Hiking and travel photography in Madeira
Ahhh what a wonderful few days we’ve spent travelling this beautiful, tropical island!
I’m writing this blog whilst flying back to cold and wet Manchester Airport. We’ve just spent 5 days hiking and photographing in Madeira and I couldn’t not share more from our most recent adventure.
Firstly let me say this, we have not traded in van life!! We tried to find a way to get a Campervan on the island of Madeira – but it’s almost impossible. Don’t even get me started on how it feels to be hiking without a little cocker spaniel by your feet…
Below is a run down of our itinerary (planned all last minute), where we stayed and our favourite sunrise and sunset locations in Madeira. Most of the photos are mine, with the odd one of Adam’s slipped in there.
*Shameless plug incoming*, we have a print store where we print all of our travel photos, in house and deliver them to be displayed in houses all over the country! You’ll find a link at the bottom of this blog.
Day 1
With a bright and early flight, it meant we still had half a day & time to kill before checking into our Airbnb. We headed to Vereda da Ponta de São Lourenco, a little peninsula off the east coast of Madeira. It’s full of different hiking trails, depending on whether you want to spend the whole day out there, or just a couple of hours, like us. The views either side are unbelievable and really give that mini Hawaii feel.
We checked in, had a quick tea and headed to Cristo Rei for sunset. Staying in Guala was a great base, but I’d recommend booking somewhere on the west of the island if sunsets are your thing!
Day 2
Wow crammed an awful lot into this day! We were up and out for 7am to watch the sun come up. Ponta do Bode was the spot we’d picked for sunrise, it was stunning and super quiet, there was only 2 other people there. Then we headed back and had some very civilised croissants on our balcony & loaded the car up for a long day exploring.
On route to Seixal, we stopped countless times to take photos, São Vicente being one of the places we stumbled across. Having watched *HUGE* waves crash over the rocks in Porto Moniz, we then chilled on the beach in Seixal and swam in some natural pools.
All of this before watching one of the best sunsets we’ve ever seen – and we’ve been lucky enough to see so many incredible ones. Pico do Arierio was the spot! This place is well known for sunrise, so we mixed it up and went for sunset. The whole drive up was incredible, if van life has taught us anything, it’s to appreciate the journey and not just the destination. Why are the cringiest lines always true?! We were so high above the clouds, it was like being on a plane.
If you’re visiting Pico do Arierio, there is parking as you make your way up to the top. We were pushed for time so parked in the top car park, but if you have longer then I believe the car parks further down are cheaper.
An area of Pico do Arierio is known as “the stairway to heaven”, all I can say is there was a lot of stairs…
It was truly magical up there, and not swarmed with people, just how we like it. There’s a number of hikes you can do from up there, including hiking to Madeira’s highest point – Pico Ruivo.
We only hiked 2.4km but the elevation was insane – especially when you’re rushing to get to the perfect spot for the sun setting!
We even saw a bride and groom having their elopement photos up here, IMAGINE an elopement in Madeira!!! Please hit me up if you’re planning something like that and need an elopement photographer 😉
Day 3
A big old hiking day, think tunnels, walking behind waterfalls, a goat on a lead and a ladder and river crossing all as part of the foothpath – Madeira really does have it all! We did the Levada do Nova hike (PR6), whilst it was a 10.5km walk, with some little sections of elevation, it was super easy and absolutely stunning – definitely one to add to your list if you’re planning a hiking trip to Madeira.
We dropped back down to sea level and sat and watched a couple of surfers catching some waves down at Paul do Mar. After we had a chill on a (very windy) beach, we headed up and over the hills whilst we drove to the west of the island in time for sunset. Even though the light wasn’t as jaw-dropping as the night before, the spot was perfect, with all of the cliff edges tapering off into the distance. The spot we went to was Ponta do Tristão.
Day 4
Another early start (who said holidays were for chilling?!), we headed to start the 25 Fontes Hike. It felt like we were setting off for a hike in Scotland – 3 layers and a waterproof coat!!! We parked by the side of the road (here), and off we went. The walk was only 9km, but it was a tough one! A steep 4.5km down to the falls and a steep return. If you feel like it, there are minibuses that take you so far but you still have a long way to go! The trail can get busy with groups and most of the time the paths were only one person wide, we also discovered that manners must be a British thing… It wasn’t the easiest walk and the rain didn’t help, but it was well worth it!
Afterwards, the weather was very much on our side for visiting the famous Fanal Forest, which looks it’s best when surrounded by thick fog.
We finished the evening with a stop off at the Cascata dos Anjos – a waterfall into the road that was very underwhelming!
Day 5
We didn’t want to let our last few hours on the island go to waste so we stopped off at a few different viewpoints, including Miradouro do Guindaste and Miradouro da Ponta do Rosto.
Overall we loved our time travelling Madeira, 5 days was a lovely amount of time but you could easily fill 10 days!
If you have any questions about our trip, please let me know!
Where to next?
