Madeira where to stay outside of Funchal and Machicho

The drive from Porto Moniz, then along the coast to Ponta do Pargo, and back to Funchal is not a worthwhile route. The scenery is nothing spectacular. There are also lots of twists and turns which make the route not fun for passengers. I suggest, if visiting Porto Moniz, to return back to Funchal by way of Sao Vicente, towards Ribeira Brava, and back to Funchal.

I also recommend staying just in Funchal. I would break up the driving with one day from Funchal- Santana-Sao Vicente-Funchal and another day driving Funchal-Sao Vicente-Porto Moniz-Sao Vicente-Funchal. There are lots of spectacular places to visit along both routes. Use one of the days to explore Funchal and take the cable car up to Monte to visit Jardim Botanico da Madeira. You can spend hours at the garden.

A great website for Madeira is www.madeira-web.com.

Thanks so much for the reply, in looking into it further, I think you are right in just basing the whole time in Funchal – the island is very small and I like your driving suggestions.

I was looking on the far West side more for these Miradouro de Garganta Funda, Miradouro de Ponya Da Ladeira, the Cable Car at Achadas da Cruz, and maybe if foggy, the Fanal Forest.

This might be the new plan:
• Fly in, hire car, drop bags at Funchal where we will stay the whole time
• First day: Do one day of mountains, hiking going from Funchal to Santana (via Curral das Freiras, Pico do Arieiro, Ribeira Frio, Balcoes Viewpoint, Miradouro do Guindaste), to Sao Vicente, then south to Ribeira Brava, then Funchal
• Second day - option one as suggested: (Worried if this is wasting kilometres on stuff already seen though?) Do one day of scenic driving from Funchal to Ribeira Brava (repeated from day before), to Sao Vicente (repeated from day before), then Port Moniz (new), then U-turn back to Sao Vicente (repeated day before, and earlier today), back to Funchal.
• Second day - option two: Do one day of scenic driving from Funchal to Ribeira Brava (repeated from day before), to Sao Vicente (repeated from day before), then Port Moniz (new), then looking at viewpoints along the way to Ponta da Pargo, then maybe trying one of the internal roads (ER110, or ER209 with Fanal Forest on it?) back to VE4 road, back to Funchal. Do you think that would be more interesting?

Do you think skipping the bottom edge from Miradouro de Garganta Funda to Ribeira Brava would be OK then? Not missing anything "must see"? I can see there are some cute fishing villages, and Ponta do Sol pops up on a few people's lists too. You think the other bits are better? I am very excited about the top edge drive, as that looks spectacular, with a dozen Miradouros, a nice vineyard, and Sao Vincente looks lovely to visit (maybe hike up to the Fatima lookout?)

If I am reading correctly, your day 1 is a "hike". Please reconsider this plan. I looked at a map walking route from Funchal to Sao Vicente and the time it says (around 17 hours) is truly not realistic. That is a lot of ground and altitude to cover. Even if you accomplished it, then you need as much time back to Funchal by foot.

We chose one hike, Levada Walk at Vareda do Balcoes (PR 11), and thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a small taste of the island hiking/levada system.

The eastern part of the island is more beautiful to me, especially the tip at Miradouro da Quinta do Lorde. Spending a few minutes watching arriving airplanes (on a google map type Madeira Airport Spotting) above the runway was exhilarating. A couple of hours at Parque Tematico da Madeira was fun. These are just some of the sites on that route. There are lots more. I think you get a lot more bang from your available time on this side of the island. Use the map on the website I mentioned to see what piques your interest on any driving route you are thinking of taking. There are literally hundreds of worthwhile sites and experiences on the island from which to choose. Three full days is only scratching the surface of Madeira.

Hahaha, noooooo, oh I'm sorry, I meant that as a drive, then just hiking on a couple of the stops where there are trails, apologies!

Will check that out, that sounds very interesting! I guess our main goal in the 3 days (which I know is short) is to see the unique nature on the island, that's our main priority. More keen to see the landscapes.