Madeira: Seven Attractions and Natural Wonders

The island of eternal spring

Madeira is a mountainous volcanic island in the Atlantic, an autonomous region of Portugal about 800 kilometres southwest of the mainland and closer to Morocco than to Lisbon. Its climate is mild to warm all year round, which is why it is often described as an island of eternal spring, and its steep terrain, cut by deep ravines, is laced with centuries-old irrigation channels — levadas — that double today as one of Europe's best network of walking trails. It has about 250,000 people, most in and around the capital, Funchal.

The seven below cover the island's coast, mountains, and gardens. It is a year-round destination; the levada trails are at their greenest and most waterfall-fed from autumn to spring.

1. Funchal

Funchal, the capital, rises in tiers from its harbour — a historic centre of cobbled streets, the old town's painted doors project, a lively covered market (Mercado dos Lavradores), and Madeira wine lodges open for tastings. A cable car climbs to the hillside village of Monte, from where traditional wicker toboggans, pushed and steered by carreiros in white with straw hats, carry visitors back down the steep streets — a form of local transport dating from 1850, turned tourist ride.

Its botanical garden and the Blandy family's Palheiro Gardens are easy add-ons.

2. The levada walks

Madeira's levadas — over 2,000 kilometres of narrow irrigation channels built from the 16th century to carry water from the wet north to the drier south — run along contour lines through forest, tunnels, and cliff edges, and their maintenance paths have become the island's signature hiking network. The Levada das 25 Fontes, through UNESCO-listed ancient laurisilva forest to a waterfall-fed pool, is among the most popular.

Trails range from flat, easy strolls to exposed cliff-edge paths not for those afraid of heights.

3. Pico do Arieiro

Pico do Arieiro, reachable by road to 1,818 metres, gives a spectacular sunrise view over jagged volcanic ridges, often poking above a temperature- inversion cloud layer below. From here, a dramatic and demanding trail runs along a knife-edge ridge to Madeira's highest peak, Pico Ruivo (1,861 m), through tunnels and along sheer drops.

Arrive before dawn for the best light and the least cloud cover.

4. Cabo Girão

Cabo Girão, near Câmara de Lobos, drops almost 580 metres straight to the Atlantic — among the highest sea cliffs in Europe — with a glass-floored skywalk cantilevered out over the edge for a vertigo-inducing view straight down to the tiny terraced farm plots at its base. Câmara de Lobos itself, a colourful fishing village nearby, was painted by Winston Churchill in 1950.

It is a short drive west of Funchal, an easy half-day.

5. Porto Moniz

At the island's northwestern tip, old volcanic lava flows have formed a series of natural rock pools that fill and refresh with the tide and Atlantic swell — now landscaped with walkways and steps for swimming, and a striking contrast to Madeira's mostly cliff-bound, beachless coast. The drive there along the north coast, through cliffside tunnels, is scenic in its own right.

It is a full loop-of-the-island day from Funchal, or an overnight stop.

6. Curral das Freiras

Curral das Freiras ("Pen of the Nuns") sits deep in a valley in the island's mountainous interior, cut off by the cliffs and peaks around it; since 2004 a tunnel has given safe road access, and the clifftops above give a dramatic view over the whole village. Nuns from a Funchal convent are said to have fled here for refuge from French privateer raids on Funchal in 1566; today it is known for its chestnuts, celebrated at an autumn festival.

The viewpoint alone, a short drive from Funchal, is worth the trip even without descending.

7. The Madeira Botanical Garden

On a hillside above Funchal, the Madeira Botanical Garden displays the island's lush subtropical growing conditions in terraced, geometrically patterned flower beds with sweeping views over the bay, alongside a natural history museum and a bird park. It opened to the public in 1960 on an estate once owned by the family of William Reid, founder of Reid's Hotel.

The garden is at its most colourful in spring, though something is usually in bloom year-round.

Madeira suits a car-based trip: three or four days covers Funchal and the coast, with a couple more for the levada trails and Pico do Arieiro if hiking is a priority. Distances are short but roads are winding.