Funchal

A spectacular hillside garden at 550m — 70,000 azulejo tiles depicting Portuguese history, Japanese garden, lake with carp, and the finest collection of orchids and tropical plants in Europe.

The most famous experience in Madeira — a 2km descent from Monte to Livramento in a wicker-and-wood sledge steered by two carreiros (sled men in white linen and straw hats), reaching 30km/h on cobbled streets.

The most beautiful market building in the Atlantic islands — an Art Deco covered market with azulejo tile walls, where flower sellers in traditional embroidered costume sell tropical fruits, orchids and exotic vegetables.

Madeira's highest peak at 1,861m — the final 45-minute hike from the Achada do Teixeira car park passes through cloud forest to a summit with views over the entire island and sometimes above the clouds.

The finest traditional Madeiran restaurant — inside a 17th-century fortress in the Zona Velha (Old Town), serving espada (scabbardfish) with banana, black pork with milho frito and excellent local wine.

Bookshop-wine-bar in the old city — Madeira wine by the glass alongside petiscos (Portuguese tapas) of cured tuna, espetada skewers and poncha cocktails in a room lined with Portuguese literature.

Superb seafood restaurant in a converted 18th-century salt warehouse — the menu changes with the catch. Grilled Atlantic tuna, limpets (lapas) and cataplana (seafood stew) are the Madeiran classics.

The restaurant of the legendary Reid's Palace Hotel — an Edwardian clifftop institution where Winston Churchill painted, George Bernard Shaw danced and Gregory Peck swam. The Sunday lunch buffet is the definitive Madeiran luxury experience.

The food stalls inside the Mercado dos Lavradores — fresh bolo do caco (sweet potato flatbread with garlic butter) sandwiches, poncha in tasting cups, and fresh tropical fruit platters.

The most important Madeira wine house — cellar tours and tastings in the 18th-century São Francisco Convent building, walking through barrels of wine that have been ageing since the 1920s.

The traditional poncha bar of Funchal's old town — the Madeiran national drink (aguardente, honey, lemon) served in ceramic cups alongside cured tuna and sweet potato bread.

Funchal's best craft beer and gin bar — 100+ gins including Madeiran artisan gin made from endemic plants, and craft beers from mainland Portugal's emerging scene.

The café in the courtyard of the Funchal City Hall — espresso, galão (Portuguese milky coffee) and pastel de nata under the jacaranda trees of the municipal plaza.

The best traditional pastelaria in Funchal — pastel de nata, bolo de mel (dark Madeiran honey cake made with sugarcane molasses, walnuts and spices) and the local bolo do caco.

Madeira's largest black volcanic sand beach — a long crescent of dark sand with a promenade, beach bars and the Atlantic rollers. Not the Caribbean, but authentically dramatic.

One of Madeira's finest levada walks — a 4-hour round trip along an irrigation channel through UNESCO-listed laurisilva cloud forest, passing 4 tunnels and ending at a 100m waterfall in a mossy amphitheatre.

A guided tour of a Madeiran wine quinta (estate) — walking through the vineyards, watching the traditional foot-treading harvest (Sept–Oct), and tasting the full range from Verdelho to Malmsey in the barrel cellar.

The dramatic eastern peninsula of Madeira — a 3km limestone finger of land jutting into the Atlantic, ending in a series of red and ochre cliffs above impossibly blue water. The 5km trail to the tip is extraordinary.

The definitive Funchal half-day — cable car up to Monte (15 min, extraordinary views), Monte Palace gardens, the toboggan descent in a wicker sledge, and lunch in the Zona Velha below.

Madeira is one of the world's best whale watching destinations — the deep Atlantic waters immediately offshore are home to a resident pod of sperm whales and regular seasonal visits from blue whales, pilot whales and multiple dolphin species.