A Madeira family holiday

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My parents have been going to Madeira, Portugal for the last 20 years. I always thought that this small Portuguese island in the Atlantic Ocean was a destination just for old people (sorry I mean older if my parents are reading this!). I had never considered a Madeira family holiday. True, if you like to spend most of your holiday at the beach, Madeira probably isn’t for you. There aren’t many beaches on Madeira, unlike the Balearic Island of Mallorca. But if you enjoy stunning mountain scenery, walks, waterfalls, swimming in natural rock pools or beautiful gardens then Madeira absolutely is the place for you! These are just some of the amazing things we experienced on our recent Madeira family holiday. If you’re looking for ideas on where to stay in Madeira have a look at our rundown here.

What is the best month for a Madeira family holiday?

Madeira is a year-round destination although you may want to plan when you go based on what activities you are most likely to be doing. The Madeira weather can be unpredictable whatever month you choose and can be quite different just a few miles away.

This is particularly the case if you head up into the mountains. Our visit was in April which was perfect for allowing us to experience lots of what the island has to offer. We managed walks up in the mountains as well as swimming in the sea. We wore jumpers in the mountains and were lucky not to need the waterproof coats that we had packed. However, on the coast, and the south coast in particular, we had beautiful hot sunny weather. If you’re in Madeira with kids you are likely to want to go swimming at some point. So you’re probably best visiting between April and October. It is the Atlantic Ocean and not many swimming pools are heated so whatever Madeira weather throws at you it may still be a bit chilly without a bit of sunshine to warm you up!

Where to stay on your Madeira family holiday

Funchal is the biggest town on the island and is probably the best place to base yourself for a family holiday in Madeira. There are lots of things to keep you busy in the town itself as well as plentiful hotels and restaurants. 

We stayed at the Carlton Pestana Madeira Ocean resort hotel. This was close to the ‘hotel district’, where there are lots of restaurants and the lido area for sea swimming. But also walkable in the other direction to Funchal old town. For other ideas on the where to stay in Madeira check out our guide here.

What to do on your Madeira family holiday

Explore Funchal

Funchal is a large tourist centre but is also a real working town and the administrative centre for Madeira. There is plenty to explore without venturing too far and the old town is a lovely place to wander. There are so many lovely restaurants to choose from both in the old town, by the marina and in the hotel district.

Other things to discover in Funchal include:

• The oceanfront Yellow Fort
• The beautiful Cathedral on the edge of the old town.
• Marvel at the local wares at the Mercado los Lavradores (farmers market)
• Take the Monte cable car (with or without a wicker basket ride down the hill)
• The marina area has some nice restaurants and the CR7 museum for any Ronaldo fans.
• There are beautiful gardens galore. We loved the Monte gardens, but there are also the botanical gardens.

Read our Funchal guide for more details of the above and more ideas for keeping busy in Funchal.

Do a Levada Walk

The walks vary in length and are mostly one-way walks, so you need to factor in either walking back to your start point or arranging transport at the other end. Whichever walk you choose on your Madeira family holiday, I think you are pretty much guaranteed amazing views because the island is full of them! We completed 3 different walks on this visit but there are a few more that I have my eye on returning to do when the children are a bit bigger and can be trusted to not run off a cliff!

Hire a car and drive around the island

Our Madeira family holiday was just one week. We hired a car for two single days through rentalcars.com. This meant we got to explore quite a bit of the island but obviously couldn’t do everything. Madeira isn’t a large island although many of the roads are very windy so journeys can take longer than you would expect.

Wherever you go there are lots of pull in spots to sit and admire the views. There are now also lots of tunnels on the main roads. This makes getting around the island a lot quicker but obviously means you sometimes miss out on some of the views. Look carefully at the map to check if you are going to be underground in places that you want to be able to see!

If you don’t fancy driving there are plenty of options for tours from short excursions to full day tours. For five of us this would have been much more expensive. We also like having the flexibility to determine how long we stay somewhere and change plans if needed. Our two road trips were as follows.

Day Tour 1 – West

1. From Funchal you can head West and check out the fishing village of Camara de Lobos for a morning coffee.
2. Head to the Cabo Girao viewpoint further West along the coast. If you didn’t make it to Camara de Lobos you can grab a coffee here.
3. For a scenic drive continue West after Cabo Girao and then head inland on the VE4. There is a fast tunnel that takes you straight up to the North coast but this misses most of the views. We headed up on the ER105 from Serra de Agua into the mountains. Make sure you stop at some of the beautiful viewpoints to soak it in. We also stopped at the top you can have a little walk and snack.
4. Continue North towards São Vicente.
5. Once you hit the north coast turn left to head West again.
6. Make sure you stop off at Miradouro do Véu da Noiva to see the stunning waterfall tumbling into the ocean.
7. From there it is a short drive to Seixal where we enjoyed a gorgeous swim in the natural swim pools.
8. Options from here could be to go to see Fanal forest or continue West to skirt the coast back towards Funchal.
9. We instead continued North West to Porto Moniz and then headed inland to take on the 25 Fonts hike.
10. After our hike it was around 45 minutes drive back to Funchal.

Day tour 2- East

• From Funchal head east and call in at the village of Faial for morning coffee. Check out the beautiful views of Penha de Agua and have a quick look around the fort.
• Continue north and then inland to Achada de Teixera. This is the start point of the walk to the top of the highest mountain on Madeira, Pico Ruvio. I highly recommend this walk. If you don’t fancy the hike you could just take in the views from near the car park and have a drink in the cafe there.
• After a picnic lunch up the mountain we headed down to the town of Santana. This is small town is famous for it’s traditional thatched houses.
• From Santana we headed inland again on the ER103 to Ribeiro Frio. From here you can do the short walk on trail PR11 to the Balcoes viewpoint. I think this was one of my favourite views in Madeira.
• After a refreshing post-walk drink in one of the restaurants of Ribeiro Frio we continued along the road and kept following signs for the viewpoint at Pico de Areeiro. At this time of day you should be fine to park in the main car park with easy access to the stunning views.
• From Areeiro it’s less than 40 minutes back to Funchal for dinner.

We have a separate post with full details of both of these road trip itineraries.

Swim in natural sea pools

Madeira does not have many beaches- the island is so mountainous that large cliffs are more the norm! The beaches it does have are mostly pebbly. If you do want to swim in the sea there are quite a few natural sea pools. Some of these have been amended by humans to give easier access and make them safer for swimming. Amongst the most popular sea pools are the lido at Funchal, Porto Moniz and Seixal.

There isn’t any public parking at the bottom of the hill so you will have to walk the last part but it is only a 5-10 minute walk. Be warned that the road down to the public car park is very steep and narrow so take care!

Once at the pools there are a couple to choose from or you can do what we did and have a dip in both! It is rocky so some type of water/ sea shoes is handy to protect your feet. If leaving them on the shore, make sure they are well clear of the water and any waves. We helped a family recover sandals in the water that got washed out by a sudden wave!

Check out some of the amazing views

In Madeira there are stunning views pretty much wherever you go but there are some spots that really give you that ‘wow’ moment. Many of them are well known so you most likely won’t be enjoying the view on your own. But I’m sure you’re going to want to explore at least one on your family holiday in Madeira.

Some places you can just pull in by the road to admire the view and others have built viewpoints along with turnstiles and cafes! There are also some that require little to no walking to get there and others that do require a walk or a long drive from the main road. As usual those that require a bit more effort usually give the best rewards.

Cabo Girao

Probably the most famous (and busiest) viewpoint on Madeira is Cabo Girao on the south coast. This consists of a suspended glass platform above the highest cliff in Europe which certainly has the wow-factor. It does get very crowded, and you do now need to pay a small fee to access the glass platform but I still think it is worth experiencing if you are in the area. It’s quite exciting for the children and there is very little walking needed so is accessible for all. There is also a small café near the viewpoint which made a nice place for a drink with a view.

Pico de Areeiro

Pico de Areeiro is the start/ end of one of the most famous walks on the island, the PR1. From the pictures I have seen of this walk it looks amazing, but we decided our youngest wasn’t quite ready for it yet. More to do with the sheer drops at the side of the trail than the distance involved. It is a really popular spot at sunrise, and I believe it gets VERY busy then. We were there later in the afternoon when there weren’t too many people around at all which was nice. It also meant that we got a spot in the main car park close to the view point. There is more parking a 15 minute walk down the hill. You can park free for 30 minutes, which is what we did. If you stay for longer you will have to pay.

Balcoes viewpoint

 My favourite viewpoint was probably Balcoes. I could have stayed there all day looking at the amazing view. There is a short Levada walk to get there from Ribeiro Frio.

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Now we have been to Madeira once our main question (to ourselves) was why haven’t we been on a Madeira family holiday before? And I think it’s safe to say that we will be returning in the near future to see more of what the island has to offer.