Travel to Madeira

Madeira is a fascinating destination. This archipelago is scattered in the Atlantic Ocean, west of Morocco and north of the Canary Islands. The Madeira archipelago consists of the main island, also known as Madeira, where the capital Funchal is located and the islands of Porto Santo, Ilhas Desertas and Ilhas Selvagens.

Portuguese influences

According to localtimezone, Madeira is an autonomous region even though the region officially belongs to Portugal, which it has done since the 15th century when the first Portuguese began to settle on the island. For this reason, Portuguese is the official language of the region, although it is possible to get by with other widespread languages ​​such as English. As part of Portugal, Madeira is also part of both the EU and EMU, which means that the currency is the euro.

A more adult destination

As a destination, Madeira is extremely popular and around 1.4 million tourists visit the region every year, despite the fact that the resident population is only one fifth as large. Madeira has, among other things, a magnificent nature as well as a rich culture and the archipelago can probably be considered a slightly more adult destination. It is as if tourists between the ages of 40 and 70 are much more common than younger tourists, although Madeira offers lots of sights and adventures. Maybe this is partly because Madeira is a common destination for cruise ships?

Magnificent nature

Madeira is a magical island and archipelago with fascinating nature. It is an island created by volcanic eruptions and hence dramatic mountains and slopes. These are often clad in a garland of lush forest and the fact is that the name “madeira” means “wood” or “timber” in Portuguese.

Spring feelings all year round

The climate in Madeira is very pleasant but it is not to Madeira that you should travel if you long for sun and swimming. Cliffs dominate Madeira so finding a nice beach is not the easiest thing to do and in addition the rain showers can come from nowhere. On the other hand, the climate is described as an eternal spring, which refers to the pleasant temperatures and the many plants that basically bloom all year round.

Towards new adventures

Despite the high middle age of Madeira’s tourists, it is adventurous activities that are often on the agenda. Hiking on trails in the slopes of Madeira is a highly regarded occupation and many have probably dreamed of hiking along the levadas of Madeira. For the uninitiated, it can be mentioned that a levada is a kind of irrigation canal that is only found in Madeira and that has been built to supply the drier agricultural areas with water. In addition to hiking, mountain biking, diving, surfing, climbing, canyoning and similar sports are popular.

Taste Madeira

The more southern parts of Madeira are good for agriculture and, among other things, sugar cane has been grown in the region. Nowadays, orchards and wine production are common and as is well known, the strong wine Madeira wine comes from Madeira. In the charming capital, you can sample Madeira’s local cuisine.

Get to Madeira

There are plenty of charter trips to Madeira, but if you travel on your own, it is usually easiest to fly to Lisbon to change to an aircraft that flies directly to Funchal in Madeira.