Madeira Self-Guided Walking Holiday

Our Madeira Self-Guided Walking Holiday is a flexible way to explore the island’s famous walking trails at your own pace.

Madeira is renowned for its network of walking trails – a hikers’ paradise of criss-crossing waymarked paths. The trails owe their existence to Madeira’s famous levadas water channels: when the first settlers arrived in the 15th century, they immediately began constructing an irrigation system to transport fresh water from the mountains to the settlements on the coast. As the population grew, so did the irrigation network: today there are over 2100km of levadas – remarkable when you consider the island is only 56km long and 21km wide.

The walks we’ve suggested here are some of our favourites and will allow you to explore the whole island. However, we’ll normally begin the planning process for your Madeira walking holiday with a telephone chat, so we can get a feel for the type of walks you prefer before we put together a suggested day-by-day itinerary.

We’ll include the return taxis transfers you’ll need to get to-and-from your walks, and we’ll usually base you in one of our favourite quintas in Funchal. The capital is home to many of the best restaurants and café bars on the island, but we can personalise your holiday if you’d prefer the peace of a more rural location.