Walking on Madeira

The climate, landscapes and walking terrain make Madeira perfect for walking. The island is mostly known for its levadas - irrigation canals often carved into steep mountainsides with small level paths built alongside. These lead through Madeira's beautiful and varied landscape often surrounded by blooming flowers. Let the levadas take you through peaceful rural hamlets, past gushing waterfalls, along steep mountainsides and into the bottom of deep verdant gorges.

For the adventurous, the high mountains and steep wild coastlines provide more challenging terrain as well as fantastic panoramas. The mountains are very rugged and look completely inaccessible from the far distance, yet the majority of routes can be used without problems providing you do not suffer from vertigo.

New roads and tunnels over the past two to three years mean easy driving from Funchal, the tourist centre, to all parts of the island.