Walking in Madeira

This guidebook includes a rich and varied selection of walks on Madeira, including levada walks, steep volcanic ridge walks, cliff walks and valley walks. Also covers the neighbouring island of Porta Santo.

Carta Militar (1:25,000)

Sheets: 1– 9

Plano Director Municipal (1:25,000)

Sheet: Porto Santo

Maps of a quality similar to Ordnance Survey Landranger and Explorer maps of Britain are not available on Madeira. The Portuguese equivalent of the Ordnance Survey is the ‘Serviço Cartográfico do Exército’. They produce the 1:25,000 scale ‘Carta Militar’ or Military Maps of Madeira, which cover the island in nine sheets. There is also the ‘Instituto Geográfico e Cadastral’ (IGC) that produces the 1:50,000 scale ‘Ilha da Madeira’ maps in two sheets. Contouring on both these series is good, and most landscape features are clear, but they tend to be out of date in terms of new roads and developments. Some of the ‘levadas’ are badly drawn (water does not flow uphill!) and some of the paths shown may be impassable. If you like OS style maps, these are the best that are available.

Other maps of Madeira tend to be rather ‘touristy’. They make more of an attempt to show new roads and developments, but also copy errors from the Military Maps. Contouring is vague, and while most maps attempt to show some of the walking routes, it is all rather hit-and-miss. Some routes are shown dangerously out-of-line. Try the Freytag and Berndt 1:50,000 map of Madeira. The scale on this map is wrong; it is closer to 1:55,000. There is also the 1:40,000 Madeira Tour and Trail Map, published by Discovery Walking Guides.

The maps quoted in this guidebook are the Military Maps and IGC Maps of Madeira. To use these, order them well in advance from map suppliers such as Stanfords (12–14 Long Acre, London WC2E 9BR, tel 0207 836 1321), The Map Shop (15 High Street, Upton-upon-Severn WR8 0HJ, tel 01684 593146), or Cordee (3a De Montford Street, Leicester LE1 7HD, tel 0116 254 3579). Simpler maps of Madeira and free tourist maps can be obtained on reaching the island.