East Tour – Santana

We start our tour visiting Camacha, a rural and rustic village known for the Madeira folklore and world-renowned for its industry of wickerwork.

Our next stop is Pico do Areeiro, the third highest peak in the island, with an altitude of 1818m providing fabulous 360′ island views. Often, rocky formations can be seen to be piercing through the clouds creating the most breath taking visuals and photo opportunities.

Next we move on to Ribeiro Frio (meaning cold river). Ribeiro Frio is a small village situated in the heart of the Laurissilva forest. It is the largest surviving area of laurel forest in the world and is believed to be 90% primary forest. In this classified UNESCO World Natural Heritage site, we can enjoy a fantastic variety of plants and species in habitat. We can also observe the interesting Trout farm made up (as naturally as possible) of stone enclosures, fresh flowing levada water, set against a beautiful backdrop of pure nature.

We continue our tour to Faial where we can view the imposing rock of Penha de Águia, which separates Faial from Porto da Cruz. With a lengthy stop at the village of Santana, you will have ample time for lunch and also take the opportunity to see Madeira’s world famous typical thatched roved triangular houses, painted in happy primary colors.

Passing by Portela, en route to Ponta São Lourenço, situated in the most eastern part of the island, we can see this magnificent landscape characterized by the fantastic combination of rocks, sea and nature. Our final stop is the larger city of Machico; the first area of the Island that the Portuguese navigators came across, at the time of the discoveries.