Madeira

[Kombuchagirl]

Gong in the autumn, active family with older teens. Love to swim. Please hit me with your favourite activities if you've been!

Been to Madeira several times, it's good for hiking the levadas. Many beaches are black and stoney near the capital Funchal so never went swimming. It's a hilly place so plenty of exercise just walking about.

Not much swimming to be done except in the lido and the hotel pools. You can swim in the sea by the monumental lido though but it depends on time of year and conditions.

love Madeira and there is loads to do - walking the levadas, lots of trips to the north or Santana to the east (the only real beach is over in the east). Lots of places to visit in monte and Funchal has cafes, shops and lots to see.

try the hop on hop off bus too.

Porto Moniz has a lovely sea pool. We hiked the levadas & did some stunning coastal walks. We also did a whale/dolphin watching trip, port tasting in Funchal, Afternoon tea at Reid’s Palace. The cable car & basket down the hill also in Funchal.

Watching
I love the Madeira drink so that would be my first stop - a winery 😁
Madeira s definitely on my bucket list

Just be aware, just landing can be an adventure, one of the worlds more difficult approaches apparently (we might spend too much time on flight radar)

There’s loads of sea swimming around the public lidos, but I’m not sure they are open in autumn.

We went on a brilliant coasteering day from Funchal, and my dp has been paragliding there too. I think there’s a surf school somewhere. I’m not sure what the season is for all these things though. Where are you staying?

I think the coasteering was with this company, think dp went canyoning too.

epicmadeira.com/

Ah thanks guys, This is just what I was after! Staying near Canico.
Had already heard about the landing - after I booked! Eeek.
Any restaurant tips for Funchal?
Is the Ronaldo museum any good? Not a fan myself!

I have been to Madeira twice - once before the runway was extended and had no problem with the flights. It's only an issue when it is windy.

Whale and dolphin watching is brilliant. They have people on the cliffs with powerful binoculars/telescopes who are in contact with the boats, so you are guaranteed to see some marine wildlife.

Take the cable car up to Monte and visit the beautiful gardens. We weren't bothered about the toboggan down the hill. Make sure there are no cruise ships in otherwise you will queue for ages for the cable car.

Levada walks are lovely.

Hire a car or book a taxi for the day and go up into the peaks and to the north of the island.

Whales and dolphins - would love this, thanks. Hopefully the sea won't be too rough!

The guy doing the talk on the boat was a marine biologist and was really informative. We were lucky enough to see a rare whale (I can't remember what it was called), but he was so excited to see it. The other whales we saw were pilot whales. We also saw a young loggerhead turtle.

Am sold now you've mentioned a turtle too! Sounds like a great trip.

Second the boat trip. We only saw dolphins but that was fabulous! So beautiful.

Wandering around the town in itself is lovely.

Cable car is excellent, the gardens at the top are unbelievable.

Just been with teen and it was fabulous.

We did two hikes - 25 Fountains and also did the final ascent to pica rivero to watch the sunrise. This was really special.
Booked a catamaran trip and got to see dolphins as well as a monk seal which was special. I noticed that some of the boats were much smaller and took fewer people, we were on a quite a packed catamaran but it was still lovely.
Stayed in ponte de sol which has the most amazing sunsets, well worth a trip there.
Went to two excellent restaurants in Funchal - Akua and Informal - the food was insane! I would recommend booking (easy to do online) so that you have some spots booked to go to - although Madeira is not tourist heavy, I think the good restaurants book up quickly as they are really small.
The cable ride looks fun as well as the gardens, we never had time to do the lava pools which look amazing.
It was such an amazing trip and we really loved it, and I highly recommend going.
We didn't hire a car, so you can use taxis these are quite pricey, at times you can use Bolt (like uber) which is much cheaper but not always available.
The landing is fine, but it is quick!

https://akuafunchal.pt/?lang=en

https://www.informalfoodexperience.com

Prices are really reasonable as well - overall portions in Madeira are generous.

Look out for the Pina Colado cocktails in fresh pineapples (several stands throughout the island)

https://www.tiktok.com/@foodfanatic_mcr/video/7377305982113778977

See if you can find a non-touristy place with fado singing in the evening - years ago my Dad and I did just that, and it was magical. TripAdvisor suggests Sador A Fado in Funchal.

This is perfect! Thanks for the restaurant recommendations too. Really excited to go now.

Has anyone hired a car and got the shuttle bus to pick it up? Seems cheaper but more of a faff.

Fado singing also added to the list do list!

We’ve been to Canico 3 times, twice stayed at Oasis and once at Rui Palace, both hotels had courtesy buses into Funchal. We hired a car just for 3 days each time, booked from the hotel. A few years ago now, but doubt it’s changed that much.

@Mindymomo thanks. Any restaurants in Canico you'd recommend?

We love Madeira, I’d second all the suggestions, particularly a wine tour. We did it in an off road Jeep that was able to go into the Northern terrain.
I’d also suggest the food tour in Funchal, it lasts about 4 hours and you eat at a variety of locations.
As far as eating in Funchal, we like the restaurants in the oldest part of town where there is a pedestrian street, Largo do Corpo Santo, devoted to restaurants. Worth a wander down even if you don’t stop. We enjoyed Resautrante Do Forte in the old Fort at the end of Funchal Bay, a bit of a treat.

@Beebumble2 food tour sounds just up my street! As does the wine tour. Great tips, thanks.