Madeira is a mountain in the Atlantic. Plan around the weather, not the map.
Which levada walk needs a guide and which one needs a head torch. What the Pico do Arieiro sunrise transfer costs and how early it leaves. Whether the whales are there in March. Reviews of every tour you can book on the island.
A levada, a sunrise on Pico do Arieiro, a morning at sea, the west in a 4x4.
The four bookings a first week on Madeira is built around. What each one costs, and what the people who took it say.
01The west in a daySkywalk, Porto Moniz, Seixal, and Fanal 4WD TourSkywalk, the lava pools at Porto Moniz, Seixal and the Fanal laurels, in an open-roof 4x4. The one day that covers the island most people never drive to.
02The 5am onePico do Arieiro Sunrise Transfer Self-guided HikeA minibus to 1,818 metres in the dark, then you walk the ridge on your own. Above the cloud by the time the sun comes up.
03The levada dayEnjoy a Guided Levada Walk in the Rabaçal ValleyRabaçal on foot with a guide, ending at the 25 Fontes waterfall. The access road is shut to cars, so the walk is the way in.
04The morning at seaEcological Catamaran Dolphin Whale WatchingOut of Funchal marina on a catamaran. Pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins live off this coast all year, so the boat is not a lottery.
Levada, high ridge or jeep track: three ways into the middle of Madeira.
The centre of the island is laurel forest and volcanic ridge with no road straight through it. Three kinds of day get you in, and they cost very different things.
Funchal is the base. The rest of Madeira is the point.
A capital that fits in an afternoon, a laurel forest older than the country, lava pools on the north coast and a ridge you can stand on above the clouds. Six starting points, and the best day out from each.
The whales off Madeira are resident. That is the part nobody tells you.
Short-finned pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins live off this coast all year, and the water drops to a thousand metres within sight of the harbour wall, so the boats out of Funchal marina are back before lunch. Sperm whales pass through in summer.
Madeira’s most-booked days out.
Every Madeira tour we have reviewed →The tours more travellers take than anything else on the island, and what earns each of them the slot.
1
Ecological Catamaran Dolphin Whale Watching
Cruise Madeira’s coast on a quiet hybrid catamaran, search for dolphins and whales, then swim beneath Cabo Girão for $40.
From · $40
Read our review →
2
Skywalk, Porto Moniz, Seixal, and Fanal 4WD Tour
from $72
3
Dolphin and Whale Watching Catamaran Cruise
from $41
4
Enchanted Terraces, Porto do Moniz & Fanal 4WD Tour
from $74
5
Porto Moniz, Seixal, Fanal Forest, Cliff Skywalk in Open Roof 4X4
from $75
6
Best of Madeira’s West Tour
from $42
7
Best of the East Tour from Funchal
from $42
8
Old Town Walking Tour
from $19
A levada is an irrigation channel. Walking one is half the reason to come to Madeira.
Five hundred years of hand-cut channels carry the rain from the wet north to the dry south, and a maintenance path runs beside every one. Rabaçal, Caldeirão Verde and Ribeiro Frio are shaded, close to flat and end at water. The tunnels are unlit and some of the drops are unfenced.
- 1Enjoy a Guided Levada Walk in the Rabaçal Valleyfrom $50
- 2Rabaçal: 25 Fontes & Risco Levada Transfer Self-guided Hikefrom $38
- 3Madeira East Island Tour and Levada Walkfrom $63
What a day out on Madeira actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by what it costs. The island is cheap for the Atlantic, and a good number of its best days come in under the price of dinner.
Funchal walking tours, levada transfers, the toboggan run and most of the morning boats.
Full-day 4x4 circuits, guided levada walks, canyoning and the longer sailings.
Private drivers, chartered boats and the once-a-trip splurges that earn it.
Three things that only happen on Madeira.
Volcanic islands and cliff paths exist all over the Atlantic. A wicker sledge steered by two men in straw hats, a forest that makes its own weather, and a village of thatched A-frames do not.
The Monte Toboggan
Two men in white cotton and straw hats push a wicker basket on greased wooden runners down two kilometres of public road from Monte to Livramento. It began in the 1850s as the quick way down the hill and it never stopped being that. There are no brakes on the sledge; the men steer and slow it with the soles of their boots, and they replace the soles constantly.
- 1Nuns Valley, Monte and Sleigh Ride Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 1,829 reviews
- 2Guided Tuk Tuk Tour to Toboggan Rides & Old Town★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 308 reviews
- 3Monte Tropical Garden & Toboggan Ride by Tuk Tuk★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 227 reviews
Fanal
A plateau of thousand-year-old stinkwood laurels sits in a bowl on the north-west shoulder of the island, right where the trade-wind cloud pools. On a clear morning it is a field of gnarled trees on cropped grass. Twenty minutes later the mist comes over the ridge and you cannot see the next trunk. The mist is what people drive up for, and it is why the light there is never twice the same.
- 1Skywalk, Porto Moniz, Seixal, and Fanal 4WD Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 5,732 reviews
- 2Enchanted Terraces, Porto do Moniz & Fanal 4WD Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 4,930 reviews
- 3Porto Moniz, Seixal, Fanal Forest, Cliff Skywalk in Open Roof 4X4★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 3,631 reviews
The Santana Houses
Palheiros — steep triangular cottages thatched to the ground and painted red, white and blue — were built on the wet north coast to shed rain and keep the animals housed below. A row of them still stands in Santana and the shape ends up on every postcard printed on the island. Almost every east-coast day trip stops here; it is worth the twenty minutes.
- 1East Tour Pico Arieiro & Santana&Laurissilva★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 1,994 reviews
- 2Full Day Jeep Safari East – Pico do Areeiro – Santana – Ponta de são Lourenço★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 819 reviews
- 3Santana & Peaks full day tour by Open 4×4★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 295 reviews
Four Madeira bookings that will not wait.
Most of the island can be arranged over breakfast the day before. These four run on pre-dawn departures, guide ratios and a road you are not allowed to drive.
- 01Pico do Arieiro Sunrise Transfer Self-guided HikeThe transfer leaves Funchal in the dark to be on the ridge before the sun, and the minibuses are small. Sunrise slots go before the daytime ones, all year.
- 02Canyoning Madeira Island – Level OneGroup size is capped by guide ratio and the wetsuits come in finite sizes. Weekends fill well ahead of the weekdays either side.
- 03Enjoy a Guided Levada Walk in the Rabaçal ValleyThe road down to Rabaçal is closed to private cars, so the shuttle and the guided walks are the only way in and both cap numbers.
- 04Ecological Catamaran Dolphin Whale WatchingMorning departures get the calmest water, so they sell out before the afternoon ones on the same boat.
The Madeiran peaks make their own weather. Keep a low-altitude plan.
One mountain, two climates. The north coast is wet, the south is dry, and the ridge above 1,500 metres can be inside a cloud while Funchal sits in full sun. Look at the peak webcam before you commit to a sunrise, and keep the old town, the wine lodges and the coast in reserve.
- 1Old Town Walking Tourfrom $19
- 2Private Funchal City Tour in a Tukxifrom $47
- 3Cabo Girao, Jeep Tour Adventure and Wine Tastingfrom $57
Espetada on a bay laurel skewer, bolo do caco, poncha you stir yourself.
Beef threaded onto a laurel branch and cooked over embers, garlic flatbread baked on a stone, black scabbard fish served with fried banana, and a drink of aguardente, honey and lemon stirred with a wooden mexelote. Book the market walk before the heat and the tasting after it.
Pico do Arieiro at first light, with the island under a lid of cloud.
The road climbs to 1,818 metres and the transfers leave Funchal in the dark. From the top the trade-wind cloud sits below you and the ridge towards Pico Ruivo comes out of it in pieces. The walk on is roughly three hours each way through unlit tunnels and cut steps; plenty of people turn back at Ninho da Manta and are down in town for lunch.
Every peak and sunrise day →
By place — coast, peaks and the north
By kind of day — trail, deck, track or table
Funchal, the west, the peaks, the east: the week almost everybody does first.
The west
The eastThe newest Madeira tour reviews.
The rest of the new ones →
Madeira Funchal City Historical Tuk Tuk Guided Tour by MadTuk
Read our review →
Local Farmers Market and 4WD Experience from Funchal
Read our review →
Private 1.5-Kilometer Levada dos Balcões Hike PR11
Read our review →
Jeep Safari Câmara de Lobos Cabo Girão Half Day Tour
Read our review →
Full Day East Madeira – Pico do Ariero, Ribeiro Frio, Santana
Read our review →
Private Tour:Historical Old Town 1-Hour Tour by Tuk Tuk
Read our review →
