Madiera - any comments

[kwd1954]

We have a timeshare and are thinking of going to Madiera this year since its something new for us. I heard there are no beaches. Anyone have good / bad experiences or is it the beautiful place its reported to be.

[Fitzer]

We went to Madeira (Funchal) a couple of years ago, as reported it doesn't have beaches in the common sense of the word but if you fancy a day lying on the sand you can take a short ferry ride to Porto Santo (tiny island) which has them in plenty. Madeira itself is a gorgeous island full of beautiful sights and scenery, some great restaurants and so on. The system of levadas (irrigation channels) allow you to walk into the heart of the hills without any unseemly scrambling up rocks etc. We thoroughly enjoyed it

Ian

PS if you've got any spare room in your luggage take a Mercedes clutch with you, all the cabs are Mercs and all the roads out of Funchal seem to be at least 1 in 4!

[Texarooni]

I went in Sept 03 and thought it was ok and yep it is seriously hilly.Good exercise I guess.

There was a cable car ride we went on in Funchal. Well worth a go and the botanical gardens it took you to at the top were good for a wander around. Also up at the top, people were sliding down a road on wooden sled things.Don't know what it was all about but everybody was doing it and it looked good fun.

[Fitzer]

We did the sled ride back down to Funchal and it was good fun, the sleds are a traditional way of getting things down from the mountaisn before the roads were built but are now just used as a tourist ride.