Family vacations in Madeira

Canyoning is a fantastic way to experience the island’s landscape from a different perspective and, luckily, it’s not off-limits to children. As long as they’re able to swim and are over 140cm tall, kids can skid, slide, jump and float with the rest of them. The island has plenty of challenging canyons, but you’ll take it easy at a spot that’s perfect for beginners, with accessible hiking, scrambling and climbing to reach the streams and rivers below. You’ll be kitted out with a wetsuit and canyoning shoes and be guided by expert locals who have been working in these canyons for years and know every little handhold there is.

Madeira’s volcanic origins are obvious wherever you are on the island, from saltwater pools on rocky shores to an interior that’s blessed with a landscape that looks like it should be surveyed by pterodactyls rather than sparrowhawks. Jumping into a Jeep to explore is a must on a family vacation. After whizzing along winding roads and bumpy tracks you’ll stop off to check out volcanic caves and tunnels, as well as visit the island’s Volcanism Centre where you can learn more about the island’s origins. The day is best topped off with a visit to the volcanic beach at Seixal, home to pools created naturally by volcanic eruptions and now filled with seawater – perfect for a post-adventure dip.

Family vacations in Madeira give you a chance to get salt in your hair and marine wildlife in your sights. You can go whale and dolphin watching with responsible skippers and marine biologists who let the wildlife lead the way. You won’t crowd them in and although swimming with dolphins is allowed, you’ll only join them in the water on their terms. The deep waters around Madeira are plankton-rich and safe – the perfect environment for whales and dolphins all year round, but at its very best between June and October, when the waters teem with up to 20 different species.

A day out on the water usually starts with some sea kayaking around the island’s coves and bays before heading out on a RIB boat for a bouncy ride through the Atlantic waves in search of whales, guided by a marine biologist. Pods of dolphins will sometimes follow the boats out, and if the conditions are right, you’ll be given a snorkel and the chance to be with these friendly, curious creatures in their natural habitat – pure magic!

For well over 100 years, the locals of Monte, a village outside Funchal, have used an unusual form of transport to get to the big smoke – careering down steep streets in wicker sledges at speeds of up to 50kph, with the help of people known as carreiros who wear special tyre-bottomed shoes for braking. While this isn’t strictly necessary these days, thanks to a cable car, the 10-minute ride down the hill is great fun for kids.

Madeira is crisscrossed with levadas, aqueducts that provide water and hydroelectricity to mountain communities and farms, and double up as scenic walking paths. Often carved into steep rock faces, and sometimes incorporating narrow bridges or long sections of head-height tunnel, the levadas can be hair-raising despite the protective railing you’ll find on many of their lower edges. Tours will stick to the more family-friendly trails, which can be tackled without fear of tumbling off the edge. Walks and cycles will be tailored to your group’s abilities, with plenty of rest stops built in, while bike trails will follow a wide, gentle levada through the forest on an easy route, where towering trees and brilliant flowers provide distraction from the trails.

For older kids the levadas provide a sombre history lesson, too. Their origins are woven into the island’s history of sugar and slavery and date back to the first settlements of Madeira island, in the first quarter of the 15th century, when water became necessary to water farm lands, particularly sugar cane fields.