Where to stay in Madeira: picking the right base

Madeira is 70 km long and 25 km wide, but the numbers mislead. The interior is a mass of ridges and ravines rising to 1,800 metres, and the place you sleep decides what your holiday looks like: how much sun you get, and whether you need a car at all. The south coast is warm and built up almost without a break from Calheta to Machico. The north is greener, wetter and much quieter. Anything above 300 metres runs cooler than the coast, which matters more than most first-time visitors expect, especially between November and March.

Here is how the island breaks down, area by area, with the honest trade-offs.

About 150,000 people live in the capital, and every bus line on the island radiates out from it. If you are not hiring a car, staying in Funchal (or somewhere with a frequent bus link to it, like Monte or Caniço) saves you from planning your days around two rural departures.

Funchal splits into two very different bases.

The hotel zone (Lido), west of the centre along the coast, is where package operators put their guests. The hotels are comfortable and some are luxurious, but the area itself is a resort strip: you will walk or ride 20 to 30 minutes into town for dinner in the old streets. Fine if you want a pool and a sea view and don't plan to go out much at night.

The centre and the Old Town (Zona Velha) offer apartments, guest houses and small hotels among the cafés, the Mercado dos Lavradores and the cable car to Monte. You step out of the door into the city. The price is some traffic noise in the mornings, and parking is hard if you do have a car.

There is a third option most visitors miss: the residential hills just east and above the centre, around São Gonçalo and Monte. Quintas and private apartments up here get the amphitheatre view over the whole bay, ten minutes by car from the Old Town. In winter, remember the altitude rule: at 300 metres the evenings ask for a jumper while the seafront is still in T-shirt weather.

Machico is the island's second town, 20 minutes from Funchal by the fast road, with a golden beach (the sand was shipped in from Western Sahara), a fishing harbour and an old town behind the seafront. Nothing spectacular, and that is its charm: it is a working town with good cafés and some of the best bus connections outside the capital.

Santa Cruz gets dismissed because the airport is next door, which is unfair. The village and its church are attractive up close, and for a one-night stay before an early flight it beats a 5 a.m. taxi across the island.

Caniço de Baixo is a small, well-kept resort with a rocky beach, long a favourite with German visitors. Quiet in the evenings. Garajau, next door, has the clifftop Christ statue and a cable car down to the beach.

Santo da Serra sits on a plateau inland, near the golf course. Cooler, misty some mornings, with a Sunday market. A base for the east and the forest walks rather than for beach weather.

The stretch from Ribeira Brava to Paúl do Mar catches the most reliable sun on the island. This is where to base yourself in winter if warmth is the priority.

Ribeira Brava is a small, lively coastal town at the foot of the north-south road, well connected by bus in both directions. Ponta do Sol lives up to its name and has become popular with remote workers. Calheta has one of the island's two artificial sandy beaches, a marina and a growing cluster of restaurants. Further out, Jardim do Mar and Paúl do Mar are cobbled fishing villages under the cliffs where evenings are silent; you will want a car for both.

One warning that catches people out: villages like Prazeres or Arco da Calheta sit a few hundred metres above the coast. Lovely in summer, but in January the temperature gap between them and the sea-level villages below is real.

The north coast is what Madeira looked like before tourism: cliffs, waterfalls dropping onto the road, terraced valleys. It rains more, and in winter a lot more. Stay here for walking, not for tanning.

São Vicente has a picturesque old centre half a kilometre inland from its seafront strip, plus the lava caves. Porto Moniz in the north-west corner draws day-trippers to its natural lava pools; stay overnight and you get the village to yourself after the coaches leave at five. Santana is the base for the Queimadas and Caldeirão Verde walks and the classic A-frame thatched houses. Ponta Delgada is flat, quiet, and has a sea-water bathing pool.

Bus connections up here are thin, sometimes one or two a day. The north works best with a car.

• No car, first visit: Funchal centre or Old Town. Everything else follows from the bus station.
• Car, winter, want sun: the south-west coast at sea level. Ponta do Sol or Calheta.
• Walkers: split the stay. A few nights in Santana or São Vicente for the northern levadas, the rest in Funchal.
• Quick pre-flight night: Santa Cruz or Machico.
• Want the view: the hills above Funchal, and pack a jumper for the evenings.

Accommodation runs from guest houses and simple apartments around €50 a night to the grand old quintas. The island is cheaper than most of western Europe, though pricier than mainland rural Portugal. Book earlier for December through February: winter sun is the busy season, and the best-placed apartments in Funchal go months ahead. If your dates include 31 December, our New Year's Eve guide covers which base fits the fireworks night.

Looking at the Funchal hills? Our partner apartments at Madeira with Views sit above the bay in São Gonçalo, with the amphitheatre view this article keeps going on about.

Is it better to stay in Funchal or outside? Funchal, unless you have a car. The bus network radiates from the capital, so a rural base without a car means building days around sparse timetables.

Which part of Madeira has the best weather? The south-west coast between Ribeira Brava and Paúl do Mar gets the most sun, especially in winter. The north is cooler and wetter year-round.

Does altitude matter when choosing accommodation? Yes. Even 300 metres above sea level is noticeably cooler in winter, and the high plateau is properly cold. Check the elevation of any rural quinta before booking a January stay.

Where should I stay for levada walks? Most levadas are reachable as day trips from Funchal by car. For the big northern walks (Caldeirão Verde, the peaks), a night or two in Santana saves long drives.