Madeira had been on my bucket list for quite some time. I heard that people would compare it to European´s Hawaii. And as I had already visited Kauai – the Garden Island of Hawaii back in 2018, it was time to explore the European one.
In this article I will mention my 5-day itinerary to Madeira including must do things and places of Madeira with some useful information about budget, accommodation options and car rental companies.
FLIGHTS
As usual, we flew via Wizzair, a direct flight from Vienna to Funchal airport of around 5 hours. Our flight tickets cost 250 euro per person but I heard it could be even cheaper, so keep checking the prices.
CAR RENTAL
We rented a car thanks to the help of Rarach (check his IG HERE!) who also provided us with 5% discount on the price of the car rent. We paid 238 euro for 5 full days, no deposit or credit card needed. The company´s name was AutoCanha. A very friendly attitude and affordable prices. Our car was automatic opel corsa. The cheaper version would be manual but trust me, at those steep hills of Madeira you want to get automatic car.
And the price of the gas for 5 days was around 47 euro.
ACCOMMODATION
Some people recommend to stay at one place the whole time, I, on the other hand, recommend to try different accommodation options. We spent 5 nights in Madeira and we tried 4 different accommodation types.
The first one was located on the north part of the island in a small village Sao Vicente. Our 4-star hotel´s name was Estalagem do Vale. We paid 150 euro for two nights with delicious buffet breakfast included. We couldn´t have chosen better accommodation for our first nights in Madeira. We spent the third night in a village Prazeres at Casa de Chá – little hostel owned by a friendly German guy. We paid 84 euro for a private room for one night with a buffet breakfast, too.
Then we moved to a town Sao Martinho, just next to Madeira´s capital Funchal and we stayed at 4-star hotel Muthu Raga. We paid 64 euro per a nice spacious private room without breakfast, though. And the last night we spent in a small adorable village Santa Cruz, located close to the airport. Our accommodation was called The Pallet and here the price was only 44 euro per a private room with shared bathroom, no breakfast.
5-DAY ITINERARY
Day n. 1 PR8 Vereda da Ponta de Sao Lourenco
After arriving to Funchal airport and getting our rental car, we drove directly to the start of PR8 hike located in the eastern part of Madeira. It was around 7km long return walk via beautiful cliffs with very dry climate but with ineffable views. It was middle of October but we were able to get sunburnt on the very first day of our vacation. Be careful, weather can be tricky!
We swam on the small nice sandy beach in a village Machico and headed to our hotel in Sao Vicente.
Day n. 2 Northern Madeira
On that day we managed to travel across Northern coast of Madeira in kind of rainy weather. We visited a small cute town Seixal with black sand beaches. We did our first typical “levada (aqueduct)” hike Ribeira de Janela at which we reached the second tunnel and then we returned the same way. Afterwards we visited a town Puerto Moniz where we paid €3 entrance for natural swimming pools. A beautiful place! And on the way back to the hotel we stopped at various viewpoints.
I think Northern coast of Madeira was my favourite!
Day n. 3 Southwest of Madeira
On this day we drove the same coastal road as the previous day but then we hit the hills and visited beautiful places such as Fanal Forest, Bica da Cana viewpoint, Casa do Elias. We also visited one of the steepest cable-cars in the Europe, however, it was out of service when we got there. We enjoyed the lighthouse Farol de Ponta do Pargo instead, then a short swimming in the rain on the beach on Calheta and the last part of the day we spent in a magical village called Jardim do Mar where I ate the best tuna steak ever (Joe´s bar recommended!).
Day n. 4 South Madeira – Levada de Moinho
After a nice buffet breakfast at Casa de Cha we visited a popular waterfall located in the middle of the road on the Southern coast of Madeira called Cascata dos Anjos. Then we started our 10km loop hike across two levadas. The start was kind of boring at Levada de Moinho but then the return via Levada Nova was breathtaking. There we met a cool couple from Slovakia (Andrej and Viki) and we spent the rest of our vacation together.
After this beautiful hike we swam in the ocean on the beach Porta do Sol. Then we enjoyed the views from viewpoint Cabo Girao (€2 entrance) and the last part of the day we spent on the capital Funchal, where we paid for the cable-car to take us up and enjoy the city views (return ticket was €18). For dinner I can recommend a restaurant Tasca da Maria where we were served delicious 3 course dinner for only €17. Unbelievable.
Day n. 5 Pico do Arieiro
And finally we are getting up soon so we can drive to the starting point of most famous Madeira´s trek Pico do Arieiro. Unfortunately, the police diverted our car (and others) 2km before the official parking spot. So we had to hike up two km via asphalt road to achieve the point from where we observed cloudy yet magical sunrise. Then we hiked only around 1,2km as the rest of the trail was officially closed because of the fire damage from the summer. It was still worth doing.
After this trek we managed to drive to Santana village and do another one-way hike Levada do Caldeirao Verde. We did around 12km return with a stunning 100m long waterfall with bunch of amazing tunnels to go through. We finished the day at the same beach as we started – in Machico village.
Day n. 6 Flying back home
We woke up early morning to enjoy the sunrise in a cute village Santa Cruz where we spent our last night in Madeira. Then Viki and Andrej picked us up and all of us got to the airport on time to catch our flight back to Vienna.
SUMMARY
Although it wasn’t the cheapest vacation of this year (I spent around €750 for 5 days including the flight tickets), I must say it was worth it. Travelling with my very first travel buddy Monika made it easy and comfortable, meeting Viki and Andrej made it unforgettable and yes I can proudly say that Madeira reminds me of Hawaii.
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