Walking in the Island of Madeira

There are two distinct types of walking on Madeira:

The levadas, with paths running level alongside the water channels that distribute water from the mountains to the terraces and villages.

The central mountains, with stupendous views, steep ascents and descents.

The levadas get a lot more visitors than than the mountain paths. Some paths are very exposed - you walk along a 1foot wide concrete rim of the water channel above an unprotected drop of 50 foot or more. These paths can be avoided, and many levada walks are a gentle stroll. The hardest bit can be climbing a steep road to the start, or descending a similarly over-steep road at the end.

Funchal is the best base for walking, and the local buses provide an excellent service to get out for the start of each walk in the morning.
The gondola also provides good access to a couple of the main levada walks.

The only detailed maps of Madeira are 1:50000 published by Instituto Geografico e Cadastral.
These two maps show the levadas clearly, but not which are walkable. The mountain paths are shown, but very difficult to pick out!

The main fruit and vegetable market in Funchal