Guides
Visiting
Walks, viewpoints, food and a ten-day route that does not spend its life in the car.
What to eat and drink on Madeira
Espetada on a laurel skewer, bolo do caco, lapas, black scabbardfish and poncha — the dishes, the couvert rule, and menu prices from restaurants that publish.
Madeira weather month by month, at three different stations
Monthly rainfall normals for Funchal, Santana and Chão do Areeiro, from IPMA. The north coast takes roughly twice the south’s rain, and the mountains far more.
Levada walks on Madeira, and the permit regime that arrived in 2026
Every classified trail on Madeira now needs a paid, dated timeslot booked on SIMplifica. The fees, the exemptions, the refund rule, and which trails are shut.
Madeira wine, read from its own specification
Sercial, Verdelho, Boal and Malmsey; estufagem against canteiro; the ageing and labelling rules, taken from the DOP specification rather than from wine blogs.
Getting around Madeira: the bus network, the car, and what is unresolved
SAM no longer exists and the fares changed in April 2026. The SIGA network, the tariff table from the Jornal Oficial, and the questions nobody can answer yet.
Madeira's EU-protected food and drink names
The complete register-sourced list of Madeira's eight EU-protected food and drink names, what is missing from it, and the banana claim two sources disagree on.
Madeira in winter, and why February tells you more than August
August shows you the seafront. February shows you the island: the rain the north gets, the cold on the ridge, and the trails that close. With IPMA figures.