The Perfect Two-Week Portugal Itinerary that Includes Madeira
Lisbon, Porto, the Algarve… Those are probably the top destinations most people think of when it comes to Portugal. But lately, the island of Madeira has been growing in popularity. It’s nicknamed “the Hawaii of Europe”, and for good reason. It’s a volcanic island just like the Hawaiian islands and it has a very similar climate and scenery. If you are a hiker who wants to check out the island but also likes cities, swap out the Algarve for Madeira and follow this itinerary.
When to Visit
I visited in the first half of May. It was definitely busy but not yet peak summer, so the crowds and temps were definitely manageable. With Portugal’s ever increasing popularity, traveling off-peak is becoming more essential but also harder. Traveling in shoulder season is not a secret any more, and so high season is starting to extend into what was previously known as less busy time to travel.
Where to Stay
In Lisbon, I stayed with a friend and in the centrally located My Hotel Rossio, which I highly recommend. In Porto and Madeira, we did AirBnBs. In Porto, we had a high floor two-bedroom near the Trindade metro station, on R. de Gonçalo Cristóvão. This location was not in the city center, which we actually enjoyed. It was still a short walk to all the major sights. In Funchal, we stayed in Casa Laurinda, a very cute and centrally located 1-bedroom. However, the condo was on 3 levels! There were lots of stairs and parking was not included.
Itinerary
The itinerary below is exactly what I followed. I flew in and out of Lisbon for various reasons, which is why my trip begins and ends there. But if you want to gain a little bit of efficiency, fly into Lisbon and fly out of Porto. In the end though, you should have 4 nights in Lisbon, 3 in Porto and 5 in Madeira. I’ve linked up the individual blog posts for each day with the details!
| Day | Overnight | Activity |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | n/a | travel to Lisbon |
| 2 | Lisbon | explore ther Parque das Nações (Park of the Nations) neighborhood (Vasco da Gama tower, cable car, Oceanarium) |
| 3 | Lisbon | Belem District and Museum of Azulejos |
| 4 | Porto | travel to Porto by bus or train; walk around, Livraria Lello |
| 5 | Porto | Porto Main Sights |
| 6 | Porto | Day trip to Douro Valley |
| 7 | Funchal | fly to Madeira; we took a midday flight but you can take an early one and have an almost full extra day there |
| 8 | Funchal | spend the day in Funchal |
| 9 | Funchal | road trip – Cabo Girao, Sao Laurenco hike, Santana Houses |
| 10 | Funchal | road trip – Achadas da Cruz cable car, Porto Moniz and Seixal |
| 11 | Funchal | PR1 Pico de Areiro; Cristo Rei statue in Garajau; Queimadas Forest Park |
| 12 | Lisbon | early flight from Funchal to Lisbon; Lisbon city center & Sao Jorge fortress |
| 13 | Lisbon | day trip to Sintra, Cabo da Roca, Cascais |
| 14 | n/a | travel home |
Itinerary Notes
My nights in Lisbon book-ended my trip – 2 nights on the front end and 2 nights on the back end. For my first 2 nights in Lisbon, I stayed with a friend the Parque das Nações (Park of the Nations) neighborhood. But even if you’re not staying in that area, I recommend exploring this neighborhood to get away from the tourists. I enjoyed experiencing this more modern part of Lisbon and I was pleased to discover it has sights worth seeing in its own right. Just be sure to combine Day 2 and the Museum of Azulejos from Day 3, as they make more sense together if you’re coming to this area from elsewhere. You could also replace that day with whatever else in Lisbon the itinerary does not cover. Or, you could do Lisbon in 3 nights and swap in an extra night in Madeira, for which I have a suggestion below.
The Madeira part of the itinerary assumes you will be renting a car. However, driving in Madeira is not for the faint of heart. Once you leave the highway, you’ll be on narrow steep streets, most likely driving a stick shift. If you’re using the bus system or book a tour, you may not fit all these activities into 4 days/5 nights.
If cable cars are your thing, you will love Madeira – it has 7! Check out my Madeira cable car blog post for all the details.
Just like in Hawaii, the best way to see the island is to spend the night in different parts of it to minimize driving. For various reasons, that’s not what we did. The next best thing is to combine things based on geography (e.g. west side on one day, north side on another day). We tried to do that as best we could, but things like car trouble on one day and my friend having to work on another day got in the way. All that to say, you could probably organize the things we saw in Madeira more efficiently. Our original intention was to do Cabo Girao on the same day as Achadas da Cruz, Porto Moniz and Seixal. Another more efficient combo would be Cristo Rei statue (or omit this entirely), Sao Laurenco hike, Santana Houses and Quiemadas Forest Park on the same day (assuming you’re not doing the full length of levada walk PR9 that starts there and just doing shorter trails). I wish we had time for the Fanal Forest. It’s between Porto Moniz and Seixal, but that was already a full day on our itinerary (day 10). It really does require its own day and can be combined with either PR13 or PR14 for a great day amongst the laurissilva trees.
Other things to note
As is my custom, I got the Lisboa card while in Lisbon. Because my days in Lisbon were not consecutive, I got the 24-hour version but there are other lengths.
At many ATMs in Portugal, you may be asked to pay a 13% commission or conversion fee (still not sure which). You can decline it, and the ATM will give you your money anyway! Don’t walk away from the ATM like I did, assuming the transaction was cancelled entirely. I found this very deceptive and I had to file a claim with my bank to recover the money that the machine apparently spit out after I walked away.
