Madeira - anyone been?

[TomsMumLP]

I'm thinking of going to Madeira next January. Has anyone been? Have villa recomendations? My son will be 2.5 & we don't really sit around on beaches/do 'resort' type stuff. I've heard that the OAPs have been replaced with 'fun' extreme sports instead??!!

We went there when DS#1 was about 2 and I was expecting DD. We stayed in an hotel apartment on the cliffs in the middle of town. Lovely place. Everyone made a fuss of DS, he was welcome everywhere. But it got a bit nerve-wracking - in the area we were there was no open spaces for him to play safely, just busy roads, cliffs and swimming pools! He was a very active child. It was a wonderful place but the most exhausting holiday I ever spent.

Might be better areas for small children though.

We went to Madeira last April (had had no intention of going there - I had to look it up in an atlas after I'd made the booking lol!) and loved it there. No villa recommendations as we stayed in an hotel but there's plenty to do.

As you're probably aware, there aren't any real beaches as it's very rocky but there are plenty of levada walks and Funchal itself has lots of lanes to dawdle around as well as a sea front and a park. Public tranport was v cheap, clean and efficient - if you want to scare yourself silly, get the bus from Funchal to Ribera Brava, which swoops up and down hills overlooking precipices(sp?) hundreds of feet high. There's also a cable car ride and a nice 'Story of Madeira' museum as well as a fusty old natural museum with a small aquarium with horrid fishy creatures on display. he