The best beach resorts in Madeira: Simon Calder shares his coastal picks
From historic hotels to sunsoaked terraces and picture-perfect harbours, Simon picks his favourite seaside spots around Madeira
Wherever you are on Madeira, you are always less than 10km from the Atlantic. And one of the joys of the island is the range of great oceanside locations to play – and stay. There’s a lot to be said for staying in one of the great hotels looking out across the Bay of Funchal. But a whole range of different resorts are dotted around the island.
Grand palace: welcome to Reid’s
The capital, Funchal, is the original – and many say, still the best – base for exploring Madeira, with all the advantages of a city as well as some superb places to stay. Afternoon tea at Reid’s Palace, a Belmond Hotel which has been gracing the western side of the Bay of Funchal for 13 decades, is a tradition you should sample – as you gaze down on some of the most beautiful gardens in the Atlantic.
The hotel was created by William Reid, a Scot born in 1822 who was told his ill health could be improved if he moved to Madeira. Aged just 14, he worked a passage to Funchal on board a ship, and the treatment worked – he spent the rest of his life on the island, and became a successful hotelier – culminating in the purchase of a clifftop estate.
Travellers would arrive on oceangoing liners and board small boats that brought them ashore. Many celebrity guests have stayed here – including Sir Winston Churchill, who has a suite named after him.
Camera ready – Churchill’s choice
Thanks to the fast new roads in Madeira, you can in about 20 minutes get from the centre of Funchal to Camara de Lobos. And when you arrive you’ll find the fishing village of your dreams, with colourful boats bobbing in the harbour or hauled up to the beach.
In 1945, Winston Churchill was a national hero in Britain. And five years after the end of the Second World War, he became a local hero here in Camara de Lobos – he chose this corner of Madeira to paint. Thread through the narrow streets and climb uphill, and within a few minutes you’ll find yourself at the Vila do Peixe, where the fish served has made an equally short journey from being landed.
Ponta do Sol: sunny point
Going west, the name of my next stop – Ponta do Sol – translates as “sunny point”. The village, halfway along Madeira’s southwestern shore, claims to be the sunniest place on the island.
Terraces tumble down to a small, safe beach. Until the late 1940s, the only way to reach the village was by sea. Today access is easy – and the trip is well worth making for a spectacular sight just beyond the beach. There are few parts of the world where you can see a waterfall cascading straight into the ocean. It’s a reminder of the towering terrain here on the raw edge of Europe.
First steps: come ashore at Machico
Follow the coastline said to be “sculpted by the gods” in the general direction of mainland Portugal, and eventually you reach the far east of Madeira – and a bay that isn’t so much as the last resort as the first. Until 1 July 1419, no human had set foot on Madeira. That was the day the Portuguese discoverers stepped ashore at what is now the port of Machico. The whole island was very densely forested and so they called it Madeira, the Portuguese word for woods.
Today, Machico has a fine sandy beach – which it created in 2008 with sand imported from Africa.
Whatever kind of traveller you are, there’s a resort waiting for you here in Madeira.