9th June 2025

Hi

I had two main reasons for visiting Madeira. Firstly, I had never visited it and secondly, because it is a scuba diving destination. Additionally, it's part of Portugal, which I've visited four times in the last decade and it continues to grow on me as a country which is beautiful, interesting, welcoming and better value than most major European countries.

In summary, I spent three days diving from Santa Cruz and two days sightseeing in Funchal, the main city. I'm just going to divide the blog up into the two sections, rather than give a day by day narrative as usual.

Firstly, let me give some basic information on travel and locations. I booked with Regaldive, who I've used for scuba trips over the years and left Glasgow on Monday 2nd June for the three hours 45 minutes flight to Madeira. Both flights were with Jet2 so no problems experienced. I stayed at the Santa Cruz Village Hotel, which is about 40 minutes by bus east from the main city Funchal. Santa Cruz is a small village and the diving centre FocusNatura, was less than fifteen minutes from the hotel. An added bonus for me was that Santa Cruz is literally where the airport is located so my transfer was about ten minutes. The Santa Cruz Village Hotel is modern, the rooms are nice and it has a good swimming pool with no piped music. The staff are very helpful and the breakfasts are exceptionally good. I ate there once of an evening and was not disappointed.

Scuba diving

I booked three days diving and used Focusnatura who are based down at the front in Santa Cruz. I hired equipment and it was of a good standard. We went out on a rib from about 0930 to 1300 each day for the two dives. There were usually around four divers on board plus three staff. We were well looked after. Sara and Hugo were professional and very sensitive to the varying experience of the different divers. I have given them a five star review on Trip Advisor.

Madeira has all year round diving which I was not aware of. The visibility was good and there is a lot to see beneath the waves. Hugo took a number of videos which I acquired and I thank him for his skill in taking these. I hope to have the videos up on the Video section of this site in due course, but in the meantime I have taken stills from the videos and there is a good selection in my photos section. A highlight for me was a giant ray. I haven't seen one that big since 2006 in Thailand. I could list other wonderful sights but will let the photos do the talking.

Exploring Funchal

After my diving I only had two days to explore and decided to target Funchal, as friends had highlighted a number of things to do there. Like nearly all of the parts of Madeira I saw, Funchal rises very quickly up from the sea into steep hills. All the various parts of the south coast I was based in seemed similar so a bus ride along the coast will take you often very slowly around lots of hairpin bends as it drops into the various villages. There is a major road but working out the express buses was not a skill I mastered in my short time there.

Anyway, on arrival in Funchal I visited the tourist information centre. I was issued with a good map and lot of helpful information. The major site I had targeted was the Jardim Monte Palace, which is up above the city and accessed by cable car. As the day was dull and the cloud down on the hill, I decided to concentrate on the centre of Funchal, based on recommendations from the tourist office. I started in the narrow streets of the Old Town with its many individually painted doors. Very colourful. Please see the photos. Heading further east I came Forte de Sao Tiago. Constructed in the early 17th century, the fort was built to protect the island against pirate attacks and foreign invasions. The fort is a bit tatty but gave me good views over the frontage of Funchal. I then did a bit of walking around the centre and checked out some of the municipal buildings and churches, including the Cathedral. I took in a modern art exhibition in the IVBam Museum. Needless to say here are endless shops and restaurants which will have to wait for a return visit, although I think I would be skipping the Ronaldo Museum. Towards the west of the city along the front is Parkque Santa Caterina, which is elevated and gives good views over the seafront.

On my second day I took the cable car up to Jardim Monte Palace. It is E20 return to take the cable car up but if cable cars are not your bag you can also get the 20 or 21 bus up. Admission to the gardens is E14. The gardens are extensive, beautiful and you would need at least two hours to get around. I'm afraid the day was dull again but I have had to do the best I could for photos. I'm happy to receive any information from my readers which would help me to annotate the pictures of the plants. One travel tip is not to go up the cable car on a Saturday as I did. It is mobbed with people off on the weekend.

To be honest I was running out of steam for sightseeing so pretty much had to call it a day at that. The one thing I regret was that I didn't visit Camara de Lobos which is just west of Funchal and has associations with Winston Churchill, who apparently used to paint there.

Santa Cruz

Smaller villages on islands seem to suit me better than hitting the main population centre as I found with Skiathos last month. From my hotel in Santa Cruz I walked less than ten minutes and was in the heart of the village, with plenty options for restaurants and cafes. I ate in Santa Cruz every evening, apart from one excursion to Macchico which is further east. I can honestly say that I didn't have a bad meal. Walking along the promenade is nice and if it's your bag a short walk up to the airport will let you see planes land up close on a tight runway. There is a small market where the fish displays are spectacular

Other reflections

In line with my previous experiences of Portugal food is cheap, the portions are huge and the seafood well worth experimenting with. I tried the black scabbard fish with banana which is a local delicacy. Not everyone's cup of tea. A bit sickly but the fish flesh is very tasty. The wine is Portuguese so of a high standard.

This trip was very much non-standard for a visit to Madeira as it was based around scuba diving. Consequently I've not done justice to Funchal, never mind the rest of the island with its walks and peaks to be conquered, plus exploration of the northern coastline. A return trip could well be added to my list.

As always I hope you enjoy the photos. Thanks again especially to Hugo Silva at Focusnatura for the underwater shots. Please check out the video section as I hope to load up some videos of the diving onto it.

Best wishes

Murdo