Madeira as a mountainous island was first developed with roads which cut and contoured mountains and valleys. In the last 12 years new roads have been built reducing distances by tunnels and overpasses. These are very important for local people to easily access any part of Madeira but for tourists, the old roads are the ones which show the best landscapes of Madeira and its history.

If you are a tourist pay attention to signs when entering the old roads as some are getting dangerous due to rock and land falls. Specially in raining and windy days it is not advisable to take these roads.

35 Years later Madeira is again connected by sea with mainland Portugal. This time by a Spanish ferryboat which links Tenerife to Madeira and to Portimão, in Algarve. It started to operate this weekend, June 14th, leaving Madeira on Saturday morning, around 10:30 am and arriving to Algarve 21 hours later. Volcán de Tijarafe, the ferryboat from Naviera Armas, which links Algarve to Madeira and Tenerife Islands, leaves from Portimão on Sundays at mid-day. This operation will be held all weekends until middle September 2008 and it is predictable to return on June 2009.

So, for those who are afraid to fly, you now have the chance to visit Madeira between June and September traveling by sea!

From today, 1st of February 2008, on taxis in Madeira are all obligated to use and turn on the taximeter when someone enters the taxi. So if you are in Madeira and get in a taxi where there is no taximeter you have the right to choose another one. The taximeter will start on the 1,70 EUR as this is the starting taxation. If you carry luggage an extra value will be added to your sum but never more than 50% the total price you will pay.

Be aware that taxis are not licensed leisure companies so they are not allowed to make tours around the island, just transports. This means if you go on a tour by taxi and you stop on a view point and have some hazard there is no insurance to cover you and taxis only have insurance for their passengers inside the car.

This way, if you need transfer between point A to point B you choose a taxi with taximeter but if you wish to run a tour on Madeira or Porto Santo Islands you choose a licensed leisure company.

Finally Madeira is linked to Ireland on a regular basis!

From the 30th of October 2007 on, Aer Lingus will fly twice a week directly from Dublin airport to Funchal airport, linking Ireland to Madeira Islands with flights on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Good news for Madeira tourism! The airline market in Madeira Islands has finally become free for all air travel companies to operate. Until now the connections between Funchal/Porto Santo and Lisbon/Oporto/Faro was considered public service and so it was hard to new companies to join and compete freely. Finally the Portuguese government has decided to open this market freely and so from May 2007 on any airline can operate on the connections of Madeira Islands to mainland Portugal. Easy Jet will be the first low cost airline operating in Madeira.