If you’re planning a trip to this beautiful place, surely you must be curious about the island. So here’s a speed date with Madeira, offering information about the main attractions, excursions, nature, walks, climate and weather. ABOUT MADEIRA Madeira is located in the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 1000 km from the Portuguese main land. The island is part of the Madeira Islands group, consisting of Madeira, Porto Santo and Desertas Islands. Of these three, Madeira, with a surface of 740 km2 is the largest. Madeira has around 277.000 inhabitants. They speak...

It is Rio de Janeiro’s best-known attraction: the statue of Christ the Redeemer. The world famous Christ statue is visited by more than a million (!) people each year. This statue is enormous: with its 30m height, it’s one of the largest Christ statues in the world. At this very moment, during the Rio Olympics, it’s also featured in a lot of news footage concerning the Olympics. MADEIRA'S CRISTO REI On Madeira, you’ll find Cristo Rei: a beautiful Christ statue which is lesser-known and visited than its Brazilian counterpart,...

I am so very sad to hear that Madeira is on fire…..again. The last few years, there have been several large fires on Madeira. In 2010, 2012, 2013 and now again, in 2016. During the 2010 fire, a large section of Funchal National Park was destroyed. The consequences of that fire are visible to this day.  This current fire is again very large. Madeira’s authorities even feared for the historic part of Fuchal. Funchals’ historic centre is surrounded by a large residential area. So if the fire is close...

Every time we visit Madeira I will look forward to seeing some local festivities somewhere on the island. Because Madeira decorations are the best! Since Madeira is quite big on festivities, I will often see the decorations I love somewhere. Lucky me. Most of the villages have their own religious celebrations. Besides the local festivities there are many national events in which the people of Madeira will decorate entire streets or towns. The amount of work going into decorating these villages is enormous! Dozens of people will slave (and...