The wild west
DESTINATIONS MADEIRA
| MADEIRA | ▲
The wild west Walkers, wine lovers and water babies all fall under Madeira’s spell. Ellen Himelfarb explores the rugged beauty of this Atlantic island to find out why
M
Portuguese mariners. (The eponymous wine was fortified to preserve it on long, hot journeys.) Lately, though, it’s known as a refuge for sun-seeking holidaymakers. Yet there is far more to see than the side of a hotel pool. On a fleeting field trip you can experience panoramas, salty sea breezes and the gentle pace of village life – sometimes all at once. You’ll need wheels: Enterprise (enterprise. co.uk) has cars from £98 per week. Or, if the hairpin highways have you on edge, leave the manoeuvring to a private taxi, from €40 for a half-day whirl.
▲
adeira has its ups and downs – but not in the way you might think. The frequency and speed with which you swoop between 1,000 metres and sea level will blow your mind… and pop your ears. You can’t avoid the drama. From the moment your plane swings around to the runway edging the sea, you’re right at the heart of it. Even the airport shuttle (€8 return) gives you an eyeful. A volcanic hotspot blasted into being five million years ago, Madeira came of age five centuries ago as a stopover for westbound
Blandy’s Winelodge
In town
Camara de Lobos
level are tall reeds of sugar cane – 400 years ago the island was the world’s top provider of cane sugar, until the New World took over. Some good has come of the legacy. Madeirans distill a rum called poncha, cut cloyingly with sugar, honey and lemon. Get it at the source from a roadside bar in Camara de Lobos, the capital of cane country. Pull into town for a quaff and peek into the church, hoiked up PORTUGAL
Let’s get the country’s vinous namesake out of the way first. Madeira grapes – a cocktail of native whites and reds – may grow up in the hills, but the wine merchants station themselves in Funchal. If you’re a geek for specifics such as oxidation, alcohol content and 9,000-litre satinwood vats, follow the 45-minute tour at Blandy’s Winelodge (blandyswinelodge.com; €5.90; four daily), the half-timbered pile on Funchal’s main Although if you’d find that a boulevard. slog (many do), nip up to Pereira D’Oliveira’s lodge (Rua Dos Ferreiros 107) and taste their medium-dry and five-year vintages for free. TIP Next year’s Madeira Wine Festival, a two-week tasting extravaganza, runs from 26 August to 9 September. We’ll return to Funchal later (see Mini Guide, right). For now, ripple west from the city on zigzag roads over hills quilted in green. Vast banana leaves overhanging the hard shoulder and trundling pickups laden with produce tell you this is the country’s fruit basket. Among the banana smallholdings absorbing the rays at street PORTO MONIZ
Sao Jorge
SEIXAL
Levada do Rei VE
4
Rabacal
Rocha do Navio
SANTANA
Caminho do Pinaculo e Folhadal
Levada do Alecrim
3
Levada do Caldeirao Verde
1
2 ATLANTIC
VE
4
Serra de Agua
PONTA DO SOL
Ribeira Brava Faja dos Padres
SCALE – 10km
1 8 W H I C H ? T R AV E L N OV E M B E R 2 0 1 7
Camara de Lobos Miradouro do Cabo Girao
Madeira
Miradouro da Guindaste Faial
Botanical Garden FUNCHAL Nini Design Centre
SPAIN
MOROCCO
on a hill with vineyard views. For Madeira’s equivalent of a wild-west tavern, detour into the arid interior and up the VE4 motorway. Tasquinha and Taberna da Poncha, both on the motorway near Serra de Agua, sling cocktails with dishes of whole peanuts, whose shells crunch under foot. There’s a taxi stand nearby for those who overdo it. ‘Around here,’ they say, ‘there are two religions – Catholic and alcoholic’. On this island of 268,000 people, nearly half in Funchal, the second-tier towns might seem to have nothing to them. Madeira’s north is different. In these remote, weathered hills, development has been sluggish, to your advantage. Uneven roads and dark tunnels remain just as tight and tummy-turning as half a century ago. Vineyards threaten to overtake the pavements, early homesteads peek out from working farms. In Sao Jorge, visit Moinho a Agua (Sitio do Pico 156), an 18th-century mill that still grinds wheat, corn and rye with massive cracked wheels. The town comes to a head at a swimming cove bathed in morning light. If you hike toward Santana, a town of thatched-roof A-frame cottages painted red and blue, you can grab a cablecar (€3; 00 351 291 570 220) to Rocha do Navio, a nature W H I C H . C O.U K / T R AV E L
DESTINATIONS MADEIRA
MINI GUIDE: FUNCHAL The capital cascades down the hillside in a surge of white stucco, like one of Madeira’s famous waterfalls. But the old seafront is the thing, and you can see it all, even on the sultriest day. Start on jacaranda-shaded Avenida Arriaga and marvel at the unhurried rhythm of morning ‘rush’ hour. Stop first at the stout 500-year-old cathedral (sefunchal.com; free), tastefully spartan but for its gilded Gothic ceilings. Next, they funnel into Mercado dos Lavradores (cm-funchal.pt; free) to weigh up toothy, bulgyeyed scabbard fish, the unlikely local delicacy. Roam the stalls, then accept a taster of the scaly exotic
STAY For pedestrian lanes and authentic cooking, stay in the old centre.
reserve surrounded by patchwork farmland. Continue toward Faial and pull over at Guindaste, a viewpoint above Faial beach, for a coastline view of fjord-like extremes. On sunny days you can see clear to Porto Santo, a spit of volcanic sand 5,000 Madeirans call home.
At sea
▲
Don’t let the limpid teal fool you: Madeira’s Atlantic roars like a lion. It has a ragged, coal-black coastline with the finer sand swept off to sea. Peer down onto the spectacle from the glass floor at Miradouro do Cabo Girao, on the world’s highest sea cliff, outside Camara de Lobos. Then, to test the waters, there’s blacker, rockier Faja dos Padres. A new cablecar (€10) dives 300 metres down the cliffside to the jagged beach and a café dotted with parasols. Take the plunge, but wear waterproof shoes. At neighbouring Ponta do Sol, the sharp shingle makes an excellent deterrent to everyone save local crowds, who prefer the quiet here to tourist-trap Ribeira Brava. Strap on firm sandals and you’ll be rewarded with a (free) custom wood-slat lounger to spare your back. With the stone jetty wrapping its protective arm around the swimming bay, the water stays calm. Savour the view of the @W H I C H T R AV E L
THE VINE HOTEL Sitting atop a shopping complex means this contemporary boutique hotel is dead quiet at night. It also gets mighty views from the rooftop, where there’s a pool/ lounge with happy hours The at 5pm and 10pm. minibar, stocked with cold drinks, is free. Rua dos Aranhas 27; hotelthevine.com €166 €166 €0 €0
The Vine Hotel
Painted doors district
fruit the vendors call ‘banana-pineapple’. On the seafront, take the teleferico (madeiracablecar. com; round trip €16) up the mountain and stroll misty botanical gardens with ocean panoramas. See those men dressed in white like Victorian cricketers? They’re carreiros, operating
CASTANHEIRO BOUTIQUE HOTEL Clear your calendar: the rooftop infinity pool overlooks the cathedral, city hall, cable cars and miles of blue. Scenesters gather at the buzzy terrace taverna – Castanheiro is a proper urban fly-and-flop. Romantics love the juliet balconies (though not the double bed formed of two singles). Pragmatists love the sockets and switches, all in the right places. Rua do Castanheiro 31; castanheiroboutiquehotel. com €110 €110 €0 €0
the traditional wicker sledges that race tourists downhill. But €25 is steep for a ride that lets you off in suburban hinterland. Better to gondola back down, then follow the promenade to Nini Design Centre ninidesigncentre.com; free) for cocktails cantilevered over the port.
EAT MERCEARIA DONA MECIA Dining terraces collide on this slender side street, but the coolest and cheapest is Dona Mecia, with crocheted stools and a pantry of Portuguese products. The local canned mackerel and tuna comes with tomato and chives on slices of toasted sourdough. Rua dos Aranhas 26; mains avg €5 CRIS’S DOWNTOWN The newest door to open in the bohemian ‘painted doors’ enclave, Cris’s plies you with Madeira cocktails then stuffs you with pâté, seafood and salad – the crusted scabbard neck starter is unexpectedly delightful. It all comes a bit fast – slow down the kitchen or you’ll be done in an hour. Rua de Santa Maria 141; mains avg €15
N OV E M B E R 2 0 1 7 W H I C H ? T R AV E L 1 9
HOTEL
W H E R E TO S TAY
Levada do Rei
Dorisol Pousada dos Vinhaticos
DORISOL POUSADA DOS VINHATICOS Rustic is what you’d expect here above Madeira’s Grand Canyon. Yet of the few ageing guesthouses, this is the most characterful, encircled by soaring landscape and buzzing with wildlife (you may need to oversee the removal of lizards from your bath). Beds are narrow, but there’s a pull-out sofa to take overspill. Serra de Agua; dorisol.com €45 €50 €0 €0
Porto Moniz
1
HOTEL DA VILA Pint-size Ponta do Sol beckons Portuguese sun-seekers, mostly, who use Vila’s deep armchairs as their base. Spend an afternoon floating between the café, the beach loungers and your sea-view pocket balcony. A more glamorous sister hotel (doubles €79) perches like an eyrie atop the cliff – visit for the pool and tropical garden (Vila residents are welcome), but descend back to earth for scene and sleep. Rua Dr Joao Augusto Teixeira, Ponta do Sol; pontadosol.com/hoteldavila €64 €71 €0 €0 2
QUINTA DO FURAO You’d be forgiven for staying put on this three-hectare vineyard near Santana, squeezed between rainforest and beach (albeit an hour’s walk down the cliff). With daily Madeira-wine tastings, pools and a games room, you’re unlikely to feel the pull of the islands offshore – though they, and charming Santana, are a quick roll down the coast. Estrada Quinta do Furao 6, Santana; quintadofurao.com €170 €170 €0 €0 3
2 0 W H I C H ? T R AV E L N OV E M B E R 2 0 1 7
Pico Ruiva
pastel-stucco town with the afternoon sun at your back. Other coves exude their own special charisma. At Porto Moniz, the island’s north-western point, volcanic rock clusters in scallop patterns around the shore, trapping tidewater in natural pools. Mossy stone steps lead into the cool water for bathers who slip in sighing like spa-goers. The larger, shallower swimming basins (portomoniz.pt/en; €1.50) attract families with yelping children. Meanwhile, a grid of (free) pools on the west side of town, by the aquarium, sit largely unperturbed. Leave time for Seixal, a fashionable haven cosseted by Unesco forest. Its naturally protected location, buffered by breakwaters, keeps the pristine black sand in place. And a dearth of guesthouses keeps the tourists at bay. This means you’ll find a free patch most days on the public strand – firmly packed to please even the most sand-averse.
On high How civilised the 16th-century Portuguese were, carving out miles of aqueduct from the mountains so that, 500 years later, ramblers in bucket hats could meander easily alongside them. Madeirans call these bubbling rainwater channels levadas, and
today there are dozens, streaming gently through the laurel forest. Which levada to undertake is the question hanging in the steamy Madeiran air. None are more than an hour’s drive from anywhere, and often much less. Outfits such as Lido (lido-tours.com) operate full-day coach tours for €25pp, but you can hire a private taxi from €40 for a half day – ask your hotel to recommend a trusted driver. Guidebooks send you westward toward the Rabacal nature reserve. There’s wisdom in this: the shady stroll to 25 waterfalls tumbling into lagoons keeps you moving without breaking much of a sweat. But lose the hordes off the main route at Levada do Alecrim, a two-mile course over lakes and hill terraces where cows roam. Or perhaps you plan to give it some welly. For you, there’s Caminho do Pinaculo e Folhadal, across Encumeada – Madeira’s Grand Canyon. Over five hours, you’ll skirt the hillside at 1,500 metres, gaze out to sea, feel spray from cascades and creep into handcarved tunnels (TIP pack a torch, or ask your hotel to lend you one). You’ll emerge at an abandoned farm in Caramujo bordered by flowering eucalyptus and stone ‘cow houses’. Travel eastward round Pico Ruivo, the island’s highest peak at 1,862 metres, and the W H I C H . C O.U K / T R AV E L
DESTINATIONS MADEIRA HOTEL
HOTELS
Madeira average £120 £90 £60 £30 J FMAMJ J A S OND
FLIGHTS
Funchal average £300 £225 £150 £75 J FMAMJ J A S OND
TEMPERATURE
Average daily highs 25˚C 20˚C
The handmade burrows in the volcanic rock can be claustrophobic, so if you fear enclosed spaces (or aren’t in possession of a torch), drive on to the Sao Jorge mill. A few minutes further along, little-known Levada do Rei offers a flat, three-hour rainforest walk – and a tremendous Pooh Sticks opportunity. A canal path lined with agapanthus plays peek-a-boo with the vertiginous views, finally letting out over Santana.
E AT & D R I N K Historically isolated, Madeira’s national menu is exceedingly ‘make do’. It starts with an aperitif of poncha, the local rum ‘punch’ originally served up to apprehensive seafarers. Order one in the bars around Ribeira Brava for a mere €2, or for slightly more in the ‘painted doors’ district of Funchal: Venda Velha on Rua de Santa Maria has front and back terraces. The toothy, eel-shaped espada, or scabbard fish,
@W H I C H T R AV E L
that spawn close by have all the charm of the creature from the Black Lagoon. But lightly breaded, pan-fried with banana and drizzled with passion-fruit sauce (more harmonious than it sounds), you’ll think: bream, or swordfish. Vila Baleia
in Porto Moniz serves it with roast potatoes, rice and heaps of salad for €10. Madeirans have designed special vertical spits to deliver their garlic-rubbed beef, called espetada. You can order yours in the hills above Camara de Lobos – most famously at Viola and Santo Antonio on Estrada Joao Goncalves Zarco – for around €12. It may come with a side of milho frito, the local fried cornmeal cubes sprinkled with herbs and bits of kale, like pillowy croutons.
J FMAMJ J A S OND
Data from skyscanner.net, trivago.co.uk, weather2travel.com
From the airport Bus €5; 30min; sam.pt Taxi €25 plus €1.50 per luggage item; 25min
Getting around Bus network madeira-island.com/ bus_services
More information visitportugal.com madeira-tourist.com
Safety Drivers in Madeira can be aggressive. If you rent a car, it’s best to avoid remote areas.
Scam watch Beware of the ‘broken meter’ taxi scam. It’s best to negotiate the fare in advance, if possible.
N OV E M B E R 2 0 1 7 W H I C H ? T R AV E L 2 1
PHOTOGRAPHY: ALAMY, AWL IMAGES, GETTY
paths get steeper, the weather hazier, the waterfalls more urgent. Levada do Caldeirao Verde, the ‘green cauldron’, circles Queimadas Forest Park, encroaching on Pico Ruivo and topping out over a forested mountain pass near Sao Jorge. Up here, abundant water, trickling in every direction, is the raison d’etre for the levadas, the source of fresh water from the heavy northern rains destined for the parched south.
15˚C 10˚C 5˚C
| MADEIRA | ▲
The wild west Walkers, wine lovers and water babies all fall under Madeira’s spell. Ellen Himelfarb explores the rugged beauty of this Atlantic island to find out why
M
Portuguese mariners. (The eponymous wine was fortified to preserve it on long, hot journeys.) Lately, though, it’s known as a refuge for sun-seeking holidaymakers. Yet there is far more to see than the side of a hotel pool. On a fleeting field trip you can experience panoramas, salty sea breezes and the gentle pace of village life – sometimes all at once. You’ll need wheels: Enterprise (enterprise. co.uk) has cars from £98 per week. Or, if the hairpin highways have you on edge, leave the manoeuvring to a private taxi, from €40 for a half-day whirl.
▲
adeira has its ups and downs – but not in the way you might think. The frequency and speed with which you swoop between 1,000 metres and sea level will blow your mind… and pop your ears. You can’t avoid the drama. From the moment your plane swings around to the runway edging the sea, you’re right at the heart of it. Even the airport shuttle (€8 return) gives you an eyeful. A volcanic hotspot blasted into being five million years ago, Madeira came of age five centuries ago as a stopover for westbound
Blandy’s Winelodge
In town
Camara de Lobos
level are tall reeds of sugar cane – 400 years ago the island was the world’s top provider of cane sugar, until the New World took over. Some good has come of the legacy. Madeirans distill a rum called poncha, cut cloyingly with sugar, honey and lemon. Get it at the source from a roadside bar in Camara de Lobos, the capital of cane country. Pull into town for a quaff and peek into the church, hoiked up PORTUGAL
Let’s get the country’s vinous namesake out of the way first. Madeira grapes – a cocktail of native whites and reds – may grow up in the hills, but the wine merchants station themselves in Funchal. If you’re a geek for specifics such as oxidation, alcohol content and 9,000-litre satinwood vats, follow the 45-minute tour at Blandy’s Winelodge (blandyswinelodge.com; €5.90; four daily), the half-timbered pile on Funchal’s main Although if you’d find that a boulevard. slog (many do), nip up to Pereira D’Oliveira’s lodge (Rua Dos Ferreiros 107) and taste their medium-dry and five-year vintages for free. TIP Next year’s Madeira Wine Festival, a two-week tasting extravaganza, runs from 26 August to 9 September. We’ll return to Funchal later (see Mini Guide, right). For now, ripple west from the city on zigzag roads over hills quilted in green. Vast banana leaves overhanging the hard shoulder and trundling pickups laden with produce tell you this is the country’s fruit basket. Among the banana smallholdings absorbing the rays at street PORTO MONIZ
Sao Jorge
SEIXAL
Levada do Rei VE
4
Rabacal
Rocha do Navio
SANTANA
Caminho do Pinaculo e Folhadal
Levada do Alecrim
3
Levada do Caldeirao Verde
1
2 ATLANTIC
VE
4
Serra de Agua
PONTA DO SOL
Ribeira Brava Faja dos Padres
SCALE – 10km
1 8 W H I C H ? T R AV E L N OV E M B E R 2 0 1 7
Camara de Lobos Miradouro do Cabo Girao
Madeira
Miradouro da Guindaste Faial
Botanical Garden FUNCHAL Nini Design Centre
SPAIN
MOROCCO
on a hill with vineyard views. For Madeira’s equivalent of a wild-west tavern, detour into the arid interior and up the VE4 motorway. Tasquinha and Taberna da Poncha, both on the motorway near Serra de Agua, sling cocktails with dishes of whole peanuts, whose shells crunch under foot. There’s a taxi stand nearby for those who overdo it. ‘Around here,’ they say, ‘there are two religions – Catholic and alcoholic’. On this island of 268,000 people, nearly half in Funchal, the second-tier towns might seem to have nothing to them. Madeira’s north is different. In these remote, weathered hills, development has been sluggish, to your advantage. Uneven roads and dark tunnels remain just as tight and tummy-turning as half a century ago. Vineyards threaten to overtake the pavements, early homesteads peek out from working farms. In Sao Jorge, visit Moinho a Agua (Sitio do Pico 156), an 18th-century mill that still grinds wheat, corn and rye with massive cracked wheels. The town comes to a head at a swimming cove bathed in morning light. If you hike toward Santana, a town of thatched-roof A-frame cottages painted red and blue, you can grab a cablecar (€3; 00 351 291 570 220) to Rocha do Navio, a nature W H I C H . C O.U K / T R AV E L
DESTINATIONS MADEIRA
MINI GUIDE: FUNCHAL The capital cascades down the hillside in a surge of white stucco, like one of Madeira’s famous waterfalls. But the old seafront is the thing, and you can see it all, even on the sultriest day. Start on jacaranda-shaded Avenida Arriaga and marvel at the unhurried rhythm of morning ‘rush’ hour. Stop first at the stout 500-year-old cathedral (sefunchal.com; free), tastefully spartan but for its gilded Gothic ceilings. Next, they funnel into Mercado dos Lavradores (cm-funchal.pt; free) to weigh up toothy, bulgyeyed scabbard fish, the unlikely local delicacy. Roam the stalls, then accept a taster of the scaly exotic
STAY For pedestrian lanes and authentic cooking, stay in the old centre.
reserve surrounded by patchwork farmland. Continue toward Faial and pull over at Guindaste, a viewpoint above Faial beach, for a coastline view of fjord-like extremes. On sunny days you can see clear to Porto Santo, a spit of volcanic sand 5,000 Madeirans call home.
At sea
▲
Don’t let the limpid teal fool you: Madeira’s Atlantic roars like a lion. It has a ragged, coal-black coastline with the finer sand swept off to sea. Peer down onto the spectacle from the glass floor at Miradouro do Cabo Girao, on the world’s highest sea cliff, outside Camara de Lobos. Then, to test the waters, there’s blacker, rockier Faja dos Padres. A new cablecar (€10) dives 300 metres down the cliffside to the jagged beach and a café dotted with parasols. Take the plunge, but wear waterproof shoes. At neighbouring Ponta do Sol, the sharp shingle makes an excellent deterrent to everyone save local crowds, who prefer the quiet here to tourist-trap Ribeira Brava. Strap on firm sandals and you’ll be rewarded with a (free) custom wood-slat lounger to spare your back. With the stone jetty wrapping its protective arm around the swimming bay, the water stays calm. Savour the view of the @W H I C H T R AV E L
THE VINE HOTEL Sitting atop a shopping complex means this contemporary boutique hotel is dead quiet at night. It also gets mighty views from the rooftop, where there’s a pool/ lounge with happy hours The at 5pm and 10pm. minibar, stocked with cold drinks, is free. Rua dos Aranhas 27; hotelthevine.com €166 €166 €0 €0
The Vine Hotel
Painted doors district
fruit the vendors call ‘banana-pineapple’. On the seafront, take the teleferico (madeiracablecar. com; round trip €16) up the mountain and stroll misty botanical gardens with ocean panoramas. See those men dressed in white like Victorian cricketers? They’re carreiros, operating
CASTANHEIRO BOUTIQUE HOTEL Clear your calendar: the rooftop infinity pool overlooks the cathedral, city hall, cable cars and miles of blue. Scenesters gather at the buzzy terrace taverna – Castanheiro is a proper urban fly-and-flop. Romantics love the juliet balconies (though not the double bed formed of two singles). Pragmatists love the sockets and switches, all in the right places. Rua do Castanheiro 31; castanheiroboutiquehotel. com €110 €110 €0 €0
the traditional wicker sledges that race tourists downhill. But €25 is steep for a ride that lets you off in suburban hinterland. Better to gondola back down, then follow the promenade to Nini Design Centre ninidesigncentre.com; free) for cocktails cantilevered over the port.
EAT MERCEARIA DONA MECIA Dining terraces collide on this slender side street, but the coolest and cheapest is Dona Mecia, with crocheted stools and a pantry of Portuguese products. The local canned mackerel and tuna comes with tomato and chives on slices of toasted sourdough. Rua dos Aranhas 26; mains avg €5 CRIS’S DOWNTOWN The newest door to open in the bohemian ‘painted doors’ enclave, Cris’s plies you with Madeira cocktails then stuffs you with pâté, seafood and salad – the crusted scabbard neck starter is unexpectedly delightful. It all comes a bit fast – slow down the kitchen or you’ll be done in an hour. Rua de Santa Maria 141; mains avg €15
N OV E M B E R 2 0 1 7 W H I C H ? T R AV E L 1 9
HOTEL
W H E R E TO S TAY
Levada do Rei
Dorisol Pousada dos Vinhaticos
DORISOL POUSADA DOS VINHATICOS Rustic is what you’d expect here above Madeira’s Grand Canyon. Yet of the few ageing guesthouses, this is the most characterful, encircled by soaring landscape and buzzing with wildlife (you may need to oversee the removal of lizards from your bath). Beds are narrow, but there’s a pull-out sofa to take overspill. Serra de Agua; dorisol.com €45 €50 €0 €0
Porto Moniz
1
HOTEL DA VILA Pint-size Ponta do Sol beckons Portuguese sun-seekers, mostly, who use Vila’s deep armchairs as their base. Spend an afternoon floating between the café, the beach loungers and your sea-view pocket balcony. A more glamorous sister hotel (doubles €79) perches like an eyrie atop the cliff – visit for the pool and tropical garden (Vila residents are welcome), but descend back to earth for scene and sleep. Rua Dr Joao Augusto Teixeira, Ponta do Sol; pontadosol.com/hoteldavila €64 €71 €0 €0 2
QUINTA DO FURAO You’d be forgiven for staying put on this three-hectare vineyard near Santana, squeezed between rainforest and beach (albeit an hour’s walk down the cliff). With daily Madeira-wine tastings, pools and a games room, you’re unlikely to feel the pull of the islands offshore – though they, and charming Santana, are a quick roll down the coast. Estrada Quinta do Furao 6, Santana; quintadofurao.com €170 €170 €0 €0 3
2 0 W H I C H ? T R AV E L N OV E M B E R 2 0 1 7
Pico Ruiva
pastel-stucco town with the afternoon sun at your back. Other coves exude their own special charisma. At Porto Moniz, the island’s north-western point, volcanic rock clusters in scallop patterns around the shore, trapping tidewater in natural pools. Mossy stone steps lead into the cool water for bathers who slip in sighing like spa-goers. The larger, shallower swimming basins (portomoniz.pt/en; €1.50) attract families with yelping children. Meanwhile, a grid of (free) pools on the west side of town, by the aquarium, sit largely unperturbed. Leave time for Seixal, a fashionable haven cosseted by Unesco forest. Its naturally protected location, buffered by breakwaters, keeps the pristine black sand in place. And a dearth of guesthouses keeps the tourists at bay. This means you’ll find a free patch most days on the public strand – firmly packed to please even the most sand-averse.
On high How civilised the 16th-century Portuguese were, carving out miles of aqueduct from the mountains so that, 500 years later, ramblers in bucket hats could meander easily alongside them. Madeirans call these bubbling rainwater channels levadas, and
today there are dozens, streaming gently through the laurel forest. Which levada to undertake is the question hanging in the steamy Madeiran air. None are more than an hour’s drive from anywhere, and often much less. Outfits such as Lido (lido-tours.com) operate full-day coach tours for €25pp, but you can hire a private taxi from €40 for a half day – ask your hotel to recommend a trusted driver. Guidebooks send you westward toward the Rabacal nature reserve. There’s wisdom in this: the shady stroll to 25 waterfalls tumbling into lagoons keeps you moving without breaking much of a sweat. But lose the hordes off the main route at Levada do Alecrim, a two-mile course over lakes and hill terraces where cows roam. Or perhaps you plan to give it some welly. For you, there’s Caminho do Pinaculo e Folhadal, across Encumeada – Madeira’s Grand Canyon. Over five hours, you’ll skirt the hillside at 1,500 metres, gaze out to sea, feel spray from cascades and creep into handcarved tunnels (TIP pack a torch, or ask your hotel to lend you one). You’ll emerge at an abandoned farm in Caramujo bordered by flowering eucalyptus and stone ‘cow houses’. Travel eastward round Pico Ruivo, the island’s highest peak at 1,862 metres, and the W H I C H . C O.U K / T R AV E L
DESTINATIONS MADEIRA HOTEL
HOTELS
Madeira average £120 £90 £60 £30 J FMAMJ J A S OND
FLIGHTS
Funchal average £300 £225 £150 £75 J FMAMJ J A S OND
TEMPERATURE
Average daily highs 25˚C 20˚C
The handmade burrows in the volcanic rock can be claustrophobic, so if you fear enclosed spaces (or aren’t in possession of a torch), drive on to the Sao Jorge mill. A few minutes further along, little-known Levada do Rei offers a flat, three-hour rainforest walk – and a tremendous Pooh Sticks opportunity. A canal path lined with agapanthus plays peek-a-boo with the vertiginous views, finally letting out over Santana.
E AT & D R I N K Historically isolated, Madeira’s national menu is exceedingly ‘make do’. It starts with an aperitif of poncha, the local rum ‘punch’ originally served up to apprehensive seafarers. Order one in the bars around Ribeira Brava for a mere €2, or for slightly more in the ‘painted doors’ district of Funchal: Venda Velha on Rua de Santa Maria has front and back terraces. The toothy, eel-shaped espada, or scabbard fish,
@W H I C H T R AV E L
that spawn close by have all the charm of the creature from the Black Lagoon. But lightly breaded, pan-fried with banana and drizzled with passion-fruit sauce (more harmonious than it sounds), you’ll think: bream, or swordfish. Vila Baleia
in Porto Moniz serves it with roast potatoes, rice and heaps of salad for €10. Madeirans have designed special vertical spits to deliver their garlic-rubbed beef, called espetada. You can order yours in the hills above Camara de Lobos – most famously at Viola and Santo Antonio on Estrada Joao Goncalves Zarco – for around €12. It may come with a side of milho frito, the local fried cornmeal cubes sprinkled with herbs and bits of kale, like pillowy croutons.
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Data from skyscanner.net, trivago.co.uk, weather2travel.com
From the airport Bus €5; 30min; sam.pt Taxi €25 plus €1.50 per luggage item; 25min
Getting around Bus network madeira-island.com/ bus_services
More information visitportugal.com madeira-tourist.com
Safety Drivers in Madeira can be aggressive. If you rent a car, it’s best to avoid remote areas.
Scam watch Beware of the ‘broken meter’ taxi scam. It’s best to negotiate the fare in advance, if possible.
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PHOTOGRAPHY: ALAMY, AWL IMAGES, GETTY
paths get steeper, the weather hazier, the waterfalls more urgent. Levada do Caldeirao Verde, the ‘green cauldron’, circles Queimadas Forest Park, encroaching on Pico Ruivo and topping out over a forested mountain pass near Sao Jorge. Up here, abundant water, trickling in every direction, is the raison d’etre for the levadas, the source of fresh water from the heavy northern rains destined for the parched south.
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