Funchal

A wicker sled without wheels runs 2km down the tarmac while two men hold it on ropes. It survives from the 1850s, when hill residents used it to get down to market.

The path follows an irrigation channel around the mountainside, wide enough for one walker. Several falls drop into a pool at the far end, and a torch is needed for the tunnel stretch.

A glass floor 580m above the sea lets you look straight down the cliff. It ranks among the highest headlands in Europe, and the platform closes when the wind gets up.

The market building of 1940 rings its courtyard with tropical fruit stalls. Sellers offer a taste and then name a price, so ask for the weight and the figure before agreeing.

A garden on the hillside that most people reach by cable car and leave on foot. A Japanese pond and African sculpture share the same slope.

A road runs to the 1818m summit, so standing above the cloud takes little effort. The ridge trail is a chain of steps and tunnels, and before sunrise the air drops under 5 degrees.

Painters took the worn doors of the old town one by one until the lane itself became the show. It began in 2010 and doors keep changing, so no image stays for long.

Painted wooden boats sit up on the sand at a fishing village half an hour along the coast. The far end of the quay is where the crews mend nets through the afternoon.

The yellow fort that watched the harbour now holds a gallery and a cafe. From the roof you can watch the cruise ships come in, then drop straight down to the shingle beach.

Beds of succulents planted in geometric blocks cover the whole slope. A separate section gathers trees that grow only on the island, each with its label in front.

Madeira's cathedral, started on King Manuel's orders in the 1490s and completed in 1514. White plaster and black volcanic stone keep it plain outside; inside, the ceiling is local cedar inlaid with pale carving. It stands mid-town near the market.

Cabins rise from the old-town seafront gardens over hillside homes to Monte. Banana plots, red roofs and the harbour slide by beneath you. The usual round is up by cable, Monte Palace gardens, then down by toboggan.

At Madeira's north-west corner, seawater fills hollows in black lava rock to make bathing pools. Waves spill over the rock walls to refresh the water while the pools stay calm. It is over the mountains from Funchal, usually a stop on a day loop round the west.

At 1862m, the highest peak on Madeira. A stone path climbs from the Achada do Teixeira car park, with a mountain hut below the summit. It often pokes above the clouds, and some hikers go up before sunrise.

A long finger of land pointing east from Madeira, almost treeless, its red and ochre rock laid bare. Nowhere else on this green island looks like it, so the ridge trail draws walkers. There is no shade and gusts are fierce; bring water, plus a hat.

Thatched cottages in the north-coast village of Santana, their roofs sloping to the ground in a triangle. White walls with red doors and blue frames make them a Madeira postcard staple. A few are left open for visitors to step inside.

A Madeira wine lodge in an old Franciscan convent building on Avenida Arriaga. Tours show the canteiro lofts, where casks sit for years in warm air under the roof. They end with a row of wines ranging from dry to sweet.

On a western plateau, ancient laurel-family trees stand twisted and wrapped in moss. Fog rolls in often, so the trunks appear and vanish in grey. UNESCO inscribed Madeira's laurel forest on its heritage list in 1999.