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Madeira
More than 2,000 kilometres of hand-cut irrigation channels double as the island's footpaths.
Madeira is steep and its rain falls on the wrong side, so settlers began cutting levadas in the fifteenth century — narrow channels carved along the contour to carry water from the wet north to the terraces in the south. More than 2,000 kilometres of them still run, still deliver water, and the maintenance paths beside them are now the island's walking network.
The water comes off the laurisilva, a laurel forest left over from a type that covered southern Europe millions of years ago; Madeira holds the largest surviving stand and it went onto the UNESCO list in 1999. The island's wine has a similar backstory: barrels shipped as ballast across the tropics came back tasting better, so producers now heat the wine deliberately, a process called estufagem.
Quick facts
Currency
EUR
Euro
Language
Portuguese
+ English
Power
—
Driving
Right
US-style
Airport
FNC
Cristiano Ronaldo Madeira International
Emergency
—
Police · Fire
When to go
Monthly breakdown
Storm risk: NoneJan
Rain
Feb
Rain
Mar
Rain
Apr
Best
May
Best
Jun
Best
Jul
Best
Aug
Best
Sep
Best
Oct
Best
Nov
Rain
Dec
Rain
Major events
Carnival of Funchal
A Saturday allegorical parade with samba schools, followed on Tuesday by the Cortejo Trapalhao, a deliberately shambolic parade anyone can join.
Flower Festival
Children build a Wall of Hope from flowers in Funchal, followed by a float parade. Timing follows Easter, so it lands in late April or May.
Funchal New Year Fireworks
A display over the amphitheatre of the bay that once held the Guinness record for the world's largest. Cruise ships book the harbour a year ahead.
Hidden gems
Fanal
A plateau of laurel trees several hundred years old, shaped by wind and usually standing in fog, on the northwest of the island.
Ponta de Sao Lourenco
The dry eastern spit, treeless and red-brown, where the island runs out into the Atlantic in a series of ridges.
Curral das Freiras
A village at the bottom of a bowl of cliffs where nuns hid from pirates in 1566; chestnut is the local crop and the local dessert.
Local food
Espetada
Beef rubbed with garlic and salt, threaded on a bay laurel stick and grilled over wood; the branch is the seasoning.
Bolo do caco
dietary_tags.vegetarianA flat wheat bread cooked on a stone slab and split hot with garlic butter; served before almost every meal.
Poncha
dietary_tags.veganSugarcane spirit, honey and lemon stirred with a wooden mexelote; originally drunk by fishermen as a cold remedy.
Safety tips
Nature
Levada paths run alongside water channels with unfenced drops, and several routes pass through unlit tunnels. Carry a torch, and check the official closure list, which changes after every storm.
Water-Safety
Madeira has almost no sand beaches, so swimming happens in natural rock pools and off ladders. Swell on the north coast makes the pools at Porto Moniz dangerous on a bad day.
Transport
Funchal's streets and the roads inland are extremely steep, and older rental cars can struggle. Use the engine to brake on descents rather than riding the brake pedal.
Sustainability
Eco rating
Reef: reef_status.not_applicableLaurisilva laurel forest UNESCO-protected since 1999
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