Top 10 Madeira (Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides)

Left Expensive taxis Right Charter flight at Funchal’s airport
Madeira on a Budget
! Book Ahead
and Online
Madeira can be very
cheap. In fact the biggest
cost will be getting to the
island, since the “nofrills”
carriers don’t serve
it, and scheduled flights
are rarely discounted,
due to the high demand.
The best way to secure a
discount is to book at
least three months in
advance, using an online
agent such as Expedia.
Be Flexible @ The best discounts
are had by those who are
flexible about their travel
dates and don’t mind flying
early in the morning
or late at night. Online
agents show seat costs
for different flights and
allow you to choose the
cheapest. The downside
is that, once booked, discounted
tickets cannot
be changed without paying
a hefty penalty.
£ Charter Flights
UK charter airlines
such as Air 2000, Airtours,
Britannia, Excel,
JMC and Monarch can
offer the cheapest way to
get to Madeira, but many
of them only offer flights
here between April and
October. You may also
find that they only fly
once a week, so a short
break is not an option.
$ Packages
Madeira’s hotels are
often not responsive to
requests for a room
discount, even when
they are quiet. The best
way to secure a cheap
deal is to book an
inclusive package
(including flights, room,
meals, transfers, car hire
and excursions) online or
through an agent.
% Last-minute
Bargains
If you can travel at a
week or two’s notice,
check travel agents’ windows
and advertised lastminute
bargains. In some
cases, you will not know
where you are staying
until you arrive, but bad
hotels are rare on Madeira
(and noise nuisance is
more likely than a safety
or hygiene problem).
^ Accommodation
Madeira has some
astonishingly cheap
accommodation in the
city centre and at rural
pensions (see p117).
Clean rooms with a
shared bathroom are
available for €15 to €25 a
night, and even luxurious
apartments can be had
for €40 a night, if you are
staying for a week or
more. www.madeiraisland.com
has a useful
accommodation section,
which has links to the
websites of several of
Madeira’s cheaper hotels.
& Food
Madeira has literally
hundreds of cheap cafés
and restaurants, where
you can eat very well for
€10 a head by choosing
simple dishes, such as
grilled sardines and
salad. Better still, shop in
local markets and supermarkets.
Delicious bread,
olives, fresh fruit and
salad ingredients are all
inexpensive, as well as
ready-cooked dishes such
as grilled chicken or beefand-bean
stew.
* Transport
Avoid taxis and you
will save money. You may
have to wait up to an
hour for the airport bus
into Funchal, but it costs
a few euros, compared
with a minimum taxi fare
of €20. Using buses to
travel around the island
will only cost a few
euros, whereas a taxi
will set you back ten
times as much.
( Guided Tours
Guided tours offer
another cost-saving
alternative to taxis or car
hire. The downside is that
you are forced to travel in
a large group of people,
and the trip may well
include shop and
restaurant stops that you
might not want to make.
) Bars and
Entertainment
You can easily save money
by avoiding discos and
other nightlife venues
where prices for drinks
are several times higher
than in ordinary bars. In
the same way, a coffee
or a glass of Madeira in a
local bar will cost a third
of the price of the same
drink in your hotel bar.
Streetsmart 109