The east is geologically the oldest part of Madeira and looks the part: worn down, red-ochre, without forest. Anyone expecting the green island is thrown at first — and then stays for exactly that contrast.
Machico, 30 minutes from Funchal on the VR1, was the island’s first settlement and today holds the second imported sand beach. The airport sits in between, on a platform carried by 180 columns above the terrain — the reason the landing has the reputation it has.
Caniçal was a whaling station until 1981. The Museu da Baleia now tells that rupture as a conservation story.
The core of the region is Ponta de São Lourenço, the narrow headland at the eastern end. The waymarked PR8 runs about 8 kilometres there and back, takes roughly three hours and offers not a single patch of shade. Wind and sun are stronger here than anywhere else on the island; two litres of water and a hat are not overkill.
Weather rule: when the north and the centre are shut in, the east is often the only clear spot.
