The north shoreline in Madeira is where you tend to find the biggest waves and it was fun to discover some pretty places to watch them. Here are just two of the areas we enjoyed.
Porta da Cruz
The surfing town of Porta da Cruz, a 30 minute drive from Funchal, is a best place to visit if you want to watch surfers riding the waves. We typically parked here as it's free and a great location to walk down to the water where there are a few places to grab food or a drink.
Then we suggest taking the walking path that shows up on google maps here. It's listed as Miradouro Furna do Porto da Cruz and you walk pasts some amazing natural water features that are quite mesmerizing to watch. There is also a pool here which might be fun during summer months (it was closed during the two months we were here during Nov/Dec).
The walkway goes all around the little peninsula and brings you to Alagoa beach where sometimes there are surfers navigating this small cove. There's a little hill you can climb that has some ruins on it and pretty views. North Mills Distillery is also located here which is one of the oldest sugar mills remaining on the island and uses steam power. You can step inside to see some of their equipment and try some of their rum in the tasting room. It's a great place to try poncha.
If you still have time, drive to Praia da Maiata. It's a larger cove with both rocks and black sand and when the tide is right has lots of surfers (some wearing t-shirts from the local surf school). Even if there aren't people in the water to watch it's a beautiful place to sit and enjoy the waves.
Ruínas de São Jorge
The entire drive here is wonderful no matter which direction you are coming from but the last part as you approach the parking area is especially pretty. Then it's a short walk to the cool ruins which are from a sugarcane mill and are located in a small picturesque cove. You walk past a swimming pool facility/restaurant that looked nice although we didn't try it.
The rocky beach next to the ruins is a great place to plop down to watch the waves.
If you want, you can walk past the ruins and a few banana trees and continue up to where the walkway ends. This puts you higher and you can look down on the waves and enjoy wonderful views up the coastline in both directions. There is an old trail here that used to continue but has been blocked off due to damage from rockslides. We started on it for a little bit for some pretty views but turned around pretty quickly as it's really isn't safe to go very far.
If you are up for a little climb (under 1/2 mile) and want to try the best espetada we had on the island follow the sign pointing to Cabo Aereo. There you'll be greeted by the friendly owner (and his bajillion beautiful cats) and seated at an outside table with a gorgeous view. He uses traditional long sticks from bay leaf to skewer the meat and cooks them over an open fire. He also offers fish and other options as well.
December 2022
Those ruins look amazing!! I miss those big crashing waves so much. 😭