Hiking recommendations for Madeira

[Twodogsonthecouch]

We’re going to Madeira for a hiking holiday in August. I’m a bit overwhelmed by all the choices. Has anyone any recommendations?. Happy to hike elevations ( previously hiked Pyrenees, Picos, Alps and High Atlas) and up to 20-25 km although also happy with shorter half day hikes and some chill time too. Love nature and dramatic scenery

We did lots of the levada walks - all that we did were amazing. It must have been 2011 when we went - it was the year after a major landslide down into Funchal.
We didn't manage the peak to peak walk when we went to Madeira - the fog was so thick you couldn't see more than about 3 metres on the day we had put aside for it! There were big black millipedes all over the ground, I remember but that was the only wildlife we spotted up there 😁.
We were staying in Funchal - small hotel near the centre - so during the holiday we only did levada walks near there. There were loads of lovely choices, during the days we had available there didn't seem any point going too far.
One we did, I think it must have been the first we tried, started near the cable car station at Monte (you take the cable car from central Funchal). The path had been a bit damaged by the landslide - so it was rather scary as the handrails hadn't been repaired back then. After that all the other walks seemed much safer as the handrails were in good repair.
However we walk for scenery and nature rather than distance. DH likes to photograph butterflies and I love wild flowers - plenty of both. We mostly did one-way walks using the buses to get to and from the paths.

Elevations are everywhere! 😂

We did a beautiful one that we didn’t need to book in advance- I’ll have a look. Bonus was a great restaurant by the sea toward the end.

You need to book walks?? When we went we just bought a map and went on our own.

It was this one. Not the longest, but it had a valley, hills, sea, a river… I really enjoyed it.

We usually go in January, so it’s probably about 10 degrees warmer now.

You have to book and pay for the P walks in advance.

You go on your own still, but you book because popular routes get busy and they’re trying to minimise erosion. The payment is for the upkeep of routes.