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Week in Madeira – hikes, levadas and breathtaking views

Explore Portugal's island of eternal spring, Madeira. You'll experience the fun, breathtaking views and great local specialities.

Martin & Tina

Guide creator

Plan for 7 days
Map of 30 places
Practical tips, accomodation tips

Guide price: xxxxx

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What to expect

Madeira is rightly called not only the island of eternal spring, but also the European Hawaii. It is truly an incredible destination full of beautiful nature, ocean views, lava and great food. What’s more, Madeira is a relatively inexpensive destination, whether it’s for the aforementioned food, accommodation or car hire.

With our 7-day itinerary, you’ll drive around the island, see the capital Funchal, countless levadas, viewpoints and mysterious forests. Just a packed holiday you’ll remember for a long time.

The itinerary will not only give you tips on places not to be missed, but also recommendations for accommodation and good food. We’ve also added some practical tips, such as where to see the best sunrises, which are really worth the wait in Madeira.

See what it looked like on our trip.

Funchal

Madeira

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Fanal Forest

Fanal

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Cabo Girão

Câmara de Lobos

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Before your trip

Flight tickets

The best way to travel to Madeira is to choose a direct flight from Prague, which takes less than 5 hours. It is currently offered by Smartwings. However, it is not the cheapest option. It can be a flight with Wizzair or TAP Portugal with one change.

easyJet

Europe

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Car rental

The best way to get around Madeira is undoubtedly a rental car or scooter. You can do orders of magnitude more and you won't be limited by anything. The only thing to consider is that Madeira's roads, especially when travelling to the peaks, can be a bit of a challenge for novice drivers.

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Accommodation

As part of our itinerary, the capital Funchal is a great starting point for most days. However, in order to save some travel time, we recommend that between 4. and on the 5th day to spend the night in Porto Moniz or Seixal. In Funchal we can recommend the following accommodation.

Terrace Mar Suite Hotel

Funchal • $$

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<p>Hezký a moderní hotel v klidné části Funchalu, který nabízí bazén na střeše a prostorné pokoje s malou kuchyňkou.</p>

Welcome Madeira Apartments

Funchal • $

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<p>Krásné a prostorné apartmány přímo v centru Funchalu, která nabízí skvělé vybavení včetně terasy. Ubytování se nachází blízko lanovky na Monte, jedinou jeho nevýhodou je absence parkování. To se však dá řešit skrze blízko umístěné placené parkoviště – Almirante Reis Car Park.</p>

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Itinerary

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Day 1

Arrival and capital city

The first day is usually marked by arrival and acclimatization. This itinerary will be no different.

Madeira’s famous airport

Madeira Airport, named after arguably (currently) the most famous Portuguese man in the world – Cristiano Ronaldo, is located just a few dozen kilometres from the capital Funchal and is one of the most dangerous airports in Europe. The landing is very close to the water, where strong winds can blow, which is not synonymous with smooth landings.

If you’re so afraid of flying, you’d better not watch videos of other planes landing, of which there are generally clouds on the internet. Occasionally planes have to circle around the island, or in the „worse“ case, are diverted to the nearby Canary Islands, adding an unplanned stopover. But there is nothing to worry about.

Immediately after landing, we recommend renting a vehicle from one of the car rental companies present. It is definitely worth booking in advance and we can recommend MadeiraRent, a local car rental company. The price of a mid-sized car, including full insurance, cost us around 400 EUR for a week at the end of 2022, which is a reasonable price.

We drove through Madeira in this crossover, an Opel Mokka.

Our first stop will be the capital of the island – Funchal. Funchal is an ideal place to start and to stay. It’s located in the southern part of the island, where it’s an hour’s drive to basically every side of the island. So if you prefer to stay in one place and not move around with all your belongings, Funchal is a great choice. Even so, we’ll look at other accommodation options in the next few days.

Almirante Reis Car Park

Funchal

Type

Oficiální parkoviště

Paid

Ano

Overnight parking

Dovoleno

Restrictions

Parking right in the centre of Funchal, a short walk to the markets and the main promenade around the sea. The house is quite large and reasonably priced, including overnight parking.

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