Where is it?

Madeira is a Portuguese island set in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean, 620 miles from Lisbon.

Where should I be heading?

The island itself is only 33 x 14 miles and due to the mountainous and often inaccessible terrain in parts, it’s advised that you stay within the tourist areas. Funchal, the capital, is an excellent base and provides good transport links around the island via their extensive bus network.

Entry requirements:

EU members require a valid passport for entry. Refer to your local embassy for further information.

Health:

Make sure that you have good travel insurance with adequate medical cover is the best advice. Tap water is safe to drink as it often comes from mountain springs, but if in doubt, opt for bottled.

Top 5 things to do:

1. Botanical Gardens – If you’re a keen gardener or if you just want to enjoy spectacular views and a gorgeous array of colours and textures, then get yourself on the no: 30 or 31A bus and take a short ride up steep slopes at break-neck speed and devote €3 to this natural wonder. The extensive park sprawls over a hillside offering a panoramic picture of Funchal and views extending to the east and west. There’s plenty to see and photograph, including succulent alpine plants and enormous cacti. Hidden in amongst the gardens is also a replica of an A-frame house, a most well-known sight in Santana, Central Madeira.

2. Monte – This hillside town lies directly above Funchal and can either be accessed by bus or cable car. If you suffer from vertigo, the latter may not be the best option as the ride lasts at least 10 minutes and literally has you dangling in mid-air over houses and ravines. You also have to negotiate your way past the staff at the top, trying to sell you a digital photo of yourself embarking on the journey. We left that for the tourists, needless to say! Monte itself may only be a small town but it oozes charm, from the church of Nossa Senhora (Our Lady) to the Monte Palace Tropical Gardens, where fountains, bridges, grottoes and exquisite statues bestow the 17 acres of green and luscious hillside.

3. Monte toboggan run – If you fancy an exhilarating ride back down to Funchal then it’s worth investing your €s and your trust no-less in the Madeiran wicker toboggan.  t fits up to two people and may not produce G-force speeds but you certainly do feel the wind in your hair as you are expertly steered around sharp corners by two guys. It’s not for the faint-hearted though. The only breaks are their rubber-soled shoes and it does more than 6mph, as suggested by the guide books! Be warned also that you will be expected to tip the drivers and forced to buy the digital photo of yourself at the end.  A good memory though.

4. Trips to the east and west – With plenty on the island to see, it’s worth finding out about organised tours. Often these will be in 8-seater mini buses and lasting anything up to a day. The more popular tours will take you to locations such as Pico Do Ariero, Madeira’s third highest peak, where if caught on a good clear day, offers views of Madeira that are out of this world. The tours also stop by a lot of the smaller seaside towns where local food is fresh and abundant in bustling cafés.

5. Levada walking – The ingenious series of irrigation canals set up to help farmers water their hillside crops, provides a wonderful opportunity to be at one with nature. Each walk is graded according to steepness and accessibility and takes you along the narrow canals, often through dense wooded areas, high up in the mountains.

Is it expensive?

Not especially.Meals tend to be good value and products in the supermarkets are reasonably priced too. Museums and attractions offer good value for money.

What are the toilets like?

You needn’t worry about spending a penny…or a € for that matter. Most public conveniences on the island can be found in a multitude of mini shopping centres scattered around the city and are free. Most are clean too, apart from the one on the seafront that had a distinct musty stench to it.

What’s the food like?

When it comes to food, vegetarians may find themselves compromised when perusing the various restaurant menus. It’s largely known that the Madeirans don’t “do” vegetarian, largely because of their love affair with fish and meat. The most veggies can expect is an omelette, which to be fair, sounds minimalist, but most come served with an abundance of fresh steamed vegetables or salad. If you’re open to meat and fish however, there is the more traditional route you may wish to take. Opt for either the Espada (black scabbard fish) or Espetada (smoked cubes of salted and herbed beef on a skewer). The two can easily be confused so make sure you know exactly what you’re ordering.

What to wear:

Weather can be changeable in the mountainous areas. Down by the seafront it was glorious sun and 26C, but up in the mountains – fog, drizzle and only 6C, so a selection of clothes should be taken, with plenty of sunscreen too.

Best time to visit:

The locals will tell you that anytime before June it’s more likely to rain and visibility is poor the higher up you go. So if you want hot weather, then late July, August is definitely the time.

Don’t miss: 

The flowers. You cannot go to Madeira without visiting the abundance of gardens and marvelling at how nature itself has produced so many different varieties of plants and flora. They’re very big on hydrangeas, jacaranda and agapanthus.

Most overrated thing:

The Atlantic Festival – held in the summer, what’s described as a spectacular firework celebration, is more like Uncle John letting off a few rockets in the back garden!

(5/5)

Photos: Mojo