Madeira Lido Tours

Santana is a charming town in the northeast of Madeira. It is famous for its traditional homes with bungalow rooftops that are made out of straw that extend down to the ground, making them triangular in shape. They are mainly rural houses, used by farmers in the past. These houses have white walls with red doors and windows and a blue trim. The straw roofs are renovated every four to five years. Originating from the 16th century, most of them are kept as a tourist attraction.

The main sources of industry are agriculture and tourism, and a small number of businesses are in the downtown area.

Our stop at this town is for approx. 1h 30min. The guide will recommend several snack bars, coffee shops or even restaurants and each of our guests can choose where and what to eat.

A large theme park is also located in the center of town, which includes some exhibits about the island and its culture.

Faial is a small, picturesque village located on the north-eastern coast of the Island, named after a local tree known as faia ‘myrica faya’. Settlers first colonized Faial around 1519 and were mostly Moorish & Gallician. During the first settlement when sugar plantations were at their peak, water mills were built in the rivers of Ribeira do Faial and Ribeira Seca to crush sugar cane. Today, these ruins may still be seen under the bridge.
Faial was also known for its bridges, the largest being 130 metres and known as Ponte das Sete Bocas (bridge of the seven mouths) but unfortunately back in 1984 the bridge collapsed during a severe storm.

Faial’s main industry is agriculture; the best example is perhaps the custard apple “annona Cherimola”, as it’s the most commonly produced fruit. In 1990 to promote it, an exhibition took place that has now become a big event every year in March, famously known as Festa da Anona.

Ponta de São Lourenço, the eastern part of Madeira, is a Nature Reserve with wonderful panoramic views of the Atlantic and spectacular volcanic rock formations; a completely unique landscape compared with the rest of the island. The creeper vegetation here is well worth seeing and a plethora of different trees grow in the area that highly contrast with the remainder of Madeira’s landscape. Many unusual species of plants can be found here and are best seen on foot, like the Ice Plant, Everlasting, Cardoon and many more.

With about 9km long and 2km width, it includes two islets (the “Cevada”, “Metade” or “Desembarcadouros” Islet and the “Ponta de São Lourenço” or “Farol” Islet), and was classified as a Natural Reserve in 1982.

We stop at a viewpoint named “Ponta do Rosto” for approx. 10/15 minutes, enough time to take memorable photographs of this area. Down the cliff is a secluded beach called Prainha, the island’s only natural black sandy beach. Very popular with the locals, it’s also great for swimming!

Santa Cruz, which means “Holy Cross”, is a municipality, a parish and a city in the eastern part of Madeira. The coach will stop in Santa Cruz for approx 20/30 minutes. Much of the municipality is mountainous, while farmlands cover the remainder of the land.

It is the third largest major parish in population after Funchal and Câmara de Lobos.

The municipality is one of the smallest on the island. Its area is 81.52 km²/8,152 ha. This is also where Madeira International Airport is located.

The main source of industry are agriculture and fishing, while a number of businesses are located in the downtown area (in the city of Santa Cruz).

Cabo Girão

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Leaving Funchal at 9am we pass along the famous Lido then head west to fishing village Camara de Lobos (place of the monkseals). The road climbs through banana plantations as we approach Cabo Girão, Europe’s highest cliff, where we stop for the fantastic viewpoint. Heading back down to sea-level we pause for coffee and a little sight-seeing in Ribeira Brava; don’t miss the church!

Prepare for some stunning vistas of Madeira’s south coast and mountains as we climb north though Canhas to the high pass of Paúl da Serra. Heading north still we go via Fanal down to Ribeira da Janela and the rugged beauty of the north coast, where Atlantic rollers describe a line of white surf below heroic cliffs. A break for lunch is taken in pretty Porto Moniz where you may choose from many restaurants, snack-bars and cafés.

After lunch we traverse Madeira’s highest plateau with all its spectacular panoramas before heading to the sunny south coast and Calheta Beach with it’s golden sand where we relax a while before setting off for home again…….

Route:

Funchal – Camara de Lobos – Cabo Girão – Ribeira Brava – through Canhas – Paúl da Serra – through Fanal – Ribeira da Janela – Porto Moniz – Santa – through Prazeres – Calheta – Funchal

Departs/Saída/Départ/Sale: 09H00  -  Returns/Chegada/Arrivée/Llega: 16H45 to 17H00

North Of Madeira Island - Seixal

There are many people offering Madeira Island Excursions. We believe Strawberry World (Lido Tours) offer the best, so just what makes us different from the rest?

Firstly, we are an authorised operator with our own buses; we are NOT just a ticket seller contracting our tours to the lowest bidder like so many so-called tour companies. When you travel on a Strawberry World coach, the Driver and Guide are professionals employed by us, so you can be sure that they will give you the best service possible. Our staff are dedicated to our ethos of service; those that fall short do not work for us for long.

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