New Years in Madeira Island Portugal

Rainbows are frequent and long lasting on Madeira Island.

This was our second week in Madeira and we had so much more to see.

The next day we had a big day of driving a fair distance which means lots of hairpin turns on steep climbs and sheer cliffs.  You actually don't drive a large amount of kilometers on Madeira, it just takes you a long time to get anywhere because it is so mountainous with many deep gorges that were formed by the volcano eruptions. The first stop was to the sky-walk but when we got there nobody wanted to pay to step onto a glass surface and look 3000 feet down.  We had experienced this on the Rock of Gibraltar already and that was free. We just took some pictures instead and continued towards Madelena do Mar for the cascades waterfall but that road was closed. 

Driving up to the lookout.

There were views for days up there.

The Cannells

This was an extremely tall Acacia Tree with beautiful fluffy yellow flowers on it.

Normally you can drive down the road and let the waterfall cascade over your car as it splashes onto the road. We could have drove to the closest town but it was a 3 km walk one way so we chose not to do that. Madeline do Mar was a cute little town and we walked the promenade and did the Banana Walk and because we've seen and had tours in banana fields before it was no big deal. We took a few pictures and continued onward to the next stop on our tour which was Porta Moniz on the northeast coast. 

Dax starting the Banana Walk which was uber short.

These banana bunches were wrapped in blue plastic to speed along the ripening process.

There were Levadas right in this banana field.

Terraces of Banana Trees covered the slopes of the mountains around Madelena del Mar.

A Lemon Tree.

On the promenade walk we could see the different lava flows that piled on top of each other to form this cliff.  It was very colorful.

We drove up onto the top of the mountains in the middle of the island and  it started to get a little bit misty with thick cloud cover. It looked like fog but we were actually driving through the cloud and out of nowhere there was a cow walking down the side of the road.  I had been wondering why I was seeing cow patties on the road? Cows frequent the road quite often on the upper slopes. 

We continued down towards Porta Moniz and stopped at a Miradouro and the lookout scenery was sublime. We could see the natural lava pools from the lookout and we wanted to visit these naturally eroding and occurring lava pools which are formed and have become a recreation site for swimming all around the island.

Dax standing on top of a dangerous cliff, he likes to do this?  You can see Porto Moniz below.

The Lava Pools for swimming are just in front of the big rock.

Porto Moniz town was colorful.

We continued down the hairpin road towards the town and Dax said that he was hungry, we stopped and had found a really good restaurant.  Open parking spots are rare so we grabbed the first we saw and it was that directly in front of a restaurant.  I ordered the Scabbard Fish which is a delicacy in Madeira and the meal was 12-Euro and I could barely eat it all. There were french fries with it which I gave to Dax and I ate the salad with it. The Scabbard was a very buttery fish. It was delicious! 

After the meal, Dax and I walked down to the Lava Pools and it was really neat down there and on a warm summer day we definitely would have swam there. The black lava rock naturally heats the water courtesy of the sun but that day it was super windy and not swimming friendly. Concrete infinity edges are added to make it safe for swimmers so that they don't get washed out to sea.  The waves coming in are quite big and on wavy days they can wash over and I believe they close the pools down at these times. 

You can see the infinity edge where the bather is hanging over.  You can walk all around in that area, which we did.

The Lava Pools.

Pretty photo when black volcanic rock meets ice blue colored waters.

More Lava Pool area, where you can see people swimming.

Lava Pools.

We continued east walking towards the aquarium. We noticed that we could see Riviera  de Janela rocks so we took some photos. These are lava rock structures that are out in the ocean and provide very picturesque scenery and it was stunning.  We continued walking down the promenade and spent quite a long time there. 

Extremely picturesque area on the north coast of Madeira.

The ever present low-hanging clouds.

I loved this photo because for some odd reason the boats look like toy boats in the water?

Chartreuse colored succulent type plant growing on the volcanic rock.

The next town over that we would be driving to and exploring.

We jumped back in the car and continued our drive towards more Miradouros and lookouts on the North Coast. It was a windy day in Porto Moniz which is far Northwest on the map and as soon as we headed down the coast towards the east there was no more wind and it was lovely.  We were in shorts and we kept stopping at all these places because it was just absolutely breathtaking and I kept getting back into the car and saying these are 'unimaginable beautiful scenic stops'.

A volcanic rock beach is usually flat smooth stones good for skipping into the ocean.

Another Lava Pool complex but this one you had to pay to access.  It had a cool arch.

It was so pretty with the green on black on blue.

The lava pool area.

This was a crazy 33% gradient down to the Lava Pool Complex.

Lava pillars in the water on the beach.

A Vineyard on an extremely
steep slope.

We spotted a waterfall that was quite a powerful one flowing out of the side of the mountain and hitting the beach down below.  We found a stop where we could walk down concrete steps and stone steps and they were ancient but they were concreted over in spots to give it more durability. They were service steps going down towards the ocean.  The land was terraced and contained different crops including grape vines.  There was also an orchard of papayas as well. That was absolutely a stunning walk down and when we looked back we could see the town of Seixal and we took lots of pictures of that as well. And we continued on and kept stopping and taking beautiful pictures along the way and Dax spent a great deal of time hunting down that waterfall and taking the best pictures with his camera we continued on through the multitude of tunnels. 

Beautiful vineyards on the slopes all along the drive on the north coast.

Dax standing on a cliff-side overlooking  the town of Seixal.

We spotted this powerful waterfall which is the white line in the middle of the photo.

More coastal beauty.

The waterfall falling to the beach.

Looking up into the thickly treed mountain slopes you could spot several waterfalls throughout seeing the white lines in the photo.  They never look as pretty in a photo.

We spotted another smaller waterfall falling into the water.

Picture perfect Seixal with the rock escarpments sticking out from the land.

This was a Papaya orchard along the coast.

These were the stairs down to the different terraces and crops and vineyards.

The beautiful waterfall on the coast.

And there was another one.

Waterfalls were everywhere and you could really spot them after you walked down the steps towards the ocean.

Two waterfalls.  This was a photo I took halfway down the stairs towards the ocean. It was so peaceful and picturesque here I could have stayed for hours.  It was my happy place.

The colorful town of Seixal.

The stairs passed by a vineyard to the right.  The vines are staked up.

The sun was setting and bringing out lovely colors in the sky and making the views even more picturesque.  Birds of Paradise are a very common hedge that grows on Madeira.  The waterfall is in the background.  Some people call Madeira the Hawaii of the Atlantic and it very much reminds me of Kauai and Maui.

Some more natural Lava pools that formed.

It was actually starting to get a little darker. The sun had already set over the beautiful calm ocean and we headed inland at that point. We drove up past Sao Vincente and it looked absolutely beautiful. The interior was dotted with towns all along the way back to Funchal through the center of the island from the north to the south. We were climbing in elevation to get over the mountain and drove into a cloud, it started raining.  We did get nice views of clouds cascading over the mountains, though. 

One last look at the north coast of Madeira and the parting sunset.

We were back in the car and just about to enter another tunnel and Dax yelled to me to look up and this waterfall was directly on the road and splashed the vehicle a bit.

Climbing in elevation through the center of the island towards Funchal.  The clouds were doing some amazing things.  They resembled an avalanche coming towards us.

Clouds cascading over the 
mountain tops.

We made it down to Funchal by 7:00 pm and went and bought groceries at the Continente which is a grocery store chain in Portugal. 

The Pestana Grand timeshare is where we stayed for the second week.  Dax had his own studio unit to reside in instead of our couch, everyone was happy. It was a great day of sightseeing. This was a tremendously beautiful island to visit.  Normally we go to our timeshare in Cancun for Christmas week and Dax was a bit mad at me for dragging him away from his American friends who he plays beach volleyball with in Cancun.  After one day on Madeira, he more or less apologized and told me that I made a good choice, choosing Madeira to visit for Christmas.

At the Pestana Grand, we mainly had mountain and tree views this week.  I love the trees which resemble upside down umbrellas.  It is some sort of deciduous tree with needles but is found only in warmer climates.  If you like rainbows, they are constantly forming on Madeira.

We also had a slight ocean view from our balcony as well.

The next day I checked the online trail hotline and coincidentally the Pico to Pico hike or peak to peak hike that we had intended to climb was closed and had been since 2024 due to a wild fire.  I am not sure if my sister Michelle my new Angel was watching over me or not but I think she was.  I had been psyching myself out by reading reviews on this hike and I read quote, "I am a 30 year old woman in excellent physical condition and a seasoned hiker and I thought this hike was really difficult".  I mean, what could go wrong, I was only double her age and so/so physical condition?????  I wan't sure if I should celebrate or bemoan the fact that we were no longer going on this extremely tough 6 hour hike?  (I said a little thank you to Michelle.)

I broke the news to Dax and told him we were heading out on his second choice which was Vereda do Fanal hike which states that it is an 11 km hike but ended up being a 15 km hike.  (I secretly wished we were on the Pico to Pico hike, I am a little crazy like that.  I do like a challenge.)  Darren dropped us off on the road where the trail head was. He did not think his knees could do the hike.

It was a beautiful day, we were high up in the mountains and we only needed shorts and a t-shirt. The trail was well marked but we almost instantly ran into problems with puddles and creeks everywhere.  It had rained that night and none of this had a chance to dry up. 

This was a tough section to get through
it was long perpetual puddle.

Yup, a wet trail again.

The forest was extremely thick and you feel like you are all alone in the world.  Occasionally we would come to an opening in the forest and we would be afforded pretty views and we would stop and rest and sit on a rock and take pictures.  There are lots of sub trails off of this one to Miradouros and we took those occasionally to see what views there were.

This was a common view for us.

Dax up ahead on the trail climbing up on rocks as usual.

Dax on the trail.

Little creeks were constantly running beside or on the trail which added to the mud.

The views were quite epic though when we came to a clearing.

The trail was getting a bit monotonous and then it would go downhill or we would cross a babbling brook, then we would traverse uphill or a we would be bamboozled by a set of boulders that would stop the flow of the trail.  We would then have to figure out which way the trail went.  The first 6 kms were prettier than the average trail in the world but we could have began farther down the road.  This particular trail crosses the road 3 times.

I love boulders, this enhances any trail in my mind.

We climbed and went down copious amounts of stairs on the trail.  Most were quite safe but some came with some steep drop offs to the side.

Laurissilva Trees were showing up sporadically on the trail.

Many more stairs.

Unique flora and fauna along the trail.

We came across the first crossing and there were picnic tables and we rested.  We were only 25% through the trail.

We continued on the hike and eventually came to the last crossing with 4.4 kms left of the hike.  We sat on the stairs contemplating whether to call Darren to pick us up or not?  Cannells are not quitters and we encouraged each other onward.  Thank goodness we did, the trail actually became quite dramatic and what we were craving with constant elevation changes, large boulder patches, large Laurissilva Trees with their crooked grotesque beauty and ocean views.  Even though our legs were weak, the scenery was so gorgeous that this propelled us on.

We only met 13 people on the this 15 km hike and only 4 people passed us.  They were as fresh as daisies so we think they started the trail on one of the crossings.  Their clean and sparkling footwear was a dead give away.  Our runners were trashed on this hike, covered with mud.  Our legs were covered with mud streaks, it was a messy trail for 40% of it.

We were both quite happy to reach the ending of the trail.

Meadows of lunar type landscape surrounded us.

Ocean views for miles.  It is difficult to sea where the ocean ends and the sky begins.

This was the north coast of Madeira.

Little pockets of towns at the base of the mountains.

Laurissilva Tree which are endangered and now a UNESCO Biospere.

Some of these trees are hundreds of years old and come with their own micro-climate with ferns, moss and plants growing on them.

The last bit of the trail before it opened up to the meadows.

The trail finally opened up to what we knew as the ending which was the Laurissilva Forest which is a large meadow with these crazy trees on a large cliff overlooking the ocean thousands of feet down.  On the other side is more lunar looking with black volcanic rocks sticking out of the meadow.  The Laurissilva Forests are endangered and it has become a UNESCO Biosphere for protection.

Many people were climbing the hill because there is a large parking lot to the left and this was where Darren was waiting for us.  There were many picture taking moments on these hills.  Often this crazy forest is in fog which gives an otherworldly look to the forest.  We had clear sunshine which was too bad but win win because it was warm.

After our long hike, Dax still wanted to climb this hill for the views, so I did too.

Laurissilva Forest.

Many are crazy shapes but all are crooked.  See me standing under the tree.

Cows were grazing on the bottom slopes to the right of the car park.  Dax had to go and photograph these as well.  So Mom came with him too.

We headed back down to the car and it was good to sit down, we were both exhausted!

The next day was New Years Eve day.  We had plans to walk down to the Fireworks show at the waterfront.  Storm Francis had other plans.  The Portuguese government was going to postpone the show or move it up earlier in the night.  The storm shifted somewhat and the show went ahead as planned for a normal New Years countdown.  The three of us began walking down the hill towards the waterfront, it was a 45 minute walk down.  Dax's legs were too tired and he chose a spot 10 minutes away from our timeshare.  I wanted to continue on.  Darren and I finally found a spot in the center of this spectacle among the thousands of people down at the waterfront.  The atmosphere was very festive with anticipation for the show.  We only had 4 minutes to spare, we timed it perfectly.

I took a couple Panoramic photos to try and show how the fireworks surrounded us.  Someones selfie stick was in the way to the left.

This Panoramic shot shows the Madeira Christmas Tree and some of the cruise ships that were in harbor for the show.

There were 25 fireworks stations set up in a circle around the city of Funchal, on the mountain slopes, ocean etc.  We were right in the middle of this.  The show began with music pumping and we had 8 minutes of beautiful fireworks that surrounded us.  Madeira spent over 1 million Euro on the show.  

We headed back up the hill towards Dax.  This was an exhausting climb back up after the 15 km walk the day before.  

Up above all of the turmoil after the fireworks show, we glimpsed back to see the cruise ships departing the harbor and the clouds of Storm Francis moving in.  The show was timed perfectly as it began to rain lightly.

When we found Dax, he was quite excited because coincidentally he ended up being right beside a fireworks station so he had a good show too.  He was up above most of the other 24 stations.  We all felt quite satisfied and excited about what we had experienced.  Darren and I still felt that the Sydney Australia show was better but Madeira was better than the show in Dubai.  Overall it was a great night!  These are some of the best New Years Eve fireworks shows in the world.

Storm Francis rolled in with a bang the next day and right and killed 3 days of exploring.  There were heavy winds and rain so we hunkered down at the resort and made the most of it by playing ping pong, pool and watching movies.  Occasionally when we had to go outside to get to the games room it was a bit disconcerting to see whitecaps in the outdoor pool.

When we finally got out we drove down to Machico Bay and walked the promenade and watched planes come in and leave the nearby airport on the island.  It is one of the more difficult runways to land on and special pilot training is needed.  The runway has been built out over the water and is cool to drive under and then at the other end it is a steep mountain.  

Machico has a sand nice beach and also a smooth black stone beach.  When the wave comes in on the smooth stones and then back out again it drags the rocks with it and makes the coolest sound. 

Smooth black lava stone beach of Machico Bay.

Machico Bay on the east side of the island.

Machico Beach even had a volleyball net.

We walked around the old town as Machico was the first settled place on the island.  The cobble stones were very nice and the old church must of had a roof leak because it was so musty I could not go into it.

This was a beautiful tree lined avenue of old cobble stones.  They had already lost all of their leaves.

Machico was settled in 1419 according to this commemorative bronze wall.

Old Town.

Every town has their water source and this one was anceint.

The old musty church tower with Dax standing near the door.

Leaving Machico we received a good-bye rainbow.

We found a little side street restaurant in Machico and ate outside.  It was delicious and cheap.  We all ate a big meal and had drinks and I even had wine and the total was 27 Euros.  That was the cheapest meal of the entire European vacation.  We also walked past an ice cream parlor and indulged in that as well.

We turned off the highway and drove down towards the coast and found Christo Rei which is Madeira's Christ the Redeemer statue, which is much smaller than what Rio de Janiero has but Madeira has there statue in an even more dramatic location because if you want to see the front of it you have to walk down the cliff stairs to catch a photo.

Christ the Redeemer statue is 49 feet tall and predates the Rio de Janiero statue, who knew?

On the path to the Redeemer, you can look way down and see a beach club on a black sand beach.

Epic views of the south coast for our full last day Madeira Island.

The crazy road down to the beach.  I will miss the views of Madeira Island but I will not miss driving on the scary roads.

This rainbow was getting quite intense and they last quite a long time on Madeira.

Driving back to our place we spotted a waterfall coming out of the side of the mountain so we got Darren to stop the car so we could get out and take some pics and then a minute later the super intensely dark and colorful rainbow formed.  The houses are sporadically placed around terraced banana fields.

The Dragon Tree which is on Madeira Island, this one is a baby but they grow quite tall and are strange looking.
Put Madeira Island on your Bucket List for travel, you will not be sorry.  My entire family loved it and really enjoyed our time here, there is so much to do.