There are abundant nature hikes and walking trails throughout the island of Madeira, but there are surprisingly some very nice ones as well in the city of Funchal, the capital city on the southern coast of this green volcanic island.

As in the inner island walks, these also vary in the degree of difficulty. For the sake of simplicity, I ‘ll refer to the starting point as the Marina Funchal, which is situated in the city center and a good place to begin any of the walks.

My three favorites are the Pingo Doce Walking Trails, The Dolce Vita Pingo Doce, the Anadia Pingo Doce and the Estrada Monumental Pingo Doce, this last one being the most difficult.

The Dolce Vito Trail is the easiest. It is a flat start, with a short climb about 2 blocks, but along a shady park, then another 2 blocks fairly flat to the Dolce Vita Pingo Doce. Once inside, you will find several escalators making uphill climbs much easier.  The Anadia Pingo Doce  is about twice as far as the Dolce Vita, but a little flatter. However, this walk takes you through some congested tourist areas, where at first you will be bombarded with restaurant hosts trying to lure you in to their establishment, or later hordes of shoppers dodging one another.  Be careful to cross streets either in crosswalks (called “zebras” here)  or when the light shows a green man. Drivers do not appreciate people crossing in the middle. or against the light.  Once inside, you almost always find this one packed as it in more of a working class neighborhood. Be ware of people bumping from behind and little old ladies butting in line, Very common here.

The third and most difficult trail is the  Estrada Monumental Pingo Doce, nicknamed “Beach Pingo Doce”.  There are two options to begin this trail. One is to walk along the harbor’s waterfront boulevard, which is wide and flat, but then reaches a somewhat short but very steep hill, or to walk along a longer less steep hill that takes you along another park and past the Casino. Once up, you have a decent flat wide sidewalk for about a quarter of a mile along Estrada Monumental, but it can get quite crowded with tourists, some who move wickedly slow and tend to meander from side to side.  Once at the turn, you go down a considerably steep hill that takes you along sea front hotels, apartments, and what they are calling “Aparthotels”.  Towards the bottom of this hill is a somewhat beachy and small shopping center, (although there is no actual “beach” here, it just looks as if there is one)  and in this shopping center, over looking the sea, is the Pingo Doce.  Once inside here, you will find happy sun soaked people looking for postcards, sunscreen, wine, beer, a drink called “Poncha”, and groceries.  The atmosphere is generally happy here and quite relaxed.  But once back outside, you must go back up the short, but very steep hill. However, once at the top, the walk home is easy.

 

Funchal offer some rather nice nature trails as well as hikes.  Again, starting from the marina, the most popular one will take you along the waterfront to the right, with the ocean on your right, the city on the left.  Walk about an eighth of a mile, and this takes to you to a public beach, that is more volcanic rocks, and cement than sand, but it has all the elements of a beach. Sunbathers, swimmers  colorful plastic toys, and plenty of nature, but there should be some warning here as some of the “nature” often inappropriately wears thongs  or speedos. 

Another nature trail is simply to walk around the seawall of the marina, where you can view plenty of nature about on the boats, some of which are boat owners, and some are paying customers going out to go dolphin and whale watching.  Again, some of these natures also are inappropriately attired in thongs, speedos, and high heeled shoes that do not belong on tour boats.

There are a few excellent nature hikes where instead of seeing, you can enjoy the sounds of nature. My favorite is  Frog Bridge. You can either wind your way through the west part of the old town, or walk along the waterfront to what used to be two rivers.  There is still some water that flows In and out, but a lot of it has been grown over with much grass and moss. There are a few little bridges that cross over these rivers, and one bridge is fairly low, old and arched. And if stand on this bridge, and  listen  carefully (Sunday is best with fewer cars) you will hear the most enchanting sounds of frogs “talking”.  And there are more than one sound coming from these frogs. One sound is a “eeyooun eeyooun: and another is like a quick chirp. And if you look closely you can see them!  MANY frogs!!    And if the car traffic is really light, the frogs can be REALLY  loud!!! 

The other interesting nature sound is actually right above the marina, in front of a little wooden a-frame hut, where a lady stands in front and blows into little ceramic jugs full of water creating a “tweet tweet tweetaleealee” sound. For a mere 5 euros, you can have your own tweetalee jug!

 

I hope this guide is helpful to anyone who wants to visit the beautiful island of Madeira and plans to spend some time in the city of Funchal.