When planning our summer trip to Spain & Portugal, we considered spending a few days on the island of Madeira which has become popular retirement haven for Americans and Europeans alike. The island boasts a terrific year-round climate with average night-time lows in the 50’s and daytime highs rarely above 80. Madeira has extensive natural beauty and a supposedly “exceptional” quality of life being referred to as the land of eternal spring and the European equivalent of Hawaii with a cost of living much less than most of the US and mainland Europe. In addition to being a popular and affordable travel and retirement destination, Madeira has become quite popular with adventure sports enthusiasts with its’ extensive network of Levada trails, great diving and wind surfing, paragliding, and some of the most epic mountain hiking trails in the world. Enough said – we decided to carve out a 4 night-5 day visit to the island as part of our summer trip.
We flew from Lisbon arriving early on Tuesday August 13th and were pleasantly surprised when our Airbnb host allowed us to check in shortly after 9am. We had a wonderful studio apartment in the capital city of Funchal just a few blocks from the market, the beach, and the heart of the historic city. We took a cable car ride up to a high point overlooking the city and walked around a bit getting the lay of the land, did the obligatory trip to the panaderia and the grocery store, and arranged a motorcycle rental so we could explore other parts of the island and get to the remote trails.
On our second day we chose an urban trek in the morning and took a motorcycle ride to the village of Seixal on the opposite side of the island in the afternoon. On the way to Seixal, we noticed a small fire burning in the center of the island just before we crested the summit and initially thought it was a controlled burn. The road passed through a long tunnel and it was raining when we came out the other side – enough so that we turned back before reaching Seixal. We passed back through the tunnel and came out on the dry and windy side with the fire still burning but it was being tended to and appeared under control. We returned to Funchal and enjoyed a simple but exceptional dinner and drinks at a popular locals hangout called Lido’s Tavern and turned in early to prepare for our next day.
On day 3, Brenda opted for a Levada Hike near Funchal while I set out early to catch the sunrise at the viewpoint from Pico do Ariero before starting a day long hike to the summit of Pico Ruivo – the highest peak on the island and all of Portugal at 6106’ above sea level. The sunrise was spectacular but there must have been at least 500 people at the viewpoint to witness it. Thankfully I had a motorcycle and was easily able to bypass the multitude of parked cars nearly blocking the narrow roadway extending at least a mile below the viewpoint. After enjoying one of the most stunning sunrises I’ve ever seen, I set out on the trail from summit to summit thinking not many of the people at the view point would attempt the challenging hike but, apparently, I’d mistaken – I found myself among at least 200 people starting the hike – all at the same time! The first couple miles were quite miserable. Many of the people that started the hike found themselves in over their heads physically or mentally and I’m guessing at least half of them turned around within the first mile which made things even worse for those of us trying to proceed. After a mile or two, the crowd finally dispersed a little but the trail remained quite crowded. I had to wrestle with my expectations as I’ve become accustomed to more serene experiences with nature but, once I reset, I began to truly absorb and appreciate the experience. The hike was physically challenging with its’ steep accents and descents. It was also stimulating as the narrow path wound its way through a series of dark tunnels, along sheer cliffs, and up a series of suspended ladders referred to as the “stairway to heaven”. The views of the peaks and valleys were stunning as was the occasional peak at the rugged coastline in the distance. It took a bit over 3 hours to reach the summit but the experience was worth every step! Although quite windy, chilly, and cloudy at the summit you could see the entire island and a near 360 degree view of the coastline. There were actually 3 different viewpoints at the summit and I spent at least 20 minutes at each of them absorbing the paradise around me before starting my descent which consisted of at least 3 more ascents before returning to my motorbike! At the end of the epic hike I treated myself to an ice cream and a beer at the trailhead before returning to our apartment in Funchal – a day and a hike that I’ll never forget!
The next morning, Brenda & I set out on another challenging hike overlooking the coastline at the easternmost part of the island with its own unique landscape. There was much less vegetation so the trail was mostly rocky, the views were less obstructed, and the waves were more intense but, even on this more remote part of the island quite far from the heart of Funchal, there were several people on the trail and the car park was overflowing. While we truly enjoyed the experience, we were surprised at the amount of people we were sharing it with.
Back at Funchal on, what we thought, was our last morning, the sky was pretty smoky. I went for a run along the coast and the air was unpleasant. We had to check out of our Airbnb late morning so we opted to hang out near the beach for the afternoon before departing to the airport for our anticipated evening flight back to the mainland. When we arrived at the airport, it was quite windy and we could see obvious smoke on the horizon. We quicky learned that the fire we’d observed on our second day on the island was not a controlled burn but, instead, was a fire raging out of control in the central part of the island fueled by the same strong winds that cancelled our flight that evening!
As seasoned travelers, we’ve become accustomed to flight delays and even an occasional cancelled flight but our return flight which was initially delayed until the next afternoon would ultimately turn into a week-long extended stay on a burning island!
The high winds resulted in more than 50 flight cancellations at the small airport over a 4-5 day period leaving us among an estimated 7500 others stranded on the island! More tragically, the high winds continued to spread the fire and prevented aerial fire fighting efforts. Suddenly, we couldn’t help but recall the tragedy that struck Lahaina on the island of Maui just a year ago and wonder if the beautiful city of Funchal or other cities on the island would have the same fate. Along with that was a bit of fear that we might end up being a part of that fate since there was absolutely no way to flee the island for at least a week!
After spending a night in our rental car, we were lucky enough to secure another Airbnb at the South end of the island where we were able to re-group and modify our trip plans for a departure a week later. I guess if we were going to be “trapped” somewhere, Madeira wasn’t so bad but it was a bit tougher to enjoy with horrible air quality, layers of ash falling on us every day, and a constant uneasiness knowing that there would be absolutely nothing we could do if the winds carried the fire in our direction. Needless to say, we followed the local news very closely that week. Fortunately, the fire never did reach the populated coastline along any part of the island but, unfortunately, much of the central part of the island including the area where I’d enjoyed the epic hike just a week earlier was destroyed by the fire.
The lush natural beauty of the dense forest is now gone. A Unesco World Heritage site was consumed by the flames and access to many parts of the island is now limited due to unstable soils subject to mudslides. Additionally, many of the trails in the central part of the island are now closed and will likely remain that way for several years which will end up making the few remaining coastal and levada trails even more crowded. All in all, a truly tragic situation for the people of Madeira!!!
While Brenda & I were truly grateful to have experienced the slice of paradise that Madeira was (and still is), I’m doubtful that I’ll ever return. Even before our flights were cancelled and we became aware of the tragedy of the fire, I was dismayed by the negative impact of tourism on the island. While I love to travel and will continue to do so, I honestly can’t say that I’ve ever been to a place where I’ve felt like my small footprint was harmful but, sadly, as environmentally conscious and considerate as we are, I felt like we needed to leave Madeira and return the space to the locals who have lost their paradise to mass tourism.
Farewell Madeira. I hope that someday the island will regain the beauty that it once had before tourism and the massive wildfire of August 2024 destroyed it!