How to Get Around Madeira Islands

Getting in: Funchal airport has flights across Europe. Its runway extension on concrete pillars over the sea and the surrounding terrain make landings notoriously wind-dependent, and diversions to Porto Santo or the mainland do happen.

A hire car is the best way to see the island, but the driving is demanding: gradients of twenty per cent or more, hairpins, narrow village lanes and tunnels. Take the insurance and use low gears downhill.

Buses cover the island cheaply, but the network is designed for residents going into Funchal in the morning and back in the evening, which does not suit a day’s walking.

Taxis and transfers are the practical way to do point-to-point levada walks, which usually do not start and finish in the same place.

To Porto Santo: ferry from Funchal, about two and a half hours, or a short flight.