Tips for hotels, restaurants and things to do in Madeira
Man, man, man: Madeira is fan-tas-tic! You can spend a lot of money there if you want. Rent sailing boats, only to the swankiest or swankiest rooftop bars and have a private driver drive you around for the entire holiday. But you can also live on a very budget. By visiting the local cafes (85 cents for a beer!), exploring the streets of Funchal, camping and taking your own car on an adventure through the mountains and over steep roads. On Madeira you can lie on a bed in the sun for days, but you can also spend your entire holiday walking through nature and along the levadas (irrigation canals). Madeira really is for everyone! Those who think Madeira is a retiree island, think again. You will definitely find them there, but younger tourists also know where to find Madeira, and you notice that in everything.
For a small island (Madeira is about the same size as the province of Utrecht) there are a lot of sights to see. You will find hikes, vineyards (Madeira wine!), fishing villages, waterfalls and lava pools. Old towns, dramatic landscapes with rugged mountains, levadas, volcanoes and rocky beaches. Everything! Add to that delicious food and drinks, and you will run out of time. How, where and why? You will find that in this list of tips Madeira.
Oh and these things are useful to know in advance: useful tips and facts for Madeira.
When you say Madeira, you say good food. Bee Nini Design Center in Funchal for example, if you go for it fancy with a view go. Or at Faja dos Padres for simple, but pure and super local dishes, and where you can only come by boat or cable car. It is best to pick up a sandwich to go or a well-filled picnic basket Vantastic. Vega's are a good choice Great Caju, and for your daily dose of pastel de nata, go to Born 7. Only a few options in or just outside Funchal (Faja dos Padres is only a fifteen minute drive). Outside the capital you will also find a few gems (Quinta do Furȁo! Quinta do Barbusano! Vila da Carne!).
The entire list of places to get a plate of good food can be found here: restaurants in Madeira.
Throughout Funchal you will find small supermarkets and bars, where the Super Bock Mini (small bottles of beer) is always cold. Around cocktail hour, the mini market turns into a kind of local beer pub, where locals stand in the alley toasting, peeling peanuts, and shelling lupine beans (a typical Portuguese snack). Around the corner at Rei da Poncha in Funchal, opposite Sapataria Porto, you will find such a shop: Pharmacia Do Bento. Neighborhood party vibes, and for 85 cents you can score a Mini Bock. Be careful, because you can easily walk past it (except when it's cocktail hour, when the alley is full).
You can pay by card, but it is really useful to have some coins in your pocket here.
Fajã dos Padres is a kind of paradise island on the already beautiful Madeira, and we can't stop talking about it. You can only get there by cable car or boat, and then you can sit down between 10.00 a.m. and 18.00 p.m. for lunch, an early dinner or just to feast your eyes. On the pebble beach in the sun, or jumping off the pier; what you want. There are fruit trees everywhere, a vineyard and banana tree plantation, and butterflies fluttering everywhere. A Madeira wine tasting is also possible, and here you can eat the best lapas (a local shellfish).
The best thing about Fajã dos Padres? That you can also sleep there! There are nine houses (most for four people, one for two) and then you have this piece of beauty all to yourself in the evenings and in the mornings. Fajã dos Padres is located at the foot of a high cliff, less than a ten-minute drive from Funchal and is perhaps our favorite place in Madeira.
sword: espada means sword, and if you google a picture of the espada, you'll understand why. It looks like a really scary eel, but luckily tastes better than it looks. You'll also find espada con banana (yep, fish with banana) and that seems to have been a bit of a gimmick by a chef. Someone once mentioned it in a travel report, and now it's a 'typical local' dish that actually only exists for the tourist.
Bolo do Caco: a flat, sturdy bread, often also with garlic. Casa do Bolo do Caco makes very good ones, the spicy chorizo was great (and filling for hours). |
Limpets: a type of sea snail, also known as 'Chinese hats'. Compare it to a cockle, but a bit meatier. Traditionally you just sprinkle them with lemon, but some restaurants give it a more creative twist. Fajã dos Padres is a top place to try on lapas!
– poncha: the local drink of Madeira, made from aguardente (distilled alcohol made from sugar cane juice), honey, sugar and a fruit juice (usually orange or lemon juice). There are plenty of places in Madeira where you can drink poncha: at Vila da Carne (Câmara de Lobos) they make it at the table and at Rei da Poncha (Funchal) you can try more than 20 flavors.
In the north of Madeira, west of Porto Moniz, you will find Seixal. The Black Sand Beach is one of the few sandy beaches you will find on Madeira (Machico in the west in another), and where, with a bit of luck, you can learn to surf. On the other side of Seixal you will find natural swimming pools aka lava pools: holes in the rock caused by volcanic activities. So swim in the sea, without being thrown against the rocks by the waves. The water temperature of the baths is slightly higher than that of the sea, there are changing rooms and at the bar Rock Polish get your cocktails in a pineapple. Wonderful place to spend a day (or afternoon) lazing around, swimming and enjoying the view!
In the fairytale Fanal Forest you actually want it to rain a little and there is a thick fog, because that is this part of Madeira at its most beautiful: just visible, winding laurel trees and enveloping branches, glittering drops of rain falling into the moss sticks around: amazing! When the sun shines, Fanal Forest is also incredibly beautiful, although it becomes a little less mystical.
Fanal Forest is one of the last laurel forests in the world and is, quite rightly, on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Some trees are more than 600 years old! There are also large herds of cows walking around (they don't, just walk around them) and it is ideal to have a picnic here when the sun is shining. Fanal Forest is also a lot bigger than most tourists think: you can walk a long way and turn left and right.
At Fanal you can start various walking routes and levada hikes, such as the PR 13 – Vereda do Fanal or PR 14 – Levada dos Cedros.
Taxis in and around the capital Funchal are plentiful and affordable, you can take tour buses to see the real highlights, cross the island in your own car or take a jeep with a group. All great options, but a day with a private jeep tour exploring the island is, in our opinion, the very best way to explore Madeira. The guide knows all the hidden places, you can indicate what you would like to see (or not), you can choose your own lunch spot (Winery Quinta do Barbusano for example, and then immediately take a wine tasting, because you don't have to drive anyway) and you have control over how long you want to stop somewhere.
If you were to do it with two people, you would make a big hole in your wallet. A group tour at Green Devil Safari is 58 euros pp, and a jeep with driver for a day is 360 euros. But if there are six or more of you, it will be even cheaper to take a private jeep tour.
If there is anywhere fantastic for hiking, it is Madeira. From challenging hikes where you go up steeply and really have to climb a bit, to shorter walks that you can even do in your flip-flops. Putting on hiking boots (or flip-flops) and going is the best and most beautiful way to explore the rugged landscapes and green mountains of Madeira. Very varied too, because Madeira has different microclimates. Whatever walk you do: amazing views are guaranteed: high cliffs, looking out over the sea, through the jungle, past waterfalls, rising above the clouds: everything is there!
A favorite is the PR8 São Lourenço walk in eastern Madeira. You start at Ponta de São Lourenço and end at the Ponta do Furado viewpoint. Beautiful views during the entire walk, and it is not even that difficult. You can walk it in 2,5 hours (only the last part is steeper, which is tough with 25 degrees of sun on your head). At the parking lot you have some food trucks for snacks on the road or energy when you get back.
Another tip: choose a hotel (or house) with a swimming pool! Perhaps less 'necessary' in the winter months, but during the rest of the year it is really nice to be able to take a cool dip in the hottest part of the day.
Baia The Views, Funchal – about 20 minutes walk from the center of Funchal Baia The Views (there are two other wedding locations too). Spacious, clean rooms (some with kitchenette), good breakfast, a gym, and a swimming pool with bar. From the swimming pool you look out over the city and it is especially beautiful at sunrise!
Quinta do Furȁo, Santana – a hotel with a good restaurant (also a lot of choice for vegetarians), mega views, and they have their own vineyard: fantastic place! That swimming pool is not very large, but it is located between the bunches of grapes, and therefore still worth 10 points.
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