You really feel like you're standing on the edge of the world.
Welcome to the world's first digital Nomad Village.
I'm here in a little village called Ponta do Sol in Madeira
Island off the coast of Portugal.
And I'm gonna take you through a typical day in the life of a remote worker
who's living here on the island.
And I'm just about to go and give a talk to 85 other current
and aspiring remote workers. These people are working from their laptops.
They're hanging out here on this island. And so for us,
it's quite normal for a big group of people,
50 or a hundred people to come together to network,
to have fun,
to improve their businesses and improve their prospects for finding a
remote job. So in this video, I'm going to show you around the island,
show you where we're staying,
and maybe next year this could be you here at the Nomad Island
Fest, living your best life in this digital Nomad village,
about 1.5 million people per year visit the
vibrant Green Madeira Islands located just an hour and a half
flight from Lisbon, Portugal.
Madeira Islands have been voted the best island destination in Europe for
many years in a row,
and they're also known as the Hawaii of Europe.
The average temperatures in Madera hover around 20 degrees Celsius,
or 68 degrees Fahrenheit year round,
making it the perfect place for outdoor enthusiasts.
And anyone who enjoys a moderate climate.
Madeira is also sunny most days,
and each morning brings with it plenty of possibilities for how you
can start your day.
Some mornings I decide to go for a walk along the Waterfront Promenade
in Sal Martin Ho, where my apartment is.
But today I decided to take a Sunrise yoga class
complete with a view of one of the many rainbows that you'll be able to see if
you visit Madeira. After that,
I headed down to the Capitol of Funk to attend an outdoor
workout with the Madeira Friends International Community Association.
Because working out with other people is a great way to boost
your motivation and make new friends. Every Saturday morning,
locals and visitors alike from around the world get together for a
short workout, followed by a coffee, tea or juice,
and a chat afterwards. I'm here with Louise the
founder of Madeira Friends, Madeira
Fitness. Yeah, co-founder.
Cofounder. What is Madeira Friends and where can people.
Join it? Yeah,
so we're like a project to integrate traditional people in Madeira,
so in digital nomad. So we are a group of like nomas, expats, and locals.
We do a lot of, uh, good things. You, you know,
connected with the social side of, uh, Madeira. We are givers, note takers,
and of course the fitness, the social part, the mental wellbeing,
physical wellbeing. We do many things can follow us on Instagram.
We always announce our events and our program, everything.
And last time we had a Purple Friday. Uh, bunch of people are there,
A bunch of people came today as well. Fun little everything.
Another thing that is a really important part of the culture and daily life in
Madeira is hiking and adventure.
And today we're gonna go in some Jeeps and explore the top of the island.
Are.
You ready to hike? Ready to.
Go. Ready for the hike? Great storm Madeira.
Are you guys ready to explore?
We're ready.
Nice to meet you.
Our first stop of the day is Sao Vicente,
which is a really cute little town with some big waves.
So only experienced surfers should paddle out here.
One of the features that Madeira is known for is it's stunning
coastline and scenery that you can explore from the land,
from a car, from the ocean,
or even from above the clouds on one of Madera's many hiking
trails. These trails are known as lavdas,
and there are close to 500 different trails throughout the island with
one of the most famous being Pico do Areeiro
Another place that is a must-see,
must do activity here in Madeira is going to the
Fanal forest. And you're gonna notice a really big temperature decrease.
I don't know how much, but it's cold.
I have a scarf and two jackets on.
And so this is the, like the cloud forest, and it's very,
it's usually very misty, but very beautiful.
Kind of gives you some Scotland vibes and a totally different
contrast to down in the beaches and, uh,
Funcal and Ponta do Sol. It's like going onto another planet,
but well worth the drive.
Also, watch out for cow poop.
You can find out more about each trail, the location, length,
and difficulty level at visitmadera.com.
If you go to Madeira,
I recommend renting a car for at least a couple days so that you can
explore some of the places that the buses don't go.
And so you can stop along the way to sight sea or get out
and take pictures at one of the many viewpoints around the island.
You really feel like you're standing on the edge of the world. I think we are.
This must be the, this is the westernmost point in Madeira,
I think. And you, that's an feel like it.
On a typical day in my life in Madeira,
when I'm not out exploring or hanging out with the local community,
you'll usually find me working from home from my laptop.
And while staying in Madeira,
my home was an apartment from a website called Flatio,
which is an online marketplace that specializes in affordable
short term and medium term rentals for digital nomads,
remote workers, and long-term travelers.
All of their properties are fully furnished and equipped with utilities and
wifi included in the price.
You can check out their selection of properties for your next trip to Portugal,
Europe, or beyond by using the link below this video.
One of the things that you must do if you come to Funchal is take the cable
car, which is also called the Teleférico.
It's about 3000 meters total,
and this is my first time ever going on it.
I'm really excited because you can get a really nice view of the Funchal
area and of course the ocean.
And it's also right here in the middle of Old Town.
So it's a really great place to just walk along the promenade, have a coffee,
get some food, and you can explore the historic area here.
There's also a lot of shops as well,
so this is not a place that I would come on a typical day when I'm working from
home,
but it's definitely a place that I come on the weekends either to meet with the
Madeira friends and do a workout just right here in the morning.
And then we'll have some coffee here and just chat before enjoying the rest of
our Saturday. And it's also a really popular place to come for nightlife,
going out to dinner, things like that. So during the work week,
we'll also have lunches at some of the restaurants here in the old town.
So this is definitely the heart of Funchal and it's a place that you'll be spending
a lot of time if you come here.
So one of the things that you'll notice when you come to Madeira is that there's
banana trees growing everywhere,
and apparently the government has a program that will pay the locals to grow
banana trees in their yards, and then they will buy the bananas back.
So that explains why you see banana terraces everywhere you go.
So apparently there's people who either hike up or hike down
this cable car route.
So it says here that it's a 9.8 kilometer loop,
generally considered a challenging route that takes an average of
four and a half hours to complete. So we're not gonna do that today,
but it looks very steep going up here.
And from the reviews I read on TripAdvisor,
it is quite a steep climb whether you're going up or down.
So be careful if you're gonna do that.
But if you just wanna enjoy the scenic view like we did today,
it is 18 euro round trip.
Okay?
We've made it to the top and we are 560 meters higher
than we were down in the old town, but it feels like twice as high.
It is a lot colder and a lot windier up here, so make sure to bring a jacket.
But once you get up to the top, you can enjoy the beautiful views.
You can also walk through the botanical garden over here.
There's a cafe where you can get some coffee and cake, have a beer,
so it's definitely worth the trip. Yeah, that was really nice.
It would be great to come up here and just spend the whole day just leisurely
walking around, checking out the gardens and the palace.
And there's also a lot of really good restaurants and cafes up there.
So let's go back down and check out the old town of Funchal.
If you wanna indulge in a little alcoholic beverage.
The local drink here is called Poncha,
which is basically moonshine mixed with a fruit juice and a lot
of sugar. And from what I hear, the hangovers are pretty severe now.
There's a ton of different flavors that you can get,
but the locals say that the only traditional flavors are the lemon or
the orange, but I've also heard that the Mirakuya is really good as well.
These are the traditional flavors,
but then you can get a little adventurous and go with the Pitanga,
which I don't actually know what is the translation for this fruit,
but that one's really popular. And I would say those are your,
your top flavors, the traditional ones,
the Mirakuya and the Pitanga.
So try in moderation.
A tip that one of the locals gave me is to drink
it warm and standing up, because if you drink it with ice,
you could drink too much , it could go down too easy. You were saying,
uh, to try the Poncha with aguardiente?
Yes, uh, but be careful because it's like very strong, you know,
like you taste the sweet and you think sweet,
but when you start walking, you start talking like this,
you know?
And the next day headache.
Well, if it's good, if it's well made, not, not a lot.
Not so bad. Hangover, no.
Maybe a bit the acid of the fruit, but not so much. It's,
it's good hangover still. Okay.
What's, which one did you get? The orange tan.
Tanganina.
Yes. Tangerine. That's good.
It's good if I, I, okay. I don't.
Know if you, oh no, it's okay. I have no,
I'm already drunk from that sip of the other one.
. Really?
Yeah, but.
I think you can handle a bit more. I think so. I think so.
So we're gonna go into the old town here.
This is a place where pretty much everybody hangs out, locals, tourists,
nomads. And it's really cool because there's a lot of art everywhere.
There's a lot of, uh, little restaurants, bars and cafes.
And it's a great place to come during the day or for a night on the town.
Are you from Madeira?
Yeah, I born here. 72.
72.
72, 1 50.
You look 30 .
The secret. This is in my head.
I better start drinking more. .
Join us.
Thank you, . Cheers. Cheers.
Now we are closer to Downtown Funchal.
So this is kind of between the old town and the waterfront,
and this is a really good place to come if you need to go shopping.
There's a lot of shops outdoors on the street. There is a huge shopping mall.
There's lots of restaurants, so anything that you can need is here.
And this is a nice place to come for lunch during the day or out at night.
And it's a place that I find myself coming at least a couple times per week.
So the PTA guy gave us a tip and showed us this traditional
spot where they make the Bolo do Caco,
which is the traditional bread here by hand. And you just,
there's smoke everywhere.
We're just inhaling this smoke and we're gonna see how they make it.
So on every menu and on every street corner,
you will see signs for Bolo do Caco.
And this is gonna be the freshest probably on the entire island.
So let's see how they make it.
Wow.
So it's cash only, and I didn't have any cash on me,
but this nice lady gave us some of her Bolo do Caco.
And the traditional way is to get it with garlic butter.
So it's like a fresh garlic bread and it's so delicious.
I could eat a whole bowl a whole bowl of it.
I have to say,
the people in Madera are some of the nicest people I have ever met on the
planet. So if you come here, be prepared to take your time,
make friends with strangers, because anyone walking around,
any of the locals will be happy to chat with you about their beautiful island,
about whatever it is. So I've really enjoyed my time here,
and I hope you've enjoyed this glimpse into a typical day in the life
as a digital nomad here in Madeira.
Subscribe for more and see you in the next one.