Madeira Island, also known as The Floating Garden, is an oasis of peace and stunning natural beauty, with all the ingredients for a most memorable vacation: great accommodations from budget to deluxe, famous gourmet and popular local restaurants, charming open air cafés and fine pastry shops, casinos and first world shopping centers, well equipped hospitals and medical clinics, welcoming and friendly people Funchal City, the capital, is a picturesque and clean city with a unique landscape that looks like a masterpiece of a talented painter. Funchal has also been chosen as a port of call for many transatlantic liners that cruise in the area. Madeira boasts a modern road network, with 78 kilometers of tunnels that make it a delight to explore it at the wheel of a car On the island there are also two championship golf courses for those who love this sport. Madeira was recently voted “The Best European Island Destination”
Madeira Islands, Portugal
Porto Santo, situated a mere 43 kilometers northeast of Madeira, boasts a 9 kilometer long golden sunny beach of clear and delicious warm water. Somebody has already called Porto Santo “a beach attached to one island”. The local average temperature is minimum 13.o and maximum 20.o Celsius. Porto Santo can be reached from Madeira Island by a short 15 minute flight, or by ferry boat in about 2 ½ hours. The island features also a golf course and an 8 court tennis complex. It is believed that its beach sand has healing properties for bone recovery. As a curiosity, Christopher Columbus married a local lady and lived here for some time.
INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE MADEIRA ARCHIPELAGO
Seven islands make up for this archipelago: Madeira, Porto Santo, 3 Desertas, 2 Selvagens
Only Madeira, Porto Santo and Grand Savage are inhabited.
Location
This European Archipelago is located in the North Atlantic, about 360 miles off the coast of Morocco, and 540 miles from Lisbon.
It enjoys a mild climate, averaging from 18C in January and February to 25 in September(high) and from 14C to 20C in September (low).
Population
The present population of the archipelago are about 300,000.
The yearly average number of tourists visiting the islands is one million. This number is expected to be largely exceeded in 2017
Surface
Madeira has a surface area of about 740 km2 including the islets Agostinho, Sao Lourenço and Mole.
Porto Santo has about 43 km2 including the islets Baixo, Cal, Ferro, Cenoura, Fora and Cima.
Madeira Archipelago’s Average Temperature (Celsius)
- Jan & Feb: High 18 Low 14
- Mar & Apr: High 19 Low
- May: High 21 Low 16
- Jun: High 23 Low 18
- Jul: High 24 Low 19
- Aug: High 25 Low 20
- Sep: High 25 Low 20
- Oct: High 23 Low 19
- Nov: High 21 Low 17
- Dec: High 20 Low 15
Madeira was discovered by João Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeira in the year 1418. It has been visited by many famous people namely Christopher Columbus, who had been commissioned by some Genovese traders interested in Madeira’s sugar.
Around 1480 Columbus married Filipa de Moniz, daughter of Bartolomeu Perestrelo, first governor of Porto Santo. He lived on the island for a couple of years.
After becoming a seafarer and discoverer Columbus chose Madeira for one of his ports of call during some of his voyages of discovery of New Worlds.
Sir Winston Churchill, the famous British Prime Minister during the Second World War, selected Madeira to get inspiration for his paintings.
Cristiano Ronaldo, famous Portuguese soccer player was born here and has his own museum in Funchal. Madeira’s main produce are bananas for local consumption and export to the mainland, and the world known and appreciated Madeira wine.
Good local buys here are wine, the fine island’s embroidery and wicker works.
Flowers and Gardens
Madeira is nicknamed “The Floating Garden” and is famous for its flowers, mainly orchids, and gardens (Pregetter’s Orchid Garden boasts a collection of about 50’000 plants). The island’s yearly Flower Festival is one of Madeira’s main events.
Madeira features also the largest surviving area of Laurisilva endemic vegetation, appointed by UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Other Main Events
Besides the Flower Festival, Madeira is famous for its New Year’s Celebrations and Fire Works, a magnificent show of light and color. The Guiness Book of Records named it “The Largest Fireworks Show in the World”.
Activities
Levada Walks (Levadas are an irrigation system to water the orchards on the slope of the mountains) They provide the facility for walking tours in the laurel forest and to watch the stunning natural scenery, as well as endemic birds, vegetation and butterflies. The walks should be taken only with the assistance of experienced guides, to avoid getting lost and the obstacles on the way
Other activities available in Madeira are a wide choice of sightseeing tours covering the whole island, including hop on and hop off bus tours, whale and dolphin watching, snorkelling and swimming with the dolphins, deserted islands cruises, glass bottom boat tours, Santa Maria de Colombo Carrack sailing trips, Porto Santo one day cruises, canyoneering Ribeira das Cales, etc.
Madeira offers also two 18 holes championship golf courses.
Information on request.
