A mountainous island 559 miles off the coast of Portugal, Madeira is a year-round destination, with spring-like weather in all seasons, but the best time of all to plan a trip there may be in April, when the jacaranda and flame trees are in bloom and Funchal’s main street is canopied in purple blossoms.
Begin in Funchal
Several sights are right in the capital, a manageable city that’s a popular port of call for cruise ships.
- Mercado dos Lavradores – Women in colorful traditional dresses sell flowers in front of this art deco market, designed by Portuguese architect Edmundo Tavares, while inside stalls are piled with fruits and vegetables from nearby haciendas, along with local crafts.
- Santa Clara Convent - lined with the blue glazed ceramic designs that adorn churches and public buildings throughout mainland Portugal, the convent also has a stunning silver tabernacle from Madeira’s colonial era.
- São Pedro Church – Also from Portugal’s Golden Age of Discoveries and also lined in these glazed ceramics – called azulejos, San Pedro is among a surprising number of buildings that survive from the 15th and 16th centuries.
- Cable Car to Monte - One of several cable cars to ride, this one rises to the town of Monte, 1800 feet above its base in the center of Funchal. Along with views of the city, the ride gives passengers a look at what lies beyond the rim of the natural amphitheater in which Funchal nestles, mountains that rise in ridges cut by deep ravines, and to the island’s central mountain chain over 6,000 feet in elevation.
Elsewhere on Madeira
- Monte Palace Tropical Garden – Although not unique to Portugal – they are in Spain, too – azulejos are found so widely in the country that they are one of Portugal’s artistic icons. José Berardo built these gardens to display his extensive collection of these tiles salvaged from palaces, churches and estates not just in Portugal but across her former empire. The tropical flowers and greenery provide a stunning setting, while the Japanese garden houses his collections showing Portugal’s historic cultural and commercial ties with Japan.
- Laurissilva Forest - Named a UNESCO World Heritage Site, these rare trees are best seen from another cable car, from Monte to Funchal’s Botanical Gardens, over the ravine of João Gomes River. Along with the ravine, the ride also offers panoramic views over Funchal Bay.
- Walking the Levadas – Perhaps the signature experience of the entire island is a walk along the paths that border Madeira’s unique system of narrow waterways built in the early 1500s to bring water from mountain springs to irrigate farms and vineyards. Offering some of the best views of the lakes, dramatic rocks and waterfalls in the interior, and of the terraced vineyards, levadas are often carved into steep rock cliffs that offer unparalleled perspectives.
- Porto Santo – Fly or take a ferry for a day on the golden sand beaches of Madeira’s satellite island, an entirely different experience from the main island.
- Cabo Girão - The second highest cliff face in the world drops straight into the Atlantic from this mountain village. Iron railings at the viewpoint on the edge are being replaced this year with a glass skywalk similar to the one at the Grand Canyon, but the experience will be no less heart-stopping.
- São Vicente Caves – In a village on Madeira’s north coast, the Volcanism Centre shows how the island formed, with audiovisual demonstrations of volcanic eruptions before visitors explore the volcanic caves, a series of lava tubes left by an eruption 400,000 years ago.
And Madeira Wines
Don’t leave the island without sampling the world-class wines that are its best-known product. They can also be found in a martini take at Reid’s Palace Hotel, the Madeirini, which replaces the vermouth with local dry Madeira.
Getting To Madeira
SATA airlines now flies to Madeira from Boston; TAP flies from New York and other cities, via Lisbon, in mainland Portugal.
Barbara Rogers - Traveler, writer and guidebook author with a passion for those lands that border the Mediterranean Sea and the neighboring Atlantic ...
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