Madeira advice
 

Hi,
we're travelling to Madeira over Easter and I'm looking for recommendations on where to stay. We're a family with a toddler. Ideally somewhere with restaurants and a supermarket nearby. Any other tips on where to go and what to see would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I stayed at Duas Torres and it was perfect. The rooms are like small apartments with a kitchen and there's a supermarket just across the street. The views from the hotel are magnificent.

Coincidentally I was also there over Easter, but it was many years ago. I did levada walks but you don't want to do that with a child. I also remember the botanical gardens in Funchal which I highly recommend. Additionally, we hired a driver for a tour of the island. This cost €100 for the entire day, but it's probably more expensive now. We went to Porto Moniz, which was a highlight of the trip.

Are people going there directly or from Europe? There are direct flights from Lisbon but also some other cities outside of Portugal so you don't necessarily have to go there as part of a Portugal visit if you've been to Portugal before.

Seems like there are so many miradouros that you can rent a car for a few days and just go looking for the best scenery.

We've been to Madeira many times and love the island. However, to advise you better, how long will you be there and what's your budget per night? Do you oprefer an apartment or a hotel? Will you rent a car or rely on buses and taxis?

We will be there for 2 weeks and will likely stay in an Airbnb. Looking at 150 a night maybe? And we will rely on buses and taxis, which isn't ideal, but we've made that work in lots of other places. Would it make sense to do one week in Funchal and another week in a smaller place by the sea?

I'm also thinking of a visit but it would be under a week, maybe 4 nights at most.

I'm open to renting a car but I see a couple of long day trips, like one is a guided hike of a levada and another guided hike to the long peninsula by the airport, Ponta something.

They both pick you up and return you from central Funchal but I'm thinking this is a good introduction to Madeira.

I'd guess that you won't be doing much hiking with a toddler, so I'd stay in Funchal. You'll get much better access to everywhere on the island if you opt for a car, but I wouldn't stray in two locations as the island is small enough to get across north to south in under an hour through the tunnel and maybe east to west in 2 and a half hours.. With a couple of weeks you'll see everywhere there is to see and in Funchal you'll have a great choice of places to eat and things to do. Choose your apartment to be close to the cable car area, maybe in the "V" shaped by the two diverging roads. It's surrounded by markets, restaurants and bus and taxi stops.

Try Apartments Madeira - Holiday Apartments for Rent in Madeira Island Funchal - Book Now which is close to that area.

I should have given more details about the levada hikes. The ones I did had a lot of steep drops and it's a long way down. I don't know if they're all the same, but the hikes I did are absolutely not to be done with a toddler.

Thanks so much for all the advice. I should have said that grandma is also joining for a week, so we have a babysitter when we do some of the hikes. Figured you can't go to Madeira and not go hiking.

Aren't grandmas the best? 😀

In that case I think you will enjoy the levada hikes as long as you can handle heights. I was there with people who knew their way around so we didn't use a guide, but I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding one.