madeira

Madeira has no natural sand beaches. I think there may be a small, man-made one somewhere. I'm not a beach person myself, so I paid no attention to that aspect of Madeira. I've heard of people taking a boat to the island of Porto Santo for beaches.

On both my trips I stayed in Funchal. If you don't rent a car, I think that must surely be the best place, because buses fan out from there. With a car, perhaps there are other options worth considering.

Madeira has quite varied terrain for a small island. You'll need to do some planning to figure out what will work best for your friend. The island is known for its walks along levadas, small irrigation canals. The levadas follow the contours of the land, so they're flat and offer superb views across valleys and sometimes to the sea. The trick is getting up to the starting point and back down from the ending point. I did that by bus (way too long ago to remember any details), but I believe there's at least one company that offers walks along levadas. You don't really need a guide for that, but the company provides transportation between Funchal and the starting/ending points, so it is worth considering. I don't know what a taxi would cost.

A quick Google of "book Madeira levada walks" turned up several books on the subject of Madeira walks. I'd recommend buying one of them for pre-trip research.

I know the area around Funchal is a lot more built up than it was 30 years ago, but the island is stunning, Any bus trip into the interior should produce great scenery, and views along the coast should be good once you escape the Funchal metro area. I remember taking a bus to Curral das Freiras and another through Ribeiro Frio to Santana on the north coast. Bus rides in Madeira are great options when you aren't up to serious hiking.