Driving in Madeira: Road Trip to Western Madeira

This post will show you a road trip to Western Madeira along good Madeira roads and through many tunnels. Madeira’s west is very much worth visiting. It’s a dramatic area with high sea cliffs and terraced banana plantations on mountainsides.

West Madeira is a less touristic area and has always been hard to reach – until the new Via Rapida motorway with all its tunnels were built.

In cooperation with: Savoy Saccharum Resort & Spa

Driving in Madeira is easy so why not go ahead, rent a car and drive west! I will show you how and where.

Road trip to Western Madeira, driving through tunnels

We used the new tunnel road but also took smaller byways, first heading to Camara de Lobos and Cabo Girao. We made Calheta the base for our West Madeira road trip which was a good idea. From Calheta we went on to Ponta do Pargo in the far west and Porto Moniz in the far north.

This post will show you our road trip. I will tell you what there is to see and I have also put our West Madeira driving itinerary on the map.

Road Trip to Western Madeira on the Map

We took the old coastal road from Funchal and then followed the coast all around the western part of the flower island. We also saw half of the north coast, returning south straight though the island using the new Encumeada tunnel.

Map of our West Madeira road trip

From Ribeira Brava in the south we once more returned to our base Calheta but the Encumeada tunnel also is the straightest road back to Funchal from Madeira’s north. Yet, if your time allows, you can also take the old Encumeada pass road in stead of the tunnel – and you will see even more of the island.

We spent a few days on this trip, driving slowly, stopping a lot and walking in between.  But you can make this trip as a day trip from Funchal as well.

So our first stop was Camara de Lobos which is just a short drive from Funchal.

Camara de Lobos

Road trip to Western Madeira: Camara de Lobos

This is Camara de Lobos, a pretty fishing village just a short drive from Funchal.

The many brightly painted fishing boats drawn up on the pebbles tell that Camara de Lobos is a real, living fishing village. It really is that as most of Madeira’s 800 fishermen live and work in Camara de Lobos.

Camara de Lobos fishing boats, Madeira

Each night they leave their harbourside houses and work all night to catch espada. Espada is scabbard fish in English and appears on every restaurant menu on Madeira. Espada is a boneless fish and mostly eaten with good local bananas.

The bananas, too, come from this same area. Bananas are grown on terraced fields all over the south coast of Madeira. Here you can see Camara de Lobos banana plantations and hillside homes.

Camara de Lobos homes and banana plantations

And this is the view when entering Camara de Lobos along the old coastal road. Bananas again, and the high cliffs of Cabo Girao at distance.

Camara de Lobos and Cabo Girao

Camara de Lobos has a cluster of nice harbourside cafes and bars where you can sit outside and catch Madeira’s warm afternoon sun. Despite many visitors Camara de Lobos still is and looks like an original fishing village.

Fishermen’s chapel, Camara de Lobos

Camara de Lobos ffishermen still have their tiny chapel where you can step in and learn about their hard life. Storms, shipwrecks and drownings decorate the chapel’s wall paintings.

But these families are happy people, I know it. I was dancing on the street with fishermen’s wives at night after the Cantar os Reis party. That was in Funchal. Such wonderful people they are!

Driving in Madeira: Camara de Lobos

Towards Cabo Girao

Road trip to Western Madeira: driving on Madeira roads

But we were on the way to West Madeira and it was time to drive on. And as we often do also here we took the small roads since they give you so much more. Driving on these side roads was slow but never mind, we stopped all the time and took photos and admired Madeira views. Look at the scenery!

If you are making West Madeira as a day trip, skip Camara de Lobos and Cabo Girao and go there another day.

Madeira south coast from the car

Bananas grow up to the height of 300 m after which it’s more vineyards. In the winter vines look like this:

Madeira vineyards

Hilly terrain on the way to Madeira’s west coast

On the small roads we partly followed miradouro (lookout) road signs and partly used Google maps offline for navigation – and then quite unexpectedly we happened to find a cable car station. This one:

Cabo Girao Teleferico

A roadside miradouro of Cabo Girao

It was cool and windy since we were already more than half way up the Cabo de Girao cliff.

The scenery was almost frightening and looking down I had to wonder why any people want to live and grow the land down on the base of this steep cliff! It’s so hard to get home if you live down there. Probably the cable car is the way for them to get to the nearest village?

Cabo Girao cable car

So the teleferico takes you down… to this place. I don’t believe my eyes! There is abeautiful farmhouse!

Cabo Girao farmhouse by the ocean

This is the view towards the direction we came from, towards Camara de Lobos. The Funchal hotel zone is almost right beyond it. So we haven’t got far away from Funchal yet, today is a day of slow travel.

Madeira south coast from Cabo Girao teleferico station

There was a restaurant with stunning views, and since this looked like a little village centre they of course also had a nativity stable here. Every village and almost every restaurant on Madeira has that for Christmas.

Nativity stable close to Cabo Girao, Madeira

From the Teleferico we had to return along the same road we had taken to get  here, but only up to the next miradouro sign, this time pointing to Cabo Girao.

The roads here had lots of curves but they were not particularly narrow or difficult to drive on. There are no problems at all with driving on Madeira roads, if you can drive a car at home you can do it here as well.

Cabo Girao 580 m

Cabo Girao lookout at 580 m

So this is the next miradouro, a glass-floored lookout more than half a kilometre above the ocean! And it’s not only glass, on both sides of the glass the floor is – like this:

Cabo Girao lookout floor

The airy floor lets you see the sheer drop below you, a drop of almost 600 m! If the teleferico lookout was frightening, this one was that even more.

But the place was not only frightening, it was very interesting as well. You could see terraces for vines and vegetables directly on the cliff face and very very narrow paths carved on the cliff side since. As there must be a way to get to those terraces.

Road trip in Madeira: the glass floor of Cabo Girao

So from now on I understand why it’s said the Madeirans use every single patch of land they have. But why do they have to grow plants exactly here? – They say the cliff side is a good and warm place for plants.

Steep drop from Cape Girao, Madeira

It was so cold up here that we had to get our down jackets from the car. One more look downwards from the cape that is the second highest sea cliff in all Europe. Then we have to get down to warmer climate zones.

Atlantic waves at Cabo Girao, Madeira

Via Rapida

This is west of Cabo Girao, beautiful terraced landscape where not only bananas but also other fruits like papayas and avocado grow.

Driving from Cabo Girao to Ribeira Brava

After some dozens of curves and bends we now decided to take the big main road that you can see down here. When the new motorway Via Rapida was opened for traffic it really cut driving time to Western Madeira.

Today you can reach Calheta in half an hour from Funchal which saves you a lot of time compared to taking the winding roads like the one we just took.

Via Rapida to West Madeira

Of course building a motorway in Madeira requires that you make tunnels, a lot of them. There are tunnels everywhere, some of them some only hundred metres and others 2 to 3 km long. Here is one of the tunnels:

Driving on Madeira roads: a Via Rapida tunnel

The tunnel leads to Ponta do Sol that is located in a deep valley, tight between two tunnel openings.

Ponta do Sol

Road trip to Western Madeira: Ponta do Sol on the south coast

A sign tells that Ponta do Sol is Madeira’s Christmas village, that’s why they have added that much decoration.

Ponta do Sol means Sun Point. Unlike other coastal villages Ponta do Sol gets sun all day long. Since Madeira mountains are so high most other villages remain parts of the day in shadow but Ponta do Sol is different. It has a more favourable location.

We came to Ponta do Sol for the sunset and in fact you should stay here until dark and see all the Christmas lights.

Ponta do Sol Christmas decoration

To see the village we parked above it and took the cobbled street down to the dark (almost black) pebble beach. The street is full of bars and cafes and a great place to spend time in.

Madeira by car: Ponta do Sol main street

Walking in Ponta do Sol, Madeira

The village church is named the Church of the Lady of the Light and has a pretty square in front of it.

Church of the Lady of the Light

The village shore has a row of beachfront buildings. We thought they look like hotels but didn’t see any hotel signs. Maybe holiday rentals? This must be a nice place to stay at, and it is not a long way to Funchal if you need city life.

Ponta do Sol ocean shore

The village of Ponta do Sol is located in a very narrow valley, both higher up by the main road and at seafront. It literally is between two tunnels.

The beach itself is very rough here, but there should be better beaches in Calheta.. We went on..

Calheta

Road trip in Madeira: Calheta

Calheta looks a bit like Ponta do Sol but has a sandy beach, imported from Sahara. And some seafront hotels and a marina with restaurants.

This was going to be our base in Western Madeira. It was getting dark soon so we went to look for our hotel.

Views of Calheta, Madeira

We were driving up and down the seafront boulevard and here, too, found a Nativity Scene, this time a big one. Then we found our hotel. the Savoy Saccharum Hotel at the end of the boulevard.

Calheta Christmas in Madeira

Our Hotel in Calheta

Hotel in the mountain wall: Savoy Saccharum, Calheta

This hotel sits in the mountain wall and overlooks the sea, and there is a private beach right opposite to it. The imported beach, too, is at a short walking distance. In a way I really like this view with old houses next to the hotel. What a contrast!

Madeira road trip: time to find accommodation

Calheta is a sugar cane area and the hotel had used sugar cane and local building elements in its interior decoration.

We got a sea view room with sugar cane wallpaper! And there was a lot of space to sleep for t he two of us, the bed was 200 cm wide.

Driving in Madeira: our Calheta hotel room

Some views of our room and from the balcony:

Calheta, Madeira: oom and balcony views

Our Calheta Hotel Infinity Pool

We felt very hungry at this point but it really wasn’t dinner time yet. So the first thing we wanted after all driving was to try the infinity pool that was on the 8th floor..

Evening by our Calheta infinity pool

Amazing! I took a refreshing dip in the super cool water, almost too cold to swim. But I did it! Swimming towards the sea I was looking at ocean views and turning back it was rock views.

Infinity pool ocean views, Savoy Sacccharum, Calheta

Trying the Indoor Pool

Afterwards we tried the heated indoor pool. Here the water temperature was pleasant and there were ocean views as well. What a wonderful base for touring Western Madeira we have! So peaceful and balanced, yet knowing that there are so many other hotel guests. And we are so centrally located to the area!

Enjoying the indoor pool after a day’s drive

The pool area was dark in colour and ultra modern like the whole hotel. A great idea was to use old water pipes in places as interior decoration. Never seen anything like that!

Downstairs we found an exhibition on sugar cane farming and industry. And here, too, building materials were used as decoration.

Savoy Saccharum interiors, Calheta

The staff recommended we should dine in the hotel’s a la carte restaurant so we did that

The dinner was very good and as I asked about the wines the waiter gave us a presentation on Madeira wines. And as we are not good in taking selfies he helped us and took this photo of us two at dinner table.

Dining in a Calheta restaurant: Savoy Saccharum

We had an after dinner drink at the lobby bar and what did we find again, a Portuguese nativity scene!

Calheta Christmas decoration

Then the next morning the first thing we met in the breakfast room was – water pipes!

Breakfast room: water pipes and local dishes

After the breakfast that also contained local dishes we were ready for a walking day. And after the walk which I will now tell about, we once more used the infinity pool on the roof.

But anyway, for us, Savoy Saccharum was a peaceful place to come back to and relax after the days’ activities and we liked the hotel a lot. For more information on the hotel here is their website:

Savoy Saccharum Resort & Spa

Walking in Calheta

Driving in Madeira: exploring Calheta on foot

So we had a walking day. We knew there were levadas higher up in the area of Rabacal, with both short and long levada walks.

But as we didn’t want to sit in the car today we started walking along the winding walkway straight up from the hotel and walked on small side roads up on the Calheta hills.

Walking up to Calheta hills

It was residential and farming area with vineyards and banana and sugar cane plantations between the houses. This residential area is a beautiful one and sea and mountain views from Calheta hills were great all way long.

Walking on Calheta hills

Calheta Bananas

Below you can have a closer look at Madeira bananas. This small and very tasty banana variety is called Musa acuminata and it has been grown on the island since the 16th century.

Tasty Madeira bananas

These village  homes are like in a sea of banana plants and there’s no space for anything else. Banana production is one of the island’s main industries and they export a huge amount of bananas to mainland Portugal while the rest is consumed locally.

Banana plantations of Calheta

Sugar Cane

The other main farming product in Calheta is sugar cane that we already met signs of at the hotel. Sugar cane has been grown in this region since the 15th century when Madeira’s early settlers built the first terraced fields for sugar cane on hillsides.

They also built Levadas for carrying mountain water to sugar cane fields and they even imported slaves from Africa when more labour force was needed to grow cane.

Calheta sugar cane, Madeira

Later on a sugar mill was built and Calheta became the centre of cane production of Madeira. Above you can see some sugar cane.

Vineyards

In addition there are vineyards. This is what terraced Calheta vineyards look like in winter. Like elsewhere Madeira vines get autumn colours and drop their leaves for the winter.

Road trip in Western Madeira: Calheta vines in winter

Calheta Village Centre

It was great fun to walk on the hills and see the pretty village of Calheta from above.

On the opposite side of the valley there is the modern Centro de Artes das Mudas, a cultural centre with contemporary art exhibitions.

Centro de Artes das Mudas, Calheta, Madeira

And here you can see the man-made Calheta beach, well protected from the rough sea. The other photos show you some typical house roof details.

West Madeira: Calheta beach and red roofs

And here is the beach again, and a house roof covered by flowers.

The sandy beach of Calheta, Madeira

This is the village centre of Calheta. A river (that you don’t really see on the photo) is running through the village and there is a tiny square with a fountain, and a pretty church, Igreja Matriz from 1430 with a fine painted wooden ceiling.

The village centre is really small but there are some cobbled streets to walk along.

West Madeira by car: the village of Calheta

Engenhos da Calheta

Engenhos da Calheta sugar factory

And there is a sugar mill, Engenhos da Calheta. It’s one of the two sugar factories that still remain on the island. This kind of factories were needed when the demand for sugar increased in Europe as a result of a raised standard of living.

Today Engenhos da Calheta distills sugar cane syrup into rum. The factory is open to visitors so you can see and taste the product.

Calheta sugar mills from the mountains

Calheta Seafront

These photos show the Calheta seafront: our hotel beach and Calheta marina. In addition to restaurants there are companies offering whale and dolphin tours to the ocean.

Our Calheta hotel beach

Whales can be seen at certain times of the year but dolphins are in these waters all year round.

A fisherman I was talking to told me you can even swim with dolphins but not in the spring when they have babies. At that time dolphin mothers defend their babies and are everything else than friendly towards people.

Calheta harbour in the west of Madeira 

On the next day it was time to continue our Western Madeira road trip so we headed west, first to the next village Jardim do Mar.

Jardim do Mar

Steep walkway in Jardim do Mar, Madeira

Jardim do Mar, “Garden of the Sea” is a village were old footpaths to different directions start. Here you can see a walkway going uphill to the mountains.

Walking in Madeira: footpath up from Jardim do Mar

In the village the walkways have a beautiful stone pavement. The village is a big maze of narrow walkways, too narrow to get into with a car and sometimes even almost too narrow to walk.

Madeira village walk along narrow walkways

So you have to leave your car outside the village.

You can walk down to the seafront where they have built a wide pedestrian street. From the promenade you have a nice view towards the sea, the steep sea cliffs and the next village Paul do Mar.

Jardim do Mar oceanfront promenade in West Madeira

There is a hidden alley to the ocean shore what starts in the village centre, right below this church.

Church of Jardim do Mar

Some more views of Jardim do Mar before moving on.

Madeira nature at Jardim do Mar

Road Trip in Madeira: Driving Further West

West Madeira is a dramatic area. There are plateaus that drop straight down to the sea, green hillsides with roads carved in the hillside and isolated seaside villages. This is Paul do Mar seen from the surrounding cliffs.

The village Paul do Mar in West Madeira

This part of the island doesn’t have any motorways so driving takes more time. But there’s no hurry, we are on holiday.

Driving in Madeira: Portuguese road signs

You have to be careful in the curves but otherwise the road is very easy to drive. At least there’s not much traffic you would have to meet in curves. You partly drive in eucalyptus forest and partly in an open landscape.

Open mountain landscape of West Madeira

Ponta do Pargo Lighthouse

The lighthouse of Ponta do Pargo

Ponta do Pargo means “Dolphin Point” but the name doesn’t come from dolphins, it comes from dolphin fish that fishermen catch in these seas.

This is the westernmost point of Madeira and there is a lighthouse that has an exhibition about that. In fact the exhibition tells about all lighthouses on Madeira.

Ponta do Pargo lookout

There are two lookouts (miradouros), the lighthouse lookout and another one from where you can walk along the headland back  to the lighthouse. This photo is from this other miradouro:

View from the Ponta do Pargo miradouro

And this is from the lighthouse. The headland is on high sea cliffs that drop straight down to the sea. Can you bear to look down?

The westernmost point of Madeira

I’m sure these men really don’t understand where they are. Look at them!

Two men standing at the edge of a steep cliff

This view is from Ponta do Pargo lighthouse towards north. Can you see that the extremely steep cliffs are terraced in some places? That means somebody is growing something in those patches…

Drive to West Maderia: terraced cliffs of Ponta do Pargo

Ponta do Pargo was the first place on Madeira where we saw levada signs – really. There is a long levada walk from here that goes all the way to Calheta.

But where are all other levada road signs and why didn’t we see any? Where are Madeira’s levada walking routes?

Porto Moniz

The furthest end of Madeira: Porto Moniz and its saltwater pools

Porto Moniz at the northwestern tip of Madeira is as far as you can get on the island. The village is famous for its natural rock pools and of course we, too wanted to see these pools.

But compared to the south coast the weather was very cold up here so absolutely nobody was swimming and we had no use for our swimsuits. What we needed hear was our down jackets.

Rock pools of Porto Moniz

It would be fun to swim here though. They have built concrete paths and stairs in between the volcanic rocks so it’s easy to get to the pools.

Road trip to Western Madeira: visiting the rock pools of Porto Moniz

The ocean is mostly too rough for swimming purposes so this is a wonderful way to enjoy the ocean waters. The rock pool water is warmer than the sea and it is calm –  and they say you will get natural showers from the waves as they break against the rocks.

But not today… there’s no need for cooling showers today.

North cost of Madeira

The village itself has an upper and a lower part of which the lower part is very touristic. You can see the upper part here:

The upper village of Porto Moniz

Tourists found Porto Moniz after the new road with tunnels was built. Before that the area was isolated and if I understood right people lived here without having any electricity.

Driving in Madeira: returning from the west along the north coast

Back to Calheta

As you can see it was getting dark and to get back to Calheta, we decided to take the direct tunnel road via Seixal and Sao Vicente and then through the Encumeada tunnel, down to Ribeira Brava. The driving time back to Calheta was about an hour.

At dark there’s no difference if you drive in a tunnel or not. You won’t see anything anyway.

A Madeira north coast tunnel

I hope you liked the scenery in Western Madeira as much as I do, and that the information I shared about the area is useful to you. If not, what more would you like to know about Madeira’s Wild West?

Our stay in Calheta, Madeira was supported by Savoy Saccharum Resort & Spa, but like always, opinions expressed in this blog post are my own.

More on Madeira Travel

You might also be interested in my other posts on Madeira, the flower island:

• Madeira: Exploring Funchal Sights
• Santana Day Trip from Funchal
• Day Trip from Funchal: Curral das Freiras

For more information on Madeira you can also check out the official website of Madeira Tourism:

• Visit Madeira website