DESTINATIONS SPAIN & PORTUGAL | MADEIRA


WHAT TO DO IN FUNCHAL


E Monte toboggan: These wicker-and-wood sleds date from the 19th century, when they were a speedy way to get from Monte village to the city of Funchal, zooming down a mile of winding streets with only the driver’s boots as brakes.


E Cable car: Get up to Monte via the cable car, Teleférico da Madeira, which offers panoramic views across the bay and island. Once there, stroll around Madeira Botanical Gardens, where thousands of exotic plants burst with colour.


E Rua Santa Maria: Don’t miss the oldest street in Madeira, with its bustling restaurants, quirky boutiques and colourful street art, then sample honey cake at quaint shop Fabrica Santo Antonio.


E Local crafts: Marvel at the intricate embroidery in the Bordal Bordados da Madeira factory, then join a workshop to make a handkerchief.


BOOK IT


Stay at the Four Views Baía hotel for clean, spacious rooms, a superb breakfast buffet and stunning panoramas over the Bay of Funchal. Rooms from €130 in low season. fourviewshotels.com


British Airways flies from Gatwick to Funchal from £89 return. Clients can also fly direct with easyJet or Jet2. com, or via Lisbon with Tap Air Portugal.


Find out more at visitmadeira.pt


100 16 JANUARY 2020


of Santana with its traditional thatched cottages. Many have been converted to shops where you can buy Madeiran souvenirs, such as the surprisingly intoxicating drink Poncha, and you can also take a short tour of a traditional Santana house. If the promise of Poncha isn’t enough, the tour also


stops in Porto da Cruz, at Engenhos do Norte rum distillery, still equipped with 19th-century machinery. Clients can learn the history of the sugar cane trade in Madeira and sip rum, and if it all goes to their heads, a quiet black-sand beach is just a minute away. There’s also a chance to do the short Vereda dos Balcoes levada walk, and enjoy views of the north and south of the island simultaneously from the Ponta do Rosto Viewpoint.


LIVING LEVADA LOCA Madeira has adventure in abundance, with trail running, canyoning and mountain biking in those vertiginous cliffs all taken up by braver – and fitter – folk than me. However, for those more at home in restaurants and spas, a safe introduction to Madeira’s active side is a levada walk. Levadas are open-air irrigation canals built by


Madeira’s first settlers to transport water across the island, running more than 900 miles around mountains and hillsides. They’re not just functional, they’re also a huge attraction for visitors.


The Levada do Rei is a four-hour


walk through a pristine forest of laurel trees shrouded in fog, with the trickle of the levada adding a soothing air


With more than 200 levadas of varying degrees


of difficulty, the walks not only offset those glasses of Poncha, but also offer a view into Madeira’s rich natural world.


Our challenge is the Levada do Rei, a four-hour walk


through the pristine, Unesco-protected Laurisilva forest. It’s almost mystical, with laurel trees shrouded in fog and the calming trickle of the levada adding a soothing air to the journey.


Along the way, our guide, Fabio from Adventure Kingdom, points out lily of the valley, passion fruit, mint, banana and endemic plant species that we’d surely have missed without him. At the end, we stop to catch our breath at a picturesque creek, Ribeiro Bonito, surrounded by soaring trees and lush greenery as far and high as the eye can see. The levada walk is a pleasant surprise: it turns out


Madeira’s quintessential experience isn’t reserved for marathon runners but can be conquered by those of us who don’t even have a pair of hiking boots.


TW


CLOCKWISE FROM BELOW: Four Views Baia hotel; Vereda dos Balcoes; Engenhos do Norte rum distillery PICTURES: Francisco Correia; Gregorio Cunha; Andre Carvalho


top tip Take the two-hour ferry to


sister island Porto Santo for arid, volcanic scenery and pristine golden sands


travelweekly.co.uk


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