscapes that take you to movies and series like Jurassic Park o Lost.

There are two ways to enter the forests: in a 4×4 tour or doing some of the hiking trails.

In our case the 4×4 tour We loved it and its price did not reach 50 euros per person.

Paul da Serra in Madeira

Madeira is a mountainous island, but there is a surprising point to see: it is about Paul da Serra a plateau in the heart of the island.

We met her when in 4×4 tour through the laurel forests We crown the mountain and cross to the other side through this surprising wooded plateau.

Ponta do Sao Lorenco in Madeira

It is the easternmost point of the island and there you find a landscape different from that of the interior.

It is an area in which there is hardly any vegetation where the warm colors of the stone of the cliffs stand out, especially at sunset.

What and where to eat in Madeira

When we go to visit a country we like to know and try the typical food.

As a tropical island, in Madeira the most characteristic products are fish and fruits, but they are not the only ones.

Funchal Market

At Dos Lavradores market in Funchal you can see this clearly.

Be sure to visit it, especially the fishmongers area, which is huge.

There you can see some of the most typical and most cooked fish on the island, such as swordfish or tuna, which you find in almost all the cards.

Within the market they should also look for the establishments that sell tropical fruits, which are concentrated around a central plaza.

Or on the ground floor, where you can see stands as curious as the one that shows more than 10 different types of passion fruits.

Restaurants we liked in Madeira

We had been craving for the entire trip. sushi thinking that with the amount of fish we saw in all the restaurants, surely we would have to find some good place. So it was!!

One of the streets with more restaurants is within the old town of Funchal, and it is about the Rua de Santa María, which is the famous street of painted doors, a essential visit in Madeira.

The restaurant with the same name on the street (Santa Maria) has an offer of sushi Unlimited for less than 15 euros, but be careful, for lunch or dinner only on Wednesdays.

But it must be said that it is not a Japanese restaurant, but rather it is only part of its menu offering since it is an international food restaurant.

A las outskirts of Funchal a magical place where to eat fish It is in the restaurant that is located in Parents Sash, west along the coast from Funchal.

You can't miss it because the only thing there is in that cove is a beach and this restaurant.

It is a place that stands out above all for its location, tranquility and its views. There are only two ways to access it, by boat or by cable car.

But on this Portuguese island they don't only eat fish and one of the typical Madeira foods is espetada.

In this case, unlike the typical espetada from Malaga, it is not made with fish but with meat.

Carved on a stick like a giant Moorish skewer, the espetada It is cooked over a fire and served at the table in the style of Brazilian restaurants, leaving it hanging from a support so that everyone can take their portion.

In the restaurant where we ate espetada, Adega da Quinta, riding a Wolf Chamber, next to Funchal, on Thursdays there is a typical Madeira folklore show.

Other restaurants that we would like to review are Chalet Vicente and My Mama, close to our hotel in Funchal, with Portuguese and Italian food respectively.

In turn, the Design Center Nini Andrade Silva Also from Funchal is a design restaurant.

And in the town of Santana, where are the typical portuguese houses, another visit essentials of the island, we ate at the restaurant Hotel Quinta do Furao, from which you have very good panoramic views on top of a cliff.

What to see on the island of Porto Santo

This last tip is, without a doubt, the one that I would have liked to know before going, since there is an island next to Madeira that is a secret that they keep to themselves.

Know her Porto Santo island!!

Due to the strong wind, when we arrived at Madeira They diverted our plane because it couldn't land, and they took us to the nearby Porto Santo island.

When we flew over it we could see from the plane some huge beaches with crystal blue waters.

Porto Santo is very close to Madeira and it is your summer area.

During the year, no more than 5.000 people live on the entire island, a population that in the summer season reaches 20.000, the vast majority being inhabitants of Madeira.

There are long sandy beaches here!! but there is much more.

La Porto Santo island It caught our attention so much when we saw it from the plane, that we were already bitten by the bug to meet it, so we made time in our agenda to make a one-day visit and thus confirm that it was really worth it.

Tours and Excursions with guide in Spanish

When referring to Madeira We are talking about a perfect island to explore on excursions, since despite being Funchal A city worth spending time on, the true charm of this Portuguese island is getting lost among the different landscapes.

Luckily there are plenty of tours and excursions which you can sign up for, just like we did, since they come to pick you up at the hotel, and when they finish they return you to the hotel, which makes things much easier.