About Madeira
Madeira rises from the Atlantic 800 kilometres southwest of mainland Portugal, crowned by 1862-metre Pico Ruivo and cloaked in the Laurissilva, the world's largest surviving primary laurel forest and a UNESCO site since 1999. Bathers skip the cliffs and pebbles for Calheta Beach, where yellow sand shipped from Morocco lies behind two breakwaters, or the 90-minute ferry to Porto Santo and its nine kilometres of natural golden sand. Sea temperatures hold at 22-23 °C72-73 °F from July through September, with Funchal airport twenty minutes from the capital.