Madeira is often written off as a destination for the retired middle classes, but it just begs for exploration by outdoor enthusiasts, offering everything from hiking and whale watching to canyoning and surfing, writes SARA KEATING
WITH ITS LUSH mountainous landscape and exotic flora, the island of Madeira offers a feast for the senses. Birds of paradise hover in hedges at the side of the road. Velvet bell-shaped upside-down tulips hang from balconies like ballgowns. Garlands of glamourous gardenias shimmer in pink and purple in wild-flower shrubs. Bunches of bananas stand upright on palm-heavy branches. Mangoes, passion fruit and chillies glow like light bulbs in the trees, and the pungent scent of wild garlic, oregano, pepper, mint – life itself breathing – enriches the warm air.
If it weren’t so close to Europe, only three and a half hours by air from Dublin, Madeira might be nestled in the Caribbean somewhere – it is an astonishingly tropical place.
Like many tourist destinations, the island has been classified by tour operators and travel guides; unfortunately in Madeira’s case, it’s often written off by holidaymakers as a destination for the retired middle classes.
It became popular for holidays in the early 20th century, when British travellers sought out its gentle climate for recuperation, most commonly from pulmonary diseases such as tuberculosis. With its dry air, generous winter temperatures and balmy summer it was the original European sanitorium; famous refugees included Winston Churchill and George Bernard Shaw.
The 21st-century tourism industry has found the image of ailing upper-class sorts difficult to shake, and for the most part Madeira is dismissed as a Santa Ponsa for septuagenarians. The island has much to offer younger visitors, too, however: fantastic shopping, luxurious spas and, most notably, an incredible undeveloped wilderness in the island’s extensive mountains and forests that just begs for exploration by outdoor enthusiasts, offering everything from hiking and whale watching to canyoning and surfing.
The island is small – at 739sq km it is smaller than Louth, Ireland’s most diminutive county – but is full of wonderful secrets, such as the second- highest cliffs and largest laurel forests in Europe.
Despite year-round fine weather, which rarely dips below or climbs beyond 20 or 30 degrees, its verdure is remarkable, and hundreds of natural springs, even at the island’s highest points, ensure that the landscape remains fertile.
These springs have been channelled into aqueducts, or levadas, which provide a key hiking network across the island. They emerge at the most unlikely places as waterfalls, gushing down sheer rock into the sea. The levada walks cover more than 1,500km and are well facilitated, with bodegas located along main routes to allow for refuelling.
Outside of the levadas, hiking in absolute wilderness is entirely possible. Few public buses venture up through the dramatic hills and mountains, but taxis can be arranged at set prices, and the roads are good if you choose to hire a car – the island is known by natives as the Swiss cheese, because of the many tunnels bored through the mountains, paid for by European funds.
Madeirans drive as if they have all the time in the world, and in any of the island’s towns it is not unusual to wait five or 10 minutes for a child to move out of the way of traffic or a young couple to park their car.
The way the island emerged from the seabed when it was formed means there are no beaches, but the island of Porto Santo, 15 minutes by air or two hours by sea, is one enormous sandy beach, and is often a key day trip for holidaymakers and Madeirans during the summer. Madeira itself has several man-made beaches and seaside public swimming pools, but for water lovers the natural pools at Porto Moniz are a must, allowing contained sea swimming under the dramatic shelter of the surrounding cliffs.
The airport is minutes from the island’s only city, Funchal, whose network of luxury hotels stretches north along the coast to the Lido, the most popular area for accommodation. Five-star hotels might seem like an extravagance, but in Madeira they are the norm, and rates – as in mainland Portugal, from where Madeiran taxes and prices are set – are reasonable, while facilities are superb.
Outdoor seawater swimming pools overlook the ocean, spas are ubiquitous and cheap (€50 for a facial and full body massage), hotel restaurants offer several ethnic variations of cuisine and a well-maintained promenade runs the whole length of the Lido, from the last hotel straight into the centre of town, a 50-minute walk or short taxi ride away.
If the hotels tend to quieten down early in the evening, nightlife in the centre of Funchal keeps going until the early hours of the morning, with young, glamorous Madeirans revelling in the many seafront bars and nightclubs until sunrise. The Portuguese do not believe in siestas – it’s a waste of valuable time for work – and Funchal pulses with activity throughout the day, too. Well-stocked shopping malls, a cable-car trip to the old town and a toboggan ride down Monte provide several options for whiling the hours away.
My favourite was the fruit and flower market, a veritable souk, with Moroccan traders seducing passers-by with their array of sweet produce – scores of types of bananas, custard apples, and apple pears spilling their seeds into your hands, sugar cane peeled straight from underneath a thick bark. It’s surreal, like a harem for fruit lovers.
I was so blinded by the sugar that I bought a shoebox full of fruit to come home with – €16 for six pieces; they tried to charge me €41! – but such delicacies don’t taste half as nice in the Irish climate. I’d recommend gorging on the free samples while you can.
For a civilised early-evening drink at sunset, nothing beats the ocean-view bar at Reid’s Palace, the oldest hotel on the island. Its private gardens are spectacular and its atmosphere serene, and its well-preserved 1920s glamour lets you imagine that Churchill himself might be sitting at the bar beside you, drinking in the rising moon.
In Churchill’s day Madeira marked the beginning of “therapeutic tourism”. It still maintains its restorative effects.
** Sara Keating was a guest of Panorama/Sunworld ( www.sunworld.ie, www.panoramaholidays.ie)
Where to stay and dine, and what to eat in Madeira
Where to stay
Reid’s Palace Hotel. Estrada Monumental 139, Funchal, 00-351-291-717171, www.reidspalace.com. This is the oldest hotel on the island, and has hosted Winston Churchill and George Bernard Shaw over the years. Set on four hectares of subtropical gardens, it is an oasis all of its own. It’s not cheap – rooms start at about €395 a night – but it’s a special spot.
Hotel Grand Pestana. Rua da Ponta da Cruz 23, São Martinho, 00-351-291- 707400, www.pestanagrand. com. This is part of the Pestana group, the largest hotel chain in Portugal. It is at the quietest end of the Lido. The rooms are huge, all with balconies, and most have sea views. An outdoor heated seawater pool and large patio complement the indoor spa facilities.
Moving away from Funchal, the rural pousada network, made up of small, historic, boutique hotels, are worth investigation. They are cheaper and often more atmospheric than their luxurious coastal counterparts, and ideal for hikers who don’t fancy bedding down at one of the island’s many campsites.
Where to dine
The Vagrant. Moored off the Esplanade, Funchal. This restaurant offers a tacky thrill. Otherwise known as the “Beatles’ boat”, it was bought by the Fab Four in 1966. It is now a bar and restaurant surrounded with little canopied lifeboats, each with its own table concreted down in a foot of water. Try local cocktails, such as the Poncha or the Nikita. No reservations needed at the Vagrant. You can’t miss it on the seafront.
Il Gallo d’Oro. Cliff Bay Hotel, 147 Estrada Monumental, Funchal. 00-351-291-707700. www.portobay.com. The name translates as French gold. Run by French chef Benoît Sinthon, it has recently been awarded a Michelin star. Nestled within the dramatically located Cliff Bay Hotel, it serves a blend of French Mediterranean and Italian cuisine. Try espada preta, or scabbardfish (see What to eat and drink, below).
Churrascaria Galinha Dourada. 372 Galerias da Ajuda, Funchal, 00-351-291-940950. This restaurant is run by a South African Madeiran who knows how he likes his beef (rare, though cooked to your taste). Try the dark treacly texture of the island’s honey cake for desert. It puts Christmas pudding to shame.
What to eat and drink
Espada preta, a snarling local scabbardfish, has gained notoriety as the ugliest fish in the world. Once filleted, lightly crumbed and fried, however, it makes a savoury delicacy.
Poncha de Madeira – Madeiran punch – is another Christmas favourite. A blend of rum or cachaça, honey and lemon juice, it is often served warm. One is enough as a feast.
Nikita is a drink invented by a bartender in the small fishing town of Camara de Lobos to try and keep teenagers sober. It’s a concoction of white wine, vanilla ice cream, pineapple, sugar and beer. I didn’t have the stomach to try it.
Go there
Panorama and Sunworld fly to Funchal from Dublin. They offer flight-only and package holidays. Aer Lingus (www.aerlingus.com) flies to Lisbon, from where you can fly on to Madeira with Tap Portugal and Sata, or take an overnight ferry.