Cornelius Amann
October 06, 2026
5/5
Madeira at a slower pace: Funchal, the North Coast and Calheta
8 easy-paced days on Madeira for travellers over 60, from three bases: Funchal with Monte and Câmara de Lobos, the north coast below Pico do Arieiro, and Calheta on the sunny south-west coast.
8 days · Round trip from Madeira Airport · up to 12 guests
Sunrise above the clouds from Pico do Arieiro, 1,818 m Photo: Bex Walton, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Watching_the_sunrise_at_Pico_do_Arieiro_(52893160405).jpg)
The facts
At a glance
- Length
- 8 days, 7 nights
- Start and end
- Round trip from Madeira Airport
- Group size
- 7 to 12 guests
- Longest drive
- 3 h on day 6No drive day is longer than 4 hours.
- Activity level
Easy
Easy pace for travellers over 60. About 2 to 4 km on foot a day, never more than 5, on paved town streets and short, level stretches of levada path, with a café, terrace or bench on every walk. Madeira is steep: where a place is uphill we use the vehicle or the cable car, and every walk has a sit-out option. One optional early start, for the Pico do Arieiro sunrise. No day has more than 3 hours of driving.
- Meals included
- 7 breakfasts, 6 lunches, 1 dinner
- Room of your own
- + CAD 600 (estimated price)
- Season
- May to October
Highlights
Why this trip
- Up to Monte by cable car, through the tropical garden and down by wicker toboggan
- Fishing boats in the harbour at Câmara de Lobos, then the glass-floored platform at Cabo Girão
- Pico do Arieiro by vehicle in the morning, with the sunrise there for anyone who wants it
- The level walk through laurel forest to the Balcões viewpoint
- Santana's thatched houses and a rum tasting in Porto da Cruz
- The lava-rock sea pools at Porto Moniz and the old til trees of Fanal
- Three bases, a lift in every hotel and a free afternoon every other day
What makes this trip different
Short drives, all published
Every drive is listed day by day, and none is longer than 4 hours.
Free time is part of the plan
Free time and choices are marked on the days they fall.
Solo without the penalty
A room of your own is + CAD 600 (estimated price).
Day by day
Itinerary
The longest drive is 3 h, on day 6.
Tap any stop on the map to open that dayClick any stop on the map to open that day
Arrive in Funchal
Madeira Airport to Funchal
- Welcome dinner
- Stay in Funchal
- Drive about 30 min
We meet you at Madeira Airport (FNC) in Santa Cruz, whatever time your flight lands, and drive about 30 minutes along the south coast to Funchal, the island's capital, where you spend the first three nights.
Afternoon
The rest of the afternoon is free to unpack, rest after the journey or take a slow stroll along the seafront promenade, which is flat, lined with benches and a short walk from the hotel.
Evening
In the early evening your guide meets the group in the hotel and talks through the week: how far we walk each day, where the seats and cafés are, which afternoons are free and how we read the mountain weather. Then we go together to a welcome dinner in the Old Town, by vehicle there and back, so the first evening asks nothing of your legs.
Included
- Pick-up at Madeira Airport (FNC)
- Welcome briefing at the hotel
- Welcome dinner in the Old Town
Free time: Afternoon free to settle in
Activity: Under 1 km on foot, on the level.
Monte by cable car, and Madeira wine
Funchal to Monte and back
- Breakfast and lunch
- Stay in Funchal
- Drive about 30 min
No early start.
Morning
After a relaxed breakfast our vehicle drops you at the cable car station by the seafront, and the cabin lifts you about 15 minutes up over the roofs and terraces to Monte, a hillside village above the city. The Monte Palace Tropical Garden fills a steep valley with plants from around the world, lakes and old tile panels; your guide leads the gentlest loop, with benches along the way, and the lower terraces are there for anyone who wants them. Then comes Monte's famous ride: a wicker toboggan, steered down the lanes by two drivers in white with straw hats. You sit the whole way. If you would rather not, ride the cable car back down with your guide to the Old Town station.
Afternoon
Our vehicle collects the toboggan riders at the bottom of the run and we all meet for lunch in the Old Town, then a seated tasting of Madeira wine at a wine lodge in the centre before an early return.
Included
- Cable car from Funchal to Monte
- Monte Palace Tropical Garden with your guide
- Wicker toboggan ride down from Monte
- Sit-down lunch in the Old Town
- Madeira wine tasting at a wine lodge in central Funchal
Easier option: Stay in the upper garden by the café while the group walks the lower terraces, and ride the cable car back down instead of the toboggan; your guide meets you at the Old Town station, a short level walk from lunch.
More active option: Walk the full garden, down to the lower lakes and back up.
Free time: Late afternoon free in Funchal
Activity: About 3 km on foot. The garden is on a slope with steps on the lower paths; getting into the low toboggan seat needs a hand from the drivers.
The market, Câmara de Lobos and Cabo Girão
Funchal to Câmara de Lobos and Cabo Girão, and back
- Breakfast and lunch
- Stay in Funchal
- Drive about 1 h
We begin at the Mercado dos Lavradores, Funchal's 1940s market hall with tile panels at the entrance, where stalls sell passion fruit, custard apples and the black scabbard fish landed overnight. Your guide shows you round the ground floor, and there is a café for anyone who would like to sit. Then it is a 20-minute drive west to Câmara de Lobos, a fishing village where brightly painted boats are pulled up on a small pebble beach below the houses. The harbour front is level and has benches, and Winston Churchill painted the bay from a terrace here in 1950. A few minutes further on, Cabo Girão rises about 580 m straight out of the sea, and its glass-floored platform, a short level walk from the car park, looks down on the terraced fields at the foot of the cliff.
Afternoon
Lunch is fish by the harbour, and you are back in Funchal by mid-afternoon.
Included
- Mercado dos Lavradores with your guide
- Câmara de Lobos harbour
- Cabo Girão skywalk
- Sit-down fish lunch in Câmara de Lobos
Optional experiences
- Whale and dolphin watching from Funchal marina
Easier option: Watch from the solid edge of the Cabo Girão platform rather than stepping onto the glass, and wait at the market café while the group finishes its walk.
More active option: Walk the Old Town's Rua de Santa Maria and its painted doors in the free afternoon.
Free time: Afternoon free in Funchal
Activity: About 2.5 km on foot, mostly level, with benches at the harbour and a café at Cabo Girão.
Pico do Arieiro and Balcões, on to the north coast
Funchal to Pico do Arieiro, Ribeiro Frio and Santana
- Breakfast and lunch
- Stay in Santana
- Drive about 2 h
Morning
We check out after breakfast, bags in the vehicle, and drive about 45 minutes up through the eucalyptus and the moorland to Pico do Arieiro, at 1,818 m the island's third highest peak. The road goes almost to the top; the summit viewpoint is a short walk from the car park, with the café terrace for anyone who prefers to stay level. On a clear day the jagged ridge to Pico Ruivo stands out above the clouds. If the summit is in cloud, we drive back up tomorrow morning instead; the walks keep their days and you sleep near Santana both nights either way. Then we drop 20 minutes to Ribeiro Frio, a hamlet with a trout farm in the laurel forest, and walk the level, wide path to the Balcões viewpoint, about 1.5 km each way, which looks across a deep valley to the peaks.
Afternoon
Lunch is trout at Ribeiro Frio, and we reach the north-coast hotel near Santana by late afternoon.
Included
- Pico do Arieiro by vehicle (day 5 morning instead if today is clouded)
- Guided walk to the Balcões viewpoint (PR11)
- Sit-down lunch in Ribeiro Frio
- Transfer to your north-coast hotel
- Trail fees
Easier option: Stay on the café terrace at Pico do Arieiro, and wait at the Ribeiro Frio café while the group walks to Balcões.
More active option: Walk a little way along the ridge path from Pico do Arieiro, where it is open, for the view down to the jagged peaks.
Activity: About 3.5 km on foot, mostly level. The summit is cold even in summer: bring a warm layer.
Santana, Queimadas and Porto da Cruz
Santana to Queimadas and Porto da Cruz, and back
- Breakfast and lunch
- Stay in Santana
- Drive about 1.5 h
For anyone who wants it, this is the week's one early start.
Morning
We leave about an hour and a quarter before sunrise for Pico do Arieiro, about 50 minutes away, to see the sun come up over the clouds, and are back for a late breakfast. The rest of the group sleeps in. Mid-morning we drive up to the Queimadas forest park, where the Levada do Caldeirão Verde sets off through the Laurisilva, the laurel forest that UNESCO lists as World Heritage. We walk the first level stretch of the channel, about 1 km out and back the same way, with picnic tables at the park; if the path is closed on your date, your guide swaps in another level stretch, checked before you travel. If yesterday's summit was clouded, everyone drives up again first, mid-morning.
Afternoon
Then we visit Santana's traditional thatched A-frame houses, painted white with red doors and blue trim, and drive down to Porto da Cruz for lunch and a visit to its sugar cane mill and rum distillery, with a tasting. You are back at the hotel by mid-afternoon.
Included
- Optional sunrise on Pico do Arieiro, with a packed breakfast
- Guided walk on the first stretch of the Levada do Caldeirão Verde (PR9)
- Santana's traditional houses
- Sit-down lunch in Porto da Cruz
- Rum distillery visit and tasting in Porto da Cruz
- Trail fees
Easier option: Skip the sunrise, and sit at the Queimadas picnic tables while the group walks the levada.
More active option: Join the sunrise, and walk a little further along the levada with the local guide.
Free time: Afternoon free on the north coast
Activity: About 3 km on foot. The levada path is level but narrow in places, with a railing on the drop side.
Porto Moniz and Fanal, to Calheta
Santana to Porto Moniz and Fanal, then Calheta
- Breakfast and lunch
- Stay in Calheta
- Drive about 3 h
Today moves you from the green north to the sunny south-west, and is the longest in the vehicle, about 2 hours 40 minutes in all, in three legs with long stops.
Morning
We leave after breakfast and follow the north coast west through tunnels and past waterfalls to Porto Moniz, at the island's north-west tip, about 1 hour 20 to 1 hour 30. Here the sea fills pools in the black lava rock; the main pool complex has steps and handrails into calm water, and the café terrace above is a fine place to watch the waves break on the rocks.
Afternoon
Lunch is by the sea. Then we climb 30 minutes to Fanal, an open, gently sloping pasture where centuries-old til trees stand among grazing cows, often in drifting mist, and the walking is on grass and short. A last 45 minutes across the Paul da Serra plateau brings us down to Calheta for two nights.
Included
- Porto Moniz sea pools, with entry for anyone who wants to swim
- Sit-down lunch in Porto Moniz
- Time among the til trees at Fanal
- Transfer to your Calheta hotel
Easier option: Stay on the terrace at Porto Moniz, and watch Fanal from beside the vehicle.
More active option: Swim in the Porto Moniz pools, in season.
Free time: Evening free in Calheta
Activity: About 2 km on foot, on paved promenades and open grass.
The Risco waterfall and a Calheta afternoon
Calheta to Rabaçal and back
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner
- Stay in Calheta
- Drive about 1.5 h
A short drive of about 40 minutes takes us up to Rabaçal on the edge of the Paul da Serra plateau. Rather than walk the steep road down to the forest house, we ride the small minibus that runs down it, then follow the Levada do Risco, a nearly level path through the laurel forest, for about 1.5 km to a viewpoint where the Risco waterfall pours off a high cliff into the valley. We walk back the same way and ride the minibus up. If the minibus is not running or the path is closed on your date, your guide swaps in another level stretch of levada on the plateau, checked before you travel.
Afternoon
We are back in Calheta for lunch near the marina, and the afternoon is yours: the small sandy beach and its calm water, a slow coffee or the Mudas art centre on the hill.
Evening
We end the week with a farewell dinner.
Included
- Minibus down and up the Rabaçal road, when it runs
- Guided walk on the Levada do Risco (PR6.1) to the waterfall
- Sit-down lunch in Calheta
- Farewell dinner
- Trail fees
Easier option: Stay at the forest house tables at Rabaçal while the group walks to the waterfall.
Free time: Afternoon free in Calheta
Activity: About 3.5 km on foot, nearly level and shaded, on a path that is narrow in places.
Departure
Calheta to Madeira Airport
- Breakfast
- Drive about 1 h
Morning
Your last morning is free and unhurried. There may be time for a final walk along the Calheta seafront, a swim in the sheltered beach by the marina or a coffee in the sun, depending on your flight time.
Evening
Your guide checks your flight with you the evening before and sets the departure from the hotel to suit. We drive you about 55 minutes along the south coast on the fast road, past Ribeira Brava and Funchal, to Madeira Airport in Santa Cruz, whose runway is partly built out over the sea on tall columns. For a flight before noon we leave right after breakfast; if your flight is late in the day, ask your guide about keeping your room or leaving bags at the hotel. Allow two hours at the airport for international flights.
Included
- Drop-off at Madeira Airport (FNC)
Free time: Free morning, depending on your flight time
- Madeira Airportstart
- Funchal3 nights
- Santana2 nights
- Calheta2 nights
- Madeira Airportend
- Overnight stop
- Day trip
- By boat or train
Wildlife and weather: Madeira is mild all year, warmest from July to September. The south coast around Funchal and Calheta is the sunniest; the north and the mountains are cooler, greener and more often in cloud.
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Before you book
Right for you?
Good for you if you want
- Travellers over 60 who want Madeira's mountains, forests and coast without long hikes or early calls
- Anyone who wants to walk a little, sit often and unpack only three times
- Couples and friends who like a long lunch and a free afternoon
- Solo travellers who want company at lunch and a fair single price
Not for you if you want
- Wheelchair and scooter users: Madeira is steep and many paths and pools are not step-free
- Walkers who want the long levadas and the summit-to-summit ridge; see our Madeira walking trip
- Anyone uneasy on a narrow, railed path beside a drop, even for a short stretch
Book flights after we confirm your seat.
7 nights
Where you'll stay
Your hotels are named in your trip confirmation.
- Funchal3 nights
- Santana2 nights
- Calheta2 nights
One price
What's in the price
Included
Accommodation
- 7 nights in central, air-conditioned 3-star-plus hotels with lifts: 3 in Funchal, 2 on the north coast near Santana, 2 in Calheta
- Rooms shared, or your own for a supplement
Transport
- Pick-up and drop-off at Madeira Airport (FNC)
- A private air-conditioned vehicle and driver for every transfer, with your bags
- Cable car from Funchal to Monte
- The Rabaçal minibus, when it runs
Your guide
- A See Sight Tours guide for the whole trip, with local guides on the forest walks
Activities
- Funchal: Monte Palace Tropical Garden, the wicker toboggan, the Mercado dos Lavradores and a Madeira wine tasting
- Câmara de Lobos harbour and the Cabo Girão skywalk
- Pico do Arieiro by vehicle, with an optional sunrise
- Guided level walks to Balcões, on the Levada do Caldeirão Verde and on the Levada do Risco
- Santana's traditional houses
- Rum distillery visit and tasting in Porto da Cruz
- Porto Moniz sea pools and Fanal
- Trail fees on every marked path
Meals
- 7 breakfasts
- Packed breakfast on the sunrise morning
- 6 sit-down lunches: Funchal, Câmara de Lobos, Ribeiro Frio, Porto da Cruz, Porto Moniz and Calheta
- Welcome dinner and farewell dinner
Not included
- International flights to and from Madeira
- Visa, if your passport needs one
- Travel insurance
- Lunch on day 1 and dinners other than the welcome and farewell dinners
- Drinks beyond the two tastings
- Whale and dolphin watching and other optional activities
- Tips
- Personal expenses
- Funchal tourist tax, where charged
Extras
- Room of your own
- CAD 600 (estimated price)
When you can go
Dates and prices
Pick your start date when you request to book. We check that date and confirm it in your quote.
Prefer to travel without a group or guide? Ask us about arranging hotels, transport and city tours for you to travel independently.
Before you book
Booking terms
Nothing is charged now. Full terms and the cancellation schedule come with your quote, before you accept.
Business addresses
See Sight Tours Trips (USA): 3172 N Rainbow Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89108, United StatesSee Sight Tours Trips (Canada): 5305 50 Avenue, #1091, Red Deer, AB T4N 4B6, Canada+1-888-961-6584Guest reviews
What guests say
Reviews from guests on our day tours.
Jane
October 06, 2026
5/5
Susan
October 06, 2026
5/5
Tom L
October 05, 2026
5/5
MandL83
October 05, 2026
5/5
Darren O
October 05, 2026
5/5
Good to know
Questions
How much walking is there on the slower Madeira trip?
About 2 to 4 km a day, never more than 5, on town streets and short, level stretches of levada path, with a café, terrace or bench on each walk. The uphill parts are done by vehicle or cable car. Every walk has a sit-out option, and your guide sets the pace.
Is this trip suitable if I use a walking stick?
Yes, if you can manage about an hour on your feet at a time with breaks. It is not step-free: Madeira is steep, with cobbles, kerbs and some steps at the garden and the pools. If you use a wheelchair or scooter, ask us before booking so we can tell you honestly what will work.
Are there early starts?
Only one, and it is optional. On day 5 anyone who wants to see the sunrise from Pico do Arieiro leaves about an hour and a quarter before dawn and is back for breakfast. Everyone visits the summit by vehicle mid-morning on day 4, or on day 5 if day 4 is clouded, and no other day starts before breakfast.
What does the price include?
Seven nights in hotels with lifts and breakfast, airport transfers, a private vehicle and driver, your See Sight Tours guide with local guides on the forest walks, the Monte cable car, garden and toboggan, Cabo Girão, a wine and a rum tasting, Porto Moniz, trail fees, six lunches and two dinners.
How big is the group?
The small-group trip runs with 7 to 12 guests. That means one table at lunch, everyone close enough to hear the guide, and a vehicle that stops near the door instead of a coach park.
Who leads the trip?
A See Sight Tours guide travels with the group from the airport pick-up to the drop-off and looks after the pace, the bags and the tickets. A local guide joins us for the forest walks at Balcões, Queimadas and Rabaçal.
I am travelling solo. What does a single room cost?
A room of your own is from CAD 600 more for the whole trip, and it is a real room with its own bathroom. Solo travellers are welcome at every meal. If you would rather share, tell us when you book and we will try to pair you with another solo guest, on request only and not guaranteed.
What are the hotels like?
Central, air-conditioned hotels of at least 3-star-plus standard, each with a lift to every guest floor and, where we can, a walk-in shower. Three nights in Funchal, two on the north coast and two in Calheta. We name each hotel when we confirm your dates.
When is the best time to go?
May to October usually brings the driest weather and the longest days. Madeira is mild all year, but the mountains are cooler and more often in cloud, especially in winter. Bring a warm layer for Pico do Arieiro in any month.
How does booking work?
Pick a departure and send a request to book. We check availability and provide the final quote, itinerary and booking terms before you accept. No payment is taken when you send the request. The small group starts from CAD 3,325 per person sharing, taxes included.
Can I do this trip on my own dates?
Yes, as a private trip for your party only, on a date you choose, at the same gentle pace. If you would rather travel independently on your own dates, ask us from the dates section for a quote on the same hotels and transfers, without a group or tour leader.
Do I need a visa for Madeira?
Madeira is part of Portugal and the Schengen area. Canadian, US, UK and Australian passport holders do not need a visa for stays of up to 90 days. The EU's ETIAS travel authorisation is not yet in operation; we tell you at booking if it applies to your trip.
See Sight Tours has been providing travel services across North America since 2006. Operating in 20 cities across Canada and the USA, the company specializes in small group tours that offer personalized, high-quality experiences for travelers.
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