How to Travel Madeira in 7 Days - Travel Itinerary

700 kilometers west of the African coast, you'll find the island of Madeira, a rugged Portuguese island that is home to dramatic peaks covered by lush forests and a seemingly endless network of water channels that runs through the entire island. I had the chance to spend 7 days driving around this incredible island, taking in its magnificent scenery, hiking several trails, and sampling some local delicacies. Follow along on this 7 day itinerary as I share with you how to explore this unique island located in the Atlantic Ocean. Madeira is a relatively small island. You could easily drive around the entire island in just a couple of hours. As such, instead of staying at different places each day, we decided to split our time between Funchal and Caleta. Exploring the eastern part while in Funchal and the western part while in Caleta. In order to explore the island on your own, you need to get a rental car. I highly recommend getting a powerful enough car. Anything with a turbo engine should do, since Madeira is famous for its steep and winding roads. Except for the main motorway, most of your driving time will be either spent climbing steep roads or managing your brakes the way down. We rented a small Renault Clio RS, we had no problem driving around the island and tackling the mountain roads of Madeira. Madeira comes with two distinct seasons. The warm and dry summer months, generally between May to September, while from October to April the island is slightly colder and wetter, but also less crowded. Generally, Madeira stays pretty warm all year round, so that makes the island perfect for escaping the cold European winters. We visited in mid-April, and were met mostly with sunny weather with the rare overcast and mild shower. Our journey starts at the airport, where we pick up our rental car and immediately head to Funchal, the main city on the island. We decide to take the first day slow, and spend the day exploring the city. The first place to visit in Funchal is Rua de Santa Maria, located in the Old Town district. Part of the Painted Door project, the street is part of a permanent public art display, where you'll find decorative paintings on doors of houses and shops along the street. Next up, we have the Farmer's Market. Established in 1940, the goal of the market was to be a major supply point for the city. While much has changed since then, the market still carries out its core function, selling goods and local produce. Even if you're not interested in buying anything, it's worth swinging by and visiting the many stalls residing in the market. We then find ourselves at the Funchal Cathedral, an architectural blend of gothic and romanesque styles. Originally a church, the building was restructured into a cathedral, and was afterwards made a national monument in 1910. Not too far from the cathedral, we make the obligatory visit to the CR7 Museum, a museum dedicated to the exploits of Cristiano Ronaldo. We then finish up the day by grabbing dinner in the Old Town at Taberna Ruel. It was super nice being able to dine right outside on the street. We were treated with some delicious food. I especially enjoyed the espadada, a traditional local dish consisting of skewered beef with bay and garlic. After finishing dinner, we head to our car and make the drive to our place of accommodation. We arrive at our guesthouse, Villa Camacho. Since we have a big day tomorrow, we decided to settle in early for the night. We wake up early the next day and make the hour drive up to Pico Areiro to see the sunrise and do the famous Pico to Pico hike. I really highly recommend getting up early for the sunrise view, it's possibly the best place to experience it. We begin our hike from Pico Areiro to Pico Ruivo. It's the most popular hike in Madeira, as the trail takes you through the jagged mountain peaks and rewards you with an impressive view of the area. It takes between 4 to 6 hours to complete the entire hike, going to Pico Ruivo and back again. Alternatively, if you don't want to backtrack, you can continue to Achara do Teixeira and grab a taxi back to Areiro, which is what we did. To get a taxi, we used the Taxin app, which is a local app in Madeira, which functions like Uber. You can find all the hiking maps and the navigation app that I used in the description box below. After completing the hike, we decide to have a quick lunch at the nearby shelter restaurant. Alternatively, you could also drive down to the village of Ribeiro Frio and grab some lunch there at one of the nearby restaurants. I instead opted for some Poncha, a local drink consisting of fruit juice, rum, and honey. First time having Poncha? Oh, okay, but tasty. Can't have too many of them. On day 3, we leave Funchal and head to Caleta. On the way, we decide to do another day hike, but before that, we visit the Capo Girão viewpoint. With an elevation of 580 meters, it's Europe's highest promontory, offering an incredible view of the cultivated lands below and a panoramic view of the ocean. After a short drive, we then arrive at the trailhead for the Levada do Moinho hike. The hike is what's called a levada hike. Levadas are channels used to transport water from the northern part of the island to the southern part. Today, they not only provide water, but also hydroelectric power and a large network of walking paths for visitors to enjoy. After a good amount of walking, we reach this cool waterfall at the end which you can walk right under. Next up, we make a quick visit to the famous Anjos Waterfall, a waterfall which flows over the old road ER 101. As you can see, it's quite a popular spot. We then finally arrive at our hotel at Caleta. The hotel is located beautifully on a hillside which offers a great view over the ocean. We booked a room called Gruta which translates to the cave and the room itself seems to be literally carved into the rocky hillside which makes it feel like you're very much in a cave. It's a beautiful room and I very much enjoyed our stay there. You can find links to all the hotels I stayed at in the description box below. We decided to have dinner on all the nights we stayed at the hotel and we were treated with some great food throughout our stay. The next morning, we head up to the mountains to visit Fanal and some other spots along the northwestern coast. After a misty and atmospheric drive through the highlands, we finally reach the forest of Fanal. Located on a mountain plateau, Fanal is famous for its crooked trees with their twisty branches and the mysterious fog which rolls through these lands. It's an excellent location for some photos. The fog isn't always guaranteed but to increase your chances, you want to swing by either early morning or in the afternoon. Next, we head down to Seychelles which is known for its black sand beach. There's also a nearby viewpoint of a waterfall I recommend visiting while you're in the area. Not too far from Seychelles, you'll come across Ribera da Genela and its famous sea stacks located only a few meters from the coast. Our next stop is the natural pools at Porto Moniz. The natural pools are made of volcanic rock and it's a great place for a dip. However, occasionally the weather can have other ideas as in our case, so the pools were closed due to strong winds and large waves hitting the area. We then finish our day by getting a sunset view at the westernmost point of the entire island at the Ponta do Parco lighthouse. On our final day in Calheda, we decided to head back into the mountains to do the famous Levada das 25 Pontes hike. This was one of my favorite hikes while on the island and arguably the best Levada hike Madeira has to offer. It takes anywhere between four to six hours to complete the loop depending on your pace. The trail will take you to two waterfalls, lots of walking along levadas, and a very long and dark tunnel to finish up the hike. Definitely bring a headlamp for this one. On day six, we head back to Funchal but before reaching Funchal, drive up to visit the Valley of the Nuns. I recommend heading up to the viewpoint to get an excellent view of the village below or even better, flying a drone. It's also worth mentioning that there are several great miradoras or viewpoints scattered around the island. If you're near one, then consider visiting one and you'll most likely get a great view of the surrounding area. After visiting the Valley of Nuns, we arrive back in Funchal. The final thing we wanted to do in the city was taking the famous ride up the cable car. The cable car provides a nice view over the city while it takes you up top to a place called Monte. While in Monte, we decided to spend some time in the Monte Palace Garden, a beautiful garden which houses a collection of exotic plants from every continent. There's also an oriental garden to explore which is very much inspired by Japan and China. When it's time to head back down to Funchal, you have two options. Either taking the cable car back down or jump on one of the famous toboggan sledges to bring you down. This two kilometer ride will cost you around 30 euros for two people. It's a bit of a tourist trap to be honest and it also doesn't bring you all the way down to Funchal but instead drops you off at a place called Livramento so you'll have to arrange transport from there or grab a bus to get to the city center. Nevertheless, it's definitely one of the more unique things to do in Funchal. After getting some dinner, we head to our hotel in Funchal where we'll be staying for our last two nights. We decide to spend our final day in Madeira with some light hiking and make the trip up to Ponta de Sao Lourenço. It's another popular hike in Madeira as it provides the famous view of the dragon tail of the island. It's a relatively easy hike with some nice coastal views along the route. I recommend making the last incline up top to get the view of the tail at the end. After finishing up with the hike, we make a quick visit to the Santana traditional houses which are pretty much adapted to being open-air museums now. We then head up towards the mountains and do a small part of a Levada hike which takes you to a famous caldera lake. But instead of doing the entire hike, we opt instead to sit at this picturesque cafe at the start of the trail and just enjoy a little drink and a slice of cake. Before heading back to the hotel, we spend the remaining few hours left before sunset, driving up the mountains, getting footage, and flying the drone. So there you have it, that's how I spent my seven days in Madeira. As always, nothing is complete without a travel budget. So here's the total cost for this trip. This is excluding airline tickets, so just factor that in depending on where you're flying from. Overall, I had a great time in Madeira. It's a beautiful island that really surprised me with all its incredible scenery. It reminded me of a tropical version of the Faroe Islands if I have to be honest. But yeah, I hope this video inspired you or helped you in planning your very own trip to Madeira. If you have any questions, then leave them in the comments below. I'll be providing more info and links to hotels and much more in the description box, so do check that out. This is Alan, thank you for watching this video. Until next time!