The east, green hills and tee times

For an early flight, anywhere in the east zone works: the airport sits at Santa Cruz, and Machico, Santo da Serra and the Garajau coast are all within fifteen minutes of the terminal. PortoBay Serra Golf is the characterful option — a 1920s manor fifteen minutes up the hill. But keep perspective: Funchal itself is only twenty minutes away on the expressway, so “airport hotel” logic barely applies on Madeira. Choose the place you actually want to sleep, not the one nearest the runway.

The east is the island’s golf zone, full stop. Santo da Serra hosted the Madeira Islands Open for years — twenty-seven holes at altitude with sea views between the mists — and Palheiro Golf runs along a ridge above Funchal with the bay below most fairways. Casa Velha do Palheiro sits beside the Palheiro course and offers stay-and-play rates that beat separate bookings; Serra Golf is a two-minute walk from the Santo da Serra clubhouse. Greens fees are modest by northern-European standards.

A highland village at about 660 metres: cooler, mistier and greener than the coast, with big quintas behind hedges, a famous Sunday farmers’ market and the golf course at its edge. In summer it is a relief from the coastal heat; in winter you want a fireplace — which the Serra Golf manor has. It suits travellers who like their subtropics with a cardigan. The coast at Machico is fifteen minutes downhill when you want sun and a swim.

Caniço is a good base for sun and snorkelling, but not where our curation points. Caniço de Baixo is a functional resort strip — reliable sun, the Garajau marine reserve for the island’s best easy snorkelling and diving, and quick airport access. But the hotels are mostly large all-inclusive operations, which is why none has cleared our curation bar so far. If you are drawn to the area, base at Casa Velha do Palheiro ten minutes west and visit the reserve; you keep the snorkelling and gain the gardens.

Twenty minutes on the VR1 expressway — the two towns bracket the airport between them. Machico is Madeira’s former first capital and has quietly become likeable again: a sandy beach of imported golden sand (one of only two on the island), a walkable old centre and real-price restaurants. It works well as a first or last night, and its valley is the gateway to the Ponta de São Lourenço peninsula walk, the east’s essential hike.