Welcome to Madeira! What some call the “Hawaii of Europe” you’ll find the most epic views, hikes, ocean, waterfalls and city to explore. This ended up being one of our favorite places to ever travel so we’re excited to share our favorite spots and some of the beauty that Madeira has to offer! Madeira is a perfect location for those adventurous island lovers but there’s plenty of relaxation that can be done too if that’s more your vibe😉We would recommend 7-10 days on the island but no worries if you have less time, we’ve highlighted the top things to do for a short trip here as well! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

Madeira is a Portuguese island located in the Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of Africa.

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Airport and Car Rental:

There are many short flights that fly into Cristiano Ronaldo International Airport from Europe and as of recently a few direct options from the US and Canada: New York, Boston, and Toronto on Azores Airlines.

We had never flown with Azores Airlines but had a wonderful experience and would definitely use them again when we go back! FYI we read all about delays etc with Azores so we were prepared for that but Madeira’s landing/taking off can be difficult due to the geographical location being cliffside and a short runaway right alongside the ocean strong winds are common. So it’s most likely flights can be delayed etc due to that. We thankfully had no issues in or out, but there is a website that tracks all delayed flights: Flight Radar

The best way to travel Madeira is with a car…a small car! The roads are incredibly tight and narrow so we appreciated our tiny Ford Focus😉

The rental car center is located right next to baggage claim making it super easy to grab your ride. The airport is about a 20 min drive from Funchal, Madeira’s beautiful capital city. This is where most travelers will stay during their trip to Madeira as there’s hotel, Airbnb, and resort options.

Capital City – Funchal:

Funchal is an absolutely incredible city with red roofed homes built into the hills behind it and the city right alongside the ocean. Because homes are built up into the mountain, so many get to enjoy the incredible oceans views. We typically aren’t ones to spend a lot of time in cities when we travel, but Funchal was different for us and we ended up spending more time here than we originally planned! It’s a fun city to spend the day walking around. The streets were filled with beautiful buildings with an abundance of shops and restaurants. One street to check is Rua de Santa Maria, Funchal which was lined with beautiful paintings on all the doors down the street. 🚶🏽‍♀️

OUR FAVORITES IN FUNCHAL

Madeira Food Tour: We booked a tour with “Food on Foot Tours” and it was exceptional. Our tour guide, Ana not only brought us to the most tasty spots with Maderian favorites, she provided a lot of history of the island as well! Highly recommend booking a food tour during your trip, we learned so much and had even more of an appreciation for the beautiful island we were visiting! Food on Food Tours

Farmer’s Market: Located in city center and is adorable! Located all in one building lies so many cute stands and flowers and music playing.

Jolie – Juice Mixology: Great stop for some fresh juice or smoothies while shopping the market!

UAU Caca: Also located in the market, a phenomenal chocolate shop with not only tasty but beautiful chocolates. Makes a great treat to bring home to family and friends, they box the chocolates up so beautifully!

Fish Market: A huge room located in the market, you’ll see SO many different kinds of fish getting cleaned and sold.

Fruit stands: We tried so many different fruits we had never tasted before. (*Pro tip for less expensive fruit, go outside of the market!)

Restaurante Informal: We had a wonderful anniversary dinner here. Highly recommend waiting in line as early as possible before they open as they didn’t take reservations and there aren’t that many tables!

Rei da Poncha: Enjoy authentic and tasty Maderian favorites, Poncha and Nikita

Loja do Cha: A tea house with desserts. Our favorite spot! We went 3 times…and we usually don’t do that while traveling! You HAVE to go and order the pastel de nata. Before we left Madeira we went in the morning and had a large breakfast we split as well. I still think about the pastel de natas! We tried a few in the city but the ones here were our favorite for sure! 🫖

HIKING

Now on to the best part…the incredible hiking in Madeira!

Quick tip: You’ll see there’s a number before the name of the hike. That number just indicates the number at the trailhead!

Levada walks were something I had never heard of or done before we visited Madeira but with so many across the island, you have to do a few! Levadas are mini canals or irrigation systems carrying heavy rainfall from the wet north regions of Madeira to the dryer parts in the south. Levada walks are trails that follow alongside the water trails in the mountains and make a beautiful hike for visitors!

The most popular Levada walk in Madeira is probably 25 Fontes Falls and Cascata do Risco At the base of these trailheads lies an adorable café you hike down to with drinks and food. This stunning levada walk led to a beautiful waterfall at the end. I would argue the walk is just as lovely as the final destination though! 🌲
Levada do Caldeirao Verde is another stunning levada walk with a waterfall waiting for you at the end. The views of the valley on this walk were my personal favorite. There is also a café located at the beginning of the trail which was so fun and relaxing. 🌲
3 Levadas that we didn’t have time for but were popular/highly rated were: PR11 Levada dos Balcoes, Levada do Moinho, Levada do Alecrim.

Vereda do Larano is a breathtaking coastal hike following the cliff side that is an easy hike without sacrificing the views. This was one of my favorite hikes in Madiera, it was sunny and warm and just felt so good to walk around this stunning coast! The parking at this trailhead is pretty tricky, there is an EXTREMELY small parking area, I wouldn’t even call it a lot more like a few spaces. Since the roads are so tight it’s hard to park on the side. Some people choose to taxi to this trail because of parking. Don’t let parking deter you from this hike, it’s still so worth it! 🥾

Pico Grande – Unfortunately, we didn’t end up hiking Pico Grande. We rolled up to the trailhead parking lot and the fog was extremely dense. It’s a drive up into the mountain, but the parking lot even had beautiful views. We were way too exhausted at this point of the trip for a harder 9+ mile hike just to see fog at the top.

Pico Ruivo and Pico do Arieiro can actually be one really long hike and is the most famous on the island. This one is a burner and a challenge but 100% worth it if you’re up for it. This hike is just under 7 miles out and back which has many hikers having a taxi pick them up at the opposite end so you don’t have to hike all the way back. Pico Arieiro is only a half hour drive from Funchal making it a stunning place to watch the sunrise. Be warned though the parking lot will fill up QUICK. There is some overfill parking farther down but after that is full people start parking on the side of the road which becomes miserable to get in and out of with the road being so narrow. And drivers aren’t supposed to be parking there anyway! 🥾 🥾

PR8 Vereda da Ponta de São Lourenço is a great morning hike as it’s just minutes away from sunrise viewing spot, Miradouro do Ponta Rosto (see below!) This popular hike has ample parking but gets busy quick. If you enjoy right after viewing sunrise you should have lots of space to enjoy the hike before the crowds come in!

Achadas da Cruz is an old farming village, probably the most unique you’ll find! There is a cable car to take you down and back up (which happens to be the steepest cable car in Europe!) Unfortunately for us it was down the day we visited and we hiked the whole thing down and back up. Unless you’re up for the challenge and want the most insane workout…I wouldn’t recommend! It’s a steep one! The cable car cost is 3 euros and runs 8AM-6PM. 🥾

SUNRISE/SUNSET SPOTS

Watching the sunrise or sunset, or if we’re up for it, both on vacation is one of our favorite parts of travelling. Here’s our top picks for sunrise and sunset viewing in Madeira!

Pico Ariero – Arguably the best and for sure the most iconic sunrise and sunset spot in Madeira with it being the second tallest point in Madeira it leaves you with 360 degree views and the chance of inverted clouds to be present which makes it even more dramatic. Unfortunately, we tried several times for sunrise and couldn’t quite catch any inverted clouds, the sunrise was still breathtaking. It’s also a plus as the parking lot it is so close you can roll in and walk about 2 min up so you don’t have much walking in the dark. The iconic stair steps are located on this hike fairly close to the start of the hike! There’s also a camera at this look if you want to view the weather conditions before driving up! Link here: Live Web Cam 🌄🥾

Pico Ruivo – This is the tallest point in Madeira making it a perfect spot for sunrise or sunset, however we didn’t get to see much of anything when we hiked Pico Ruivo as the weather wasn’t cooperating with us. For this scenic spot, there is an almost 2 mile hike to get up there from the parking lot, which means you’d be hiking in the dark either on the way up or down if your goal is to see sunrise/sunset!

Miradouro da Ponta do Rosto is a wonderful place to watch sunrise as there’s a parking lot to pull into and then the viewpoint is just steps away! These gorgeous cliffs overlook the ocean as the sun comes up. If you’re up for a morning hike afterwards, PR8 Vereda da Ponta de São Lourenço is about a 6 minute drive away from this viewpoint making them a perfect pair to do together! 🌄 🌄 🌅

Miradouro da Garganta Funda was my favorite sunset spot. Parking is limited, but this viewpoint is worth it! 🌅

Miradouro da Raposeira - Asking Caleb about this one…

Anything along the coast near Ponta Do Sol. We pulled up near a rocky beach to watch the sunset and it was one of the best ones! 🌅

OTHER MUST SEE SPOTS

Praia de Seixal, the beautiful black beach. We spent an afternoon relaxing here in the sunshine. FYI we didn’t see a lot of food options nearby so we ended up grabbing some snacks and a towel to lay on from a convient store next to the beach. 🏖️ 🏖️

Fanal Forest has these awesome trees that look mystical when the fog sets in. We attempted to hit the forest with fog 3 times and all 3 times the weather was bright and sunny which unfortunately doesn’t quite give the same appeal. There are certain weather conditions that can make the fog even though it’s hard to predict. But even if it’s still sunny down at the beach, it might be foggy up in the forest! When we didn’t want fog we got fog and when we didn’t want sun we got sun haha!

Cascata dos Anjos is unique waterfall right alongside the coast just so happens to pour out onto the road. Fun spot for pictures or to drive your car through!

Ponta do Sol is a cute little town is about 25 minutes from Funchal and a fun place to spend the afternoon. We had lunch at a spot overlooking the ocean and spent some time walking around. We found the cutest bridge with a hidden waterfall close by! ❤️

SPARK NOTES😉

*Everything is google map linked so you can save easily or head straight there from here!

WHERE TO EAT

1. Breakfast, Tea, or Dessert Spot- Loja do Cha. Our fav spot we went 3 times. You HAVE to go and order the pastel de nata.

2. Dinner Spot - Restaurante Informal. Highly recommend waiting in line as early as possible as they didn’t take reservations and there aren’t that many tables!

3. Refreshing Smoothie Spot - Jolie – Juice Mixology is a great stop for some fresh juice or smoothies while shopping the market!

4. Sweet treat Spot - UAU Cacau is located in the market, a phenomenal chocolate shop with not only tasty but beautiful chocolates.

5. Drink Spot - Rei da Poncha for traditional poncha and nikita

6. Dinner with a View Spot - 90° Bar | Grill | Restaurant lovely meal with a view, make reservations for sunset if you can! This restaurant is located near Ponta Do Sol.

WHERE TO HIKE

1. Levada Hikes:

25 Fontes Falls/PR6 25 Fontes hike & Levada do Risco
Levada do Caldeirao Verde
PR11 Levada dos Balcoes
Levada do Moinho –
Levada do Alecrim -

2. Leg Burners with a View:

Pico Ariero – Parking lot right just a short walk away from start of trail. Hike is strenuous and can be as long as you make it. End to the hike is up to Pico Ruivo.
Pico Ruivo – 2 mile hike up from the parking lot to the peak.

These two hikes above are attached for one long (and strenuous, yet amazing) 7 mile hike. Also referred to as “Pico to Pico”

Pico Grande – Strenuous 9 mile hike

3. Enjoyable not too hard of hikes with a view:

Vereda do Larano - Beautiful coastline hike the entire way!
PR8 Vereda da Ponta de Sao Lourenco - Great morning hike. A bit more strenuous at some parts.

Other Spots to Enjoy

1. A Black Beach - Praia de Seixal Take a break from hiking and enjoy relaxing on the beach

2. Mystical Forest- Fanal Forest Twisted branches with a fog added in make this a mysterious area to walk around.

3. Cute little town - Ponta Do Sol Grab a bite to eat, walk around, enjoy the coastline views!

4. Drive your car through a waterfall Cascata dos Anjos A unique experience near Ponta Do Sol to drive your car through a waterfall!