Funchal

Lavradores market, the Monte toboggan and Palheiro camellias

Start early at the Mercado dos Lavradores, then walk into the Zona Velha to see the painted doors on Rua de Santa Maria. Take the cable car up to Monte, look round the church and the gardens, and come back down part of the way by wicker toboggan. Lunch on espada com banana, then visit a wine lodge in the centre for a tasting.

On day two, spend the morning at the Botanical Garden, about 3 km above town. After lunch, ride bus 36 or 37 to Quinta do Palheiro, when the morning coach groups have left, and take tea at the tea house by the camellia avenue. End with poncha in the old town.

If the weather is clear on either evening, walk west along the seafront promenade towards the Lido as the sun drops behind Cabo Girão, then eat in the Zona Velha.

Pico do Arieiro sunrises, Porto Moniz pools and a Porto Santo crossing

Use Funchal as a base for day trips across Madeira: sunrise above the clouds at Pico do Arieiro, levada walks around Ribeiro Frio or Rabaçal, the harbour at Câmara de Lobos and the lava pools at Porto Moniz. Roads are steep and slow, so many visitors hire a scooter. Ferries run to Porto Santo's sandy beach.

Funchal is the hub for the rest of Madeira, and the island is small enough for day trips in every direction. Drive up to Pico do Arieiro for sunrise above the clouds, walk a levada around Ribeiro Frio or Rabaçal, and stop at the fishing harbour of Câmara de Lobos, just west of the city. The natural lava pools at Porto Moniz, on the north-west tip, make a full-day outing.

Roads are steep and twisting, so plan on slow progress. Many visitors hire a scooter or motorbike, which is easy to arrange in the centre. Ferries also run to Porto Santo, the neighbouring island with a long sandy beach.

Mountain weather shifts fast, and the peaks can be in cloud while Funchal sits in sunshine. Check the forecast and the levada path closures before you set out, and start early, as the high car parks fill by mid-morning.

Espetada, scabbard fish and poncha

Madeira's most typical dish looks strange on paper and works on the plate: espada com banana, fillets of the deep-water black scabbard fish fried and topped with banana, usually with salad and boiled potatoes. The fish is landed at night from great depths, and you can see the eel-like, black-skinned specimens laid out at the fish hall of the Mercado dos Lavradores in the morning.

Meat means espetada, chunks of beef rubbed with garlic and salt and grilled on skewers that were traditionally cut from bay-laurel branches, hung from a hook over your table. It comes with bolo do caco, a flat bread cooked on a stone slab and spread with garlic butter, which you will find all over town as a snack. Grilled lapas (limpets) sizzling in butter and lemon are the classic starter by the sea, and picado, diced beef with chips, is a shared dish.

Upstairs at the market, stalls sell passion fruit in several varieties, custard apples and bananas grown on the island's terraces. To drink, try poncha, sugar-cane spirit shaken with honey and lemon, in the small bars of the Zona Velha, and book a tasting of Madeira wine in one of the old lodges on Avenida Arriaga.