A Guide to Madeira
Salam, I'm Ibn Hattuta, and today I will tell you
About one of the best places to visit in Europe after Covid19
Whether you're an adventurer, a family or a honeymooner
For me, this is the best European destination
Last two months I was locked an island
That is the pearl of the Atlantic
It's well known for Cristiano Ronaldo
We are in Cristiano Ronaldo Airport
Madeira Island, and it's reputation is well deserved
This island takes away from the world you know
To live in it's magic, the amazing nature
The cities and villages that are in harmony with nature,
The beauty of these cliffs
And from there you go to the mountains
Above the clouds and in the middle of forests
And it's not even expensive
The prices are cheaper than other European destinations
Despite all that, arab people don't visit it much
It's rare to see an Arab here
That's why I'll give all the information you need to visit it
And you can thank me later
Madeira Guide
Madeira is in the middle of the Atlantic ocean
It belongs to Portugal in Europe
Even though geographically it's closer to Morocco in Africa
They have their flag, and it's an autonomy
It's inhabited by 270000 people and they use the euro
Many people consider it as the Hawai of Europe
Since it's also a volcanic Island and has similar landscapes
Best time to Visit
You can visit Madeira all year round
Weather is always great
If you come in winter, there will be a bit more rain
And some clouds covering the mountains
But mainly you don't need to worry about weather much
It's not too cold nor too hot
How to get there
Of course you gotta take a flight
And Cristiano Ronaldo Airport of Madeira
Yes that's the name of it
Is one of the most beautiful and dangerous airports
It has mountains on one side, and the ocean on the other
And the runway is on a cliff
One of the best airports to see
Best way to get there
Is through Lisbon or Porto
Tickets start from 20 euros if you book early
There are also some other cities with direct flights to Madeira
That you can see in the map (Link in description)
To find those tickets, do a search on skyscanner.net
Transport
Best way is to rent a car
Other than that, the trip will be super hard
The cheapest and best website to rent I found was rentalcars.com
And price depends on your needs
It starts from 10 euros per day for a small car
But make sure to a car with a strong engine
Because most roads are hills
Despite how beautiful the roads are
But it's hard to drive on, so be careful when you drive
But to move along the coast and from South to North of the island
Don't worry because the whole island is connected through some tunnels
That will make your life easy
Of course there are some other option for the transport
But I wouldn't do them myself
First: you can do daily excursions with tour companies
And your place of accommodation will help you with that
Second: I wouldn't recommend this
But you can use public transport
They do get everywhere
But it'll take a week to see what you can see in a couple days
Accommodation
We rented one house for the whole trip
And we'd go out for our activities then get back
How's the view?
And since it's a small island
And you can reach any place in less than an hour
It was easy and comfortable
We took a house in the capital, Funchal
It was on the mountain so we have the best views
Incase you prefer to be far from the crowd
You can stay in one of the villages South, since the South has good weather
Some of these villages: Ribera Brava, Ponta do Sol and Calheta
But how to find the best place?
According to my experience, best place are to be found on Airbnb
Before we continue
You'll find a discount code in the description for 15-30 USD on your first use
Let's continue
Prices start from 15 euros for shared apartment rooms
And it gets to 80-150 euros
For a villa for 6 people
With a pool and terrace
And a great view
There are many options to choose from
If you wanna stay in a great hotel
The hotel that was recommended to me was:
It's 100-150 euros a night
But I didn't stay there myself
Food
Oh the great foods of Madeira!
One of the best things that I was locked in Madeira
That through them I got to know the food
I'll give you 4 foods to try when you go
And I'll leave some resources in the description box
For the restaurants you can go to
Firstly you have to try Espetada
The most traditional dish
It's simply beef BBQ
It's seasoned and served in a special way
It is dangled on you table and you take the meat pieces
It's grilled in a great way and have simple seasoning
So you can easily taste the meat
Second dish is:
Lapas
It's considered as a starter
It's some kind of oyster that they have there
It's grilled and served with some lemon
And that's it
It tastes really good and i loved it
Let me try
It tastes great like the ocean
Third dish is Espada
Espada is a kind of fish you don't find everywhere
They fish it from the deep ocean
It's a sword fish
It's grilled in some way
And I really liked it as well
Fourth dish is Prego
The bread of this sandwich is special and tastes amazing
And you have inside a slice of grilled beef
With cheese, egg and some vegetables
Usually there's bacon too but you can ask to remove it
It's yummy
There are some resources in the description
But I'll recommend a restaurant which is Venda da Donna Maria
It's owned by the people who hosted me there
And I tried the food through them
They were super nice to me and the food was awesome as well
If you go there, tell them I say hi
Let's continue
An itinerary
Regarding your itinerary
I'll give you a suggested one for Madeira
Which is a week long and you need a car
It's based on my experience
Which is not necessarily the best
So you can edit it as you like
It's just my personal preference
For your first day
You won't have much time in that day
So I'd recommend a small village next to the capital called Machico
It has a beach incase you wanna go and rest or swim
And you can go to a couple view points
And the second is:
Second day you can go hike a really nice hike
It's called Ponta do Sao Lorenco
This is the one Cristiano Ronaldo did during Corona time
You walk 3-4 hours to get to a point that's majestic
First ones to reach the top
Third day you spend in the capital
Examples for what to do there:
You can visit Cristiano's museum if you're into it
You can roam around the old city and it's small streets
And you can go up to Monte
It has a traditional activity that used to be there before cars were invented
When people used to use carriages
That you sit and a couple people sliding you through the mountain
Fourth day you can do Pico do Ruivo
It's the highest point of Madeira
With an elevation of 1850m
The hike of it start at Pico do Ariero
It's best to arrive at sunrise
And take your time not to exhaust yourself
The fifth day is simple and you won't be tired
Start by going to Cristo Rei
Then go to Rebeira Frio
There's a park there that you can do small hikes in
In the beautiful nature
And at sunset go to Cabo Girao Skywalk
It's a nice place with glass floor
It's situated on a bag cliff
From there you can witness a great sunset and also Funchal
Sixth day you can do the North coast
Start from Crane Viewpoint
From there go to Santana
It has some traditional house that people used to live in
Then head to Miraduro do Veu da Novia
There you can witness a waterfall on the coast of the island
Then end your day in Porto Moniz
There are some natural pools made of the volcanic rocks
It's really nice for a swim there and also to witness sunset
Seventh day you can visit villages of the South coast
Start with Ribera Brava
Then Ponta do Sol, then Jardim do Mar
Then end your day in beautiful sunset view point called Ponta do Pargo
There's a lighthouse, and the sunset there is my favourite
You gotta go there, it's not crowded
On your 8th day supposing you have one
You have to go to Levada de 25 Fontes
It ends with a beautiful waterfall
You shouldn't miss it
In the description you find an interactive map
It had the full itinerary I mentioned
Next video is going to be a vlog of only the activities I did during my time on the Island
In a detailed way, unlike how I was just talking
This was my guide to Madeira, I hope it was useful for you
Share it with someone you wanna travel there with
See you next video
May you travel more, Salam