A unique way to discover Madeira Island hidden treasures and breathtake locations, otherwise unaccessible. We will take you on a off-road adventure to exquisite viewpoints, amazing off road experience and into the amazing Laurissilva Forest.
Half Day
Santo da Serra
Duration: Aprox. 4 hours.
This tour begins in Ponta do Garajau, the cliff that serves as base to Christ King Statue (Sacred Heart Statue) and provides an interesting perspective from Funchal’s bay. We continue our excursion until Santa Cruz, one of Madeira’s earliest centres of population. From where we start the vertiginous climb to the mountains, passing along farm tracks and glimpsing small settlements almost hidden by the rugged terrain. In this half day experience, we will have the opportunity of following native forest trails and the cobblestone royal path towards Machico city where we finish this wonderfully varied trip.
Cabo Girão
Duration: Aprox. 4 hours.
Start your day at a place of stirring atmosphere, visiting one of the most emblematic sightseeing points before all the hustle and bustle of buses and visitors cars arrive at Cabo Girão. Continue your trip to the mountains from where you can contemplate Nuns Valley village, trough pathways between farms in which cherry and chestnut trees share space with extensive vineyards, this route seems painted in green or bronze colours, sprinkled with the rooftop orange and multi-coloured walls downhill until at last reaching the blue sea spotted with the colourful typical Camara de Lobos boats resting from fishing.
Afterwards, taste the nectar produced by one of the most antique wine cellars or the famous fisherman poncha, popular around this village. These are some of the surprises we have kept for you.
Curral das Freiras
Duration: Aprox. 4 hours.
Known for being where the nuns from Santa Clara convent in Funchal found a place to hide from the French Corsairs’ attacks in XV/XVI centuries, Pico dos Barcelos is where this tour originates, a sightseeing point with a superb view from the capital’s bay. We carry on our journey leaving behind the urban centre and heading towards the mountains where we can find several points with astonishing views over the valleys where the village spreads far below.
Surrounded by mountains, with ocean’s blue supplanted by the celestial blue above and the picturesque massif background, here we can taste liquors, pastry and other products that can only be found in this region.
Full Day
Madeira Peaks
Duration: Aprox. 8 hours.
After a first stop at the bay where the Portuguese landed in 1419/20, in the southeast coast, this tour continues along the ancient royal footpath, where our sight is captured by the geometry of the oldest terraces of the island, along the beaten tracks crossing the indigenous forest. You will be amazed at the isolated rural nature of the villages we will visit. This is a tour rich in culture, with some of the most beautiful landscapes you can set your eyes on and breath-taking trails that will take you from sea level to Madeira’s highest mountains.
Country Delights
Duration: Aprox. 8 hours.
This adventure happens every Sundays, the only day we can visit Santo da Serra’s fair and market. Very popular amongst locals, in this market everything is local, where quality and flavour are trademarks and prices match the native’s pocket. This is the day for the weekly purchases; it is not a touristic event. Mingle with the locals; let yourself be carried by your senses. Once again, the way to the market will be via hilly rural paths and beaten tracks, with a background of the native forest, filled with astonishing and memorable sights.
Prepare your camera!
Craters of Fire
Duration: Aprox. 8 hours.
This tour happens in the Southwest, where the sun shines all year round and calm reigns, cradled by the sound of the ocean waves. Let our guides take you along beaten tracks and rural paths slotted between terraces, brimming with banana trees and sugar cane plantations landscapes coloured by sun-burned cliffs. We can observe signs of hundreds of channels that in the past, brought to surface the magma that formed this island.
Scents and Flavours
Duration: Aprox. 8 hours.
This tour begins with a small peregrination and you will feel blessed with the views you’ll have; take a deep breath and admire the terraces where the vines produce the fruit responsible for the nectar that throughout centuries have delighted admirers. Our guides will transport you back in time along the rural northeast coast, where almost nothing changed in the past 50 years. It’s indescribable what you will feel on the off-road tracks that wind through the dense Laurissilva forest all along the way; the scents, the sounds and the views will leave you dazzled.
Visit the typical and genuine Madeira houses and other relics from the past which today still work, like the water saw mill or the steam-powered rum factory. This is a trip that surely you will want to repeat.
Enchanted Terraces
Duration: Aprox. 8 hours.
Starting in Serra D’Água, the abrupt valley dividing the massif from the only plateau this island has, this tour takes you to the lush northwest, where waterfalls melt into the ocean and lava has been shaped into cerulean pools. Feel the adrenalin-adventure of exploring primitive back-roads surrounded by native forest. Add to these a walk alongside the famous man-made channels -called Levadas-with ravishing landscapes and for sure, you will have unforgettable moments.
