With great weather for the better part of the year, Madeira is an ideal destination for those who enjoy spending time outdoors and equally for families with little ones who like to occupy themselves with fun activities. The Aquaparque in Santa Cruz and the Madeira Theme Park in Porto Moniz are arguably the highlights of the manmade attractions, but for all-round appeal the beaches come top.

Aquaparque
Located within the Santa Cruz village, this popular themed attraction is everything you would expect of a well-made water park. Among the features are five slides, each offering a different variation of twists and turns, plus four rapid tracks, a black hole, a rapid river and an area for toddlers with a shallow pool and water features. 
Phone: 351 291 524 412; www.aquaparque.com/ 

Beaches
Whether you’re just looking to relax in the sun with a good book or get some serious sea action, Madeira’s beaches are ideal settings. There are numerous spots for enjoying these and other activities on both Madeira and Porto Santo islands. The sands are known for being a touch coarse and pebbly but the waters are famed for being crystal clear and warm all year round.

Big Game Fishing
A big game fishing excursion is the ideal day out for established angling enthusiasts and novices wanting an exciting day out alike. Water depths of beyond 1,000 metres can be found within a five-minute boat ride of the shore and it’s in these waters that you’ll find species such as blue marlin, white marlin, big eye tuna, blue and yellow fin tuna and barracuda, among others. Funchal is home to one of the most established fishing tour scenes.

Golf
The Mediterranean climate makes for ideal golfing conditions and also provides ideal weather for keeping golf courses lush and idyllic. On Madeira Island, enthusiasts of the game will find courses at Palheiro and Santo da Serra, while on Porto Santo Island there’s a course located at the capital, Porto Santo. 
Phone: +351 291 792116 (Palheiro Golf Course)

Madeira Aquarium
This highly impressive undersea-themed visitor centre is located in the Porto Moniz area of Madeira Island. Offering plenty to interest all members of the family, the aquarium is home to 12 tanks, each with its own theme and featuring a varied array of marine life found in the Madeiran seas. The Madeiran rays and stingrays are favourites with many visitors. 
Phone: + 351 291 850 340; www.aquariodamadeira.com/content/section/24/26/lang,en/

Madeira Theme Park
Arguably the top family attraction in the archipelago, the Madeira Theme Park presents a unique mix of culturally and historically informative features with outdoor pursuits such as rock climbing, bungee jumping, cable sliding and boating. 
Phone: +351 291 570 410; www.parquetematicodamadeira.pt/en/default.asp

Enthusiasts of art, history and local heritage are guaranteed to find something to interest them while holidaying in Madeira. The main island offers a great selection of museums covering all these themes and more besides, with highlights including the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Museum of Quinta das Cruzes.

Casa de Cristovao Colombo
The famous Italian explorer, Christopher Columbus, allegedly made a home in this old building on Porto Santo, which has since been converted into a modest museum. There’s not a huge amount of evidence to support the claim but historians agree that Columbus did indeed visit Porto Santo on his travel. In one of the rooms in the museum there are maps, engravings and other visual imagery depicting some of Columbus’ best known travel exploits. 
Phone: +351 291 983 405

Frederico de Freitas Museum
This museum located in the archipelago’s capital is named after the man whose collections provide the basis of its displays. Ceramics form a significant part of the collection, including tiles of Turkish, Moorish and North African origin, as well as porcelain pieces of Madeiran origin. There’s also an interesting collection of sculptures and wood and metalwork pieces. 
Phone: +351 291 220 570

Museum of Contemporary Art
Housed in the old Forte São Tiago and popularly held to be one of Portugal’s top five art museums, Funchal’s Museum of Contemporary Art features a large collection of works, many of which were donated by the artists responsible for creating them. On permanent display are works by Artur Rosa, Helena Almeida, Joaquim Rodrigo, Manuel Babtista, António Areal, Jorge Martins and Nuno Siqueira. 
Phone: +351 291 213 340

Museum of Quinta das Cruzes
The museum is set inside the former private residence of Portuguese explorer Joao Gonçalves Zarco, the man accredited with discovering the Madeira Islands. Included in the collection are objects brought to the archipelago by English travellers during the 1700s. English furniture, Chinese ceramics, antique Portuguese silver and locally made wooden pieces are among the highlights of the collection. 
Phone: +351 291 74 06 70

Whale Museum (Museu da Baleia)
Located in Canical, a small fishing village on the east of the island, this museum tells the story of an industry that for many decades, formed an integral part of the local economy. On display in the museum are items of equipment used for hunting, photographs, a whaling boat and even a life-size model of a whale. 
Phone: +351 291 961 407

Both Madeira Island and Porto Santo offer excellent dining scenes, which are bolstered by the splendid cuisine that is typical of the archipelago. Fresh fish and seafood feature heavily in popular kitchen creations and good examples include tuna steak with fried cornmeal (bife de atum e milho frito) and the tasty fish soup known as caldeirada. Other specialities to look out for include espetada, a spit-roasted beef creation; sopa de tomate e cebola, a tasty tomato and onion soup, and the deliciously sweet honey cake known as bolo de mel.

There’s no shortage of dining establishments on offer, with Funchal presenting the largest selection. The old town area of Funchal has some of the best restaurants, which are also the most popular with tourists. An equally impressive selection can be found at the city’s marina. All of the major resorts offer a mixed selection of both Portuguese and Madeiran eateries, as well as international restaurants, so dining is never a dull experience.

For shopping, Madeira Island is the best destination, with Funchal in particular offering a selection of outlets likely to put smiles on the faces of shopaholics. The covered retail centre in Funchal, known simply as Madeira Shopping, is home to some of the best stores, with visitors given a total of 83 outlets to choose from. Similarly impressive are Forum Madeira and Dolce Vita shopping malls.

There are numerous good shopping streets to choose from, with some of the small, narrow ones filtering off larger ones and offering some real gems in the way of unusual goods. The chief shopping streets on the island include: Rua da Queimada de Cima, Rua de Joao Tavira, Rua dos Ferreiros, Rua da Carreira,
Rua Fernão Ornelas and Rua da Queimada de Baixo.