Where almost every visitor arrives: a runway built over the sea on 180 pillars, with a quiet palm-lined town underneath.
Madeira's airport is part of the trip. The island had no flat land long enough for a modern runway, so the engineers built one in the air: the extension opened in 2000 stands on 180 concrete pillars, some of them 70 metres tall, with a road and a sports area underneath.
The town itself is one of the oldest on the island and one of the least visited. It has a sixteenth-century church, a market, a pebble beach and a seafront shaded by palm trees, where you can sit with a coffee and watch the planes turn in over the water.
A tipWith a few hours before a flight, this is a better place to wait than the departure lounge: the terminal is five minutes away.
- From Funchalabout 20 minutes by car
- Runway2,781 m, extended over the sea in 2000
- ChurchSão Salvador, 16th century
At the end of the route, in Funchal, four artists draw whatever you bring back from the island: a place, a flower, a word, a set of coordinates.
The outline of the island
Madeira in a single line.