Madeira is possibly the most beautiful island we have been to. It is fully green with mountains the second you land, there are bananas growing everywhere, and the whole thing is laced with walking tracks, hundreds and hundreds of kilometres of them. Prehistoric, we called it.
It also runs on one rule: plan ahead. From checking the fog to booking the hikes, we learned that the hard way.
We spent a week there in June 2026, based in Ponta do Sol with a hire car. These are the things that caught us out, in the order they got us, and the bits we would do exactly the same next time.
Five things that caught us out
1You cannot just rock up to the PR1
The PR1 is the famous one, the Stairway to Heaven from Pico do Arieiro to Pico Ruivo. You hike along the spine of a mountain and the stairs look like they climb into the clouds. Pretty bloody incredible, and we only got to do half of it.
We did not book. There are people on the trail checking tickets, and we got turned back. That night we tried to get tickets for another day and they were booked out way in advance.
The system changed while we were there. Every classified trail on Madeira now needs a booking through the government's SIMplifica website, where you pick a 30 minute entry slot. When we cut the video in July 2026, most trails were 4.50 euro and the PR1 was 10.50 euro, and in summer it books out weeks ahead.
We did get on it in the end, and we are not proud of how. We asked the man at the start if we could just walk down to the first rock for a photo, and the trail only runs one way. At around 4:30pm there was nobody guarding that first section. There is a second gate further along, so it only gets you so far. Our real advice: book it when you book your flights.
2We drove to the fog forest on the one morning with no fog
Every fairytale photo you have seen of Fanal was taken in fog. It rolls in early in the morning, it is most reliable in the cooler months, and it often comes back in the afternoon.
We got up early, drove all the way up, and picked the one morning with no fog at all. The trees are very old and still kind of fairy-like, but the verdict on camera was that it was just trees and bushes, really.
Here is the tip we learned exactly one morning too late. Madeira has live webcams running 24 hours a day all over the island, including one pointed at that forest. You can check the fog from bed before you drive up. We did not check.
3The weather app is wrong
Before we flew in, Abbey's two worries were the landing and the cold, because we had heard it was around 16 degrees. The island is volcanic, with mountains nearly two kilometres high, so every valley has its own forecast and you can get four seasons in one day.
The weather app might say 16 degrees and rainy when it is beautiful and sunny. You could be driving into thick cloud while 20 minutes away it is blue sky. Those same live webcams saved us more than once, so check the one for wherever you are heading before a hike or a viewpoint.
4Where you sleep decides how much sun you get
This one sounds minor and is not. The mountains are so high that once the sun passes over a certain point, whole sections of the island fall into shade.
We stayed in Ponta do Sol, which gets the most sun of anywhere on Madeira. We lay on the beach there until about 7:30pm. So before you book, ask yourself the question we asked on camera: do you want to stay in the dark, or in the sunshine?
Ponta do Sol is also central and on the south coast, so everything is half an hour to an hour away. Funchal is where you land and it is super cool, but it is not central for day trips. Give it a day or two and then move on.
5Late to the rock pools means sharing them
Get to the Porto Moniz rock pools at 9:30 in the morning. We were pretty much the only people there, and the volcanic pools in that cute little town are beautiful. They are also slippery getting in, so be careful.
Abbey did not want to get in. She does not like getting her hair wet and she does not like cold water, she just likes looking. Tijs talked her in anyway, and once she was out she thanked him for pressuring her into it.
From the pools we followed the north coast east, which might be the most dramatic stretch of road we have ever driven, cliffs on one side and the Atlantic on the other. The black sand beach at Seixal is on that coast, and Obsidian 17 sits right on it. It is a seriously cool cafe dropped into an old school European town, the coffee is fantastic, and like everything on that side of the island it is best in the morning, before the shade comes.
The bits we would keep exactly the same
Training and breakfast. The question we always get is how we stay fit on the road. On Madeira the answer was Brava Gym, ten minutes up the road from Ponta do Sol, and genuinely good. We trained there the whole trip. Breakfast was yogurt, cottage cheese, protein powder and berries, with fresh raspberries and an apple each for later. The fruit on the island is really good.
The hire car. Madeira technically has buses, but the island is all mountains and valleys, and the places you come for are scattered everywhere. Nothing is more than about an hour's drive, the roads are fantastic, and the tunnels do half the work. If you are afraid of tunnels, though, do not come: you go through one every five minutes, and every one opens onto an amazing view. Ours was about 130 AUD for six days in June 2026, and it is the one cost of the trip we would never cut.
Poncha. Poncha is pure Madeira: sugar cane spirit, honey and fresh citrus, and super strong. Order the fisherman's, which was our clear favourite. The tomato one they call the Bloody Mary of Madeira was terrible. We tried our first one at Poncha do Lombo Doutor, where they make it the traditional way with real, fresh fruit. We went at midday and there was hardly anyone there, and one and a half each left us feeling pretty merry.
Cooking our own dinner at a butcher. A tip from a local led us to a butcher where you pick your meat upstairs, then go downstairs, season the skewer and cook it yourself over the fire, and hang it so the juice drips onto bread and butter. No one spoke English, and we were the only ones there because we turned up at 5pm. The talho we went to was Talho - O Branco, and it was super local. We missed the one in Seixal by the black beach, which has an epic view.
Steak night. We found Brasa Fire & Cocktails in Funchal on TikTok. The steak came with chimichurri, the wine was great, and dinner arrived in about 15 minutes. Portugal does really good meat.
The banana argument. What surprised us most was the bananas. The mountains are covered in banana plants and there is even a banana museum. Tijs spent the week trying to get Abbey there. She was not sold on it, neither of us was sure it could measure up to the Big Banana in Australia, and we never made it. Watch this space.
So, would we go back?
100%. We thought a week would be enough and it was not. Madeira is one of the most unique places we have visited in Europe, and we will be back.
Two last things. We went in June and the weather was perfect, and April to about July is the sweet spot. And the airport landing has a scary reputation because of the wind. The runway has been extended twice, the pilots are specially trained, and if it is too windy they divert back to Lisbon. Ours was one of the smoothest landings we have had.
Abbey & Tijs