Five days is the practical minimum for a Madeira road trip, and the route that works is to give each day one corner of the island (the central peaks, the northeast, the northwest coast, the Paul da Serra plateau and the east), book every hike online before you leave home, because all of Madeira’s official PR trails now need a timed reservation, and rent a small car with enough power for the hills.
That booking rule is the part that catches people out, and it changes the order of a plan more than the roads do. This guide sets out a five-day route with rough drive times, explains what to reserve and what it costs, and covers the driving conditions that a map does not show. The practical side of collecting the car is in our guides to renting a car at Madeira Airport and at Funchal Airport.
Before you plan a single day. Every classified PR walking trail on Madeira needs an advance reservation with a 30-minute entry slot, booked only online on the official SIMplifica portal. Most trails cost €4.50 per person, and the Pico do Arieiro to Pico Ruivo route costs more. Popular slots sell out first, so book the hikes, then fit the driving around them.
The island in a paragraph
Madeira is a mountain with a coastline. The capital, Funchal, sits on the south coast, the high central spine runs east to west, and every road either climbs, descends or cuts through a tunnel. That is why distances on a map mislead: a 30 km drive can take an hour, and the most memorable roads are the slow ones. Each day below keeps you in one region so that you spend your time on the trails and viewpoints and not on the same hills twice.
Five days, in the order that works
The distances and times below are rough and come from published itineraries, so add time for stops and for weather.
| Day | Region | Drive | Book first |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Funchal and Monte | Short, in town | Nothing, but see the car note below |
| 2 | Pico do Arieiro, Ribeiro Frio, Santana, Porto da Cruz | About 75 minutes to the northeast, more with stops | A PR trail slot if you hike |
| 3 | Northwest: Seixal, Porto Moniz, Achadas da Cruz | About 84 km, around 2 hours of driving split across the day | None |
| 4 | Paul da Serra: Rabaçal and Fanal, then the south coast | Around 30 minutes from Ponta do Sol to the Rabaçal road | PR6 slot for the 25 Fontes walk |
| 5 | East: Ponta de São Lourenço and Machico | About 33 km, around 35 minutes from Funchal | PR8 slot |
Day one: arrive and stay low. Funchal is a tricky place to drive and park, so it is worth spending the first day on foot and collecting the car the next morning. If you do keep it from the start, ask your hotel about parking, because the old town is not built for visitors’ cars.
Day two: the high ground and the northeast. Go early to Pico do Arieiro, the viewpoint above the clouds, because the car park fills quickly and a clear view is never guaranteed. From there drop down through Ribeiro Frio, a good place for a levada walk, to Santana and its thatched triangular houses, and finish at Porto da Cruz on the north coast. If the summit is in cloud when you wake up, swap this day with another and keep the booking flexible.
Day three: the northwest. This is the long coastal day: Seixal for its black sand beach, Porto Moniz for the volcanic rock pools, and Achadas da Cruz at the far end. Published routes put the whole loop at roughly 84 km, so plan on two hours at the wheel across the day rather than in one go. The road is spectacular and slow, and the stops are the point.
Day four: Paul da Serra and the south. The high plateau of Paul da Serra holds the Rabaçal trailhead for the Levada das 25 Fontes (PR6) and the Fanal laurel forest nearby. The plateau is fog-prone, and one traveller describes the winding road to the Rabaçal car park as eerie in the morning mist, so go slowly and keep the headlights on. Rabaçal itself is reached by walking about 2 km from the car park or by a short shuttle, so ask on arrival about the current arrangements. In the afternoon drop to the south coast and its viewpoints, such as Cabo Girão and Câmara de Lobos.
Day five: the east. Ponta de São Lourenço is the long, narrow peninsula at the island’s eastern tip, about 33 km and 35 minutes from Funchal, and the walk along it (PR8) is roughly 7 to 8 km and takes around three hours. Finish in Machico, the island’s first capital, and head for the airport. Our guide to driving in Madeira covers the tunnels and gradients on the way back.
Booking the hikes without wrecking the plan
The rules are the same for every visitor. Reservations are made only online on the SIMplifica portal, you choose a 30-minute entry slot, and hikers without a valid digital ticket risk a fine. The official nature agency lists the standard fee for an individual trail as €4.50, with combined fees for visitors doing several trails: €22.50 for a three-day combination and €52.50 for seven days, in both cases excluding the Pico do Arieiro to Pico Ruivo route. That route has its own, higher fee of about €10.50 and has been closed and reopened after wildfire repairs, so check its live status before you build a day around it. Residents are exempt from the fee but still book.
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Some practical consequences follow. Book the hikes first and the days second, because a sold-out slot is a bigger problem than a different route. Put the most weather-sensitive hike on a day with spare days after it. And remember that a trail slot is a time, not an arrival window: if the road to the trailhead is slow, a late arrival can cost you the slot.
What the roads are really like
Madeira’s main roads are good, and the tunnels cut a lot of time off the old coastal routes. The difficult part is everything off them: steep, narrow lanes with tight bends, short sharp climbs, and cloud that can drop onto a mountain road within minutes. Phone signal can dip in the valleys, so the habits in our guide to GPS navigation for Portugal drivers are worth having ready.
Give the day enough daylight. Many of the best viewpoints are slow to reach and slower to leave, and driving the island’s mountain roads after dark is a different experience, one we cover in our note on night driving in Portugal. Fuel up before you head into the interior and again before you return the car, as we discuss in our note on refuelling before you return the car.
Choosing the car
A small to mid-size car suits the lanes and the parking, but the engine needs enough punch for sustained hill climbs with luggage and passengers. An automatic takes the strain out of hill starts and steep descents, which is why many visitors pay for one, and our guide to automatic car hire in Portugal explains how to book it. You do not need a 4×4 for the main sights, but check the insurance before you take a rental onto an unpaved track to a quiet viewpoint, since damage to tyres and the underside is a common exclusion, as we explain in our note on what a collision damage waiver does not cover.
Adding Porto Santo
If you want a beach day on Madeira’s small neighbour, the car does not travel with you: the sensible approach, covered in our guide to renting a car at Porto Santo Airport, is to rent a separate one on the island. For the wider picture of how cars work across Portugal’s archipelagos, start with our overview of car rental across the Portuguese islands.
Frequently asked questions
How many days do you need for a Madeira road trip? Five days is a comfortable minimum for the main regions, and seven gives room for a slower pace and a spare weather day.
Do I have to book hikes in Madeira? Yes. All classified PR walking trails require an online reservation with a 30-minute entry slot, made on the SIMplifica portal. Hikers without a digital ticket risk a fine.
How much does it cost to hike in Madeira? Most individual trails cost €4.50 per person. Combined fees are €22.50 for three days and €52.50 for seven, excluding the Pico do Arieiro to Pico Ruivo route, which costs more.
Is the Pico do Arieiro to Pico Ruivo trail open? It has closed and reopened after wildfire repairs, so check the official trail status before you plan around it.
How long does it take to drive from Funchal to Ponta de São Lourenço? About 35 minutes for roughly 33 km, longer in traffic or if you stop on the way.
Is it hard to drive in Madeira? Main roads and tunnels are good, but side roads are steep and narrow, and fog can drop quickly on the high plateau. Drive slowly and plan daylight for mountain routes.
Do I need an automatic car in Madeira? Not necessarily, but an automatic is easier on steep hills and tight hairpins.
Can I take a Madeira rental car to Porto Santo? The ferry carries cars, but your rental agreement decides, and the safest plan is to rent a separate car on Porto Santo.
