Why Madeira?
► Why Madeira?
Madeira, due to its favourable geographical position, is not only an economic centre, it’s also an important transit port for many countries and a safe place to live.
The friendliness and the hospitality of its people, is a characteristic of this island.
► Where is Madeira Island?
Madeira Island is an autonomous region of Portugal, located approximately at 1000 km from Lisbon on the mainland continent of Portugal. It is the largest and most important island of the archipelago. The neighbouring island of Porto Santo was first discovered and is known as the “Golden Island”. It is much smaller than Madeira and very different in respect of its urography - the land is more flat and vegetation is scarce, thus a more arid climate than in Madeira. Its main attraction is its beautiful 9km stretch of golden sandy beach. The Desertas are a group of islands, which also forms part of the archipelago – these are made up of Deserta Grande, Bugio, Ilha Chão and Prego do Mar. Selvagens islands consist of the Selvagem Grande, Selvagem pequena and Ilheu de Fora.
► Weather in Madeira
A combination of sub-tropical and Mediterranean climate throughout the year, allows tourists and visitors to enjoy 3 thousand hours of sunlight exposure per annum in both summer and wintertime too. Average air temperatures fluctuate between 16ºC and 19ºC in winter and 21ºC to 25ºC in summer. A fairly humid climate with around 80 days of rain each year - most of which occurs during the winter months at altitudes between 700 m to 1300 m above sea level. Good telecommunications and postal services include latest technology with direct dialling to and from anywhere in the world, express mail services plus the most up to date Internet connection technology - all of which contribute to the ideal retirement location in Europe.
► How to travel to Madeira
Aside from flights to the island, Madeira offers excellent maritime transport facilities and infrastructures by way of its two deep sea ports – one in Funchal and another in Porto Santo. Cargo vessels dock at the Caniçal port located on the East of the island. The newly renovated Funchal harbour is now known as one of the most popular ports of call for luxury cruise liners linking Europe to the Americas.
► Flights to Madeira
There are two international airports – one in Madeira and the other in Porto Santo. Direct flights are available from many European cities including Frankfurt, Milan, London, Gatwick, Paris, Madrid, Zurich as well as Lisbon on the mainland continental Portugal.
► Funchal – Madeira
Funchal is the capital City of Madeira Island, where 75% of the population lives.
► Tourism in Madeira
Although tourism is the main industry on the island and has been so for the last century, the internationally renowned Madeira wine, hand embroidery, wicker-works, indigenous flowers and exotic tropical fruit also form part of the local economy. Approximately 1 Million tourists currently visit the island per year – most of who originate from European countries.
► Time zone in Madeira
Madeira operates an hour ahead of GMT.
► Investing in a property in Madeira
Madeira as Tourist Island for excellence has tourists looking for where to stay throughout the year. Therefore, investing in property, it can became in a rental business if, while you are not in Madeira your property can be rented for someone else.
► Relatively low cost of living
The cost of living in Portugal - Madeira is lower than in many other European countries.
Madeira's wonderful climate allows several harvests of fruits and vegetables a year. A wide variety of vegetables and local fruits as banana, papaya, mango, avocado, passion fruit and many others, are at disposal on local market and supermarkets.
