This category contains all of our posts about beaches and pools on Madeira Island. Madeira features few, but very nice, black sand beaches. Madeira also offers many sea-side open air pools in heavenly settings. Most often these are freely accessible or for a small fee. Ambitiously, we intend to eventually cover all of them! This category also has a general practical guide to all of Madeira’s ocean-side bathing spots. But we’ll also do a detailed blog on the places we love most. One of them is the beach of Seixal. You will also find posts about some of the famous lava pools, like the ones from Porto Moniz.
Pools and Beaches of Madeira At first sight, Madeira’s coastline looks unhospitable for beach lovers. If you don’t know where to go, you could be looking for a bathing spot for a long time, and give up in the end. But look a bit closer and there are many small gems out there. Some of …
The Praia do Porto Beach The Praia do Porto do Seixal Beach is a black sand beach. This really is true for all of the natural beaches on Madeira. The dark sand beaches on Madeira Island are born from sea erosion of volcanic black rock. Except for the color, the dry or wet sand has a similar …
Porto Moniz Porto Moniz is a charming small village perched on the dramatic north western tip of Madeira. The region offers towering mountains and views over endless deep Atlantic Ocean blue. Historically, the topography of the region isolated Porto Moniz from the rest of the island. Yet it survived by specialising in whaling, a practice …
Calhau da Lapa : A little hidden paradise Locals talk about “Paraside on Earth” when they mention Calhau da Lapa. Some would like to keep it a secret place and others find it so great that they want to spread the word. Because yes, so far, knowledge went via word of mouth. This is the best …
Calhau Surf School Calhau Surfing School is Madeira’s first and thus oldest surf school. It organized private and group surf and paddle lessons. The school is certified by the Portuguese Surfing Federation. The central person of the Calhau Surf School is Rodolfo Machado. Originally from mainland Portugal, he travelled the world as an architect and …
Surf, SUP & Bodyboard in São Vicente São Vicente is known for its quaint village, for the amazing tall and white chapel sitting on a hill, its volcanic caves, the smaller chapel by the ocean, its ocean front with restaurant and shops and its great surf possibilities. New Surf Zone The new Surf Zone of …
Black Sand Black sand beaches are some of the most tempting and seducing ones. They are found throughout the world but some of them, albeit be it few, black sand beaches are in Europe. Black sand mostly abounds in volcanic regions. Black sand comes most probably from lava, basalt and volcanic minerals. These are broken …
This remote area of cultivated land adjacent to the ocean, once unknown, is now a popular place on Madeira. Unlike the Fajã da Quebrada Nova in Achadas da Cruz, the Fajã dos Padres can be a really busy place in Summer. Fajã dos Padres lies by the sea, at the bottom of a smooth, vertical …
Madeira The island of Madeira makes up part of a Portuguese volcanic archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean. It is somewhat lost in the Ocean between the Azores (Portugal) and the Canaries (Spain). The island is well known for its subtropical forest, the Laurisilva, its walkways or levadas, its hiking / running trails, its gastronomy, its …
