Madeira For Digital Nomads - Everything You Need To Know Before Visiting

Hey Nomads, welcome to Digital Nomad Stories, the podcast. My name is Anna Claessen and, together with my co-host, kendra Hasse, we interview digital nomads. Why? Because we want to share stories of how they did it. We talk about remote work, online business, location and dependency, freelancing, travel and, of course, the digital nomad lifestyle. If you want to know more about us and access all previous episodes, visit digitalnomadsdoriesco. Alright, let's go into today's episode. Hey Nomad, welcome to a brand new episode of Digital Nomad Stories. Today, i am not here with a guest, it is just me, because I wanted to hop on the mic to tell you a little bit about my own digital nomad life and, specifically, the two months that I spent on Madeira Island. Madeira is an island that belongs to Portugal. It is kind of in the middle of the ocean, in the middle of nowhere, but it belongs to Portugal and I spent two months there at the end of 2022. And I wanted to share a little bit of my experience with you. Because it is so popular at the moment, it feels like everyone was going to Madeira. There is a lot of content out there about what to do, what not to do, and it was just a little bit different than I expected, in the best way possible, so just wanted to tell you a little bit more about it. Alright, here we go. So I think there's a few things that you should know before you consider going to Madeira. For me, what was really important was the weather. That was probably the main reason why I wanted to go to Madeira. It's probably one of the best places in Europe to be weather wise. At the end of the year, i was there in October, november, and it was warm, it was sunny, so that was amazing. My expectation was that it would just be 25 degrees Celsius every day, sunny, no rain whatsoever and just a perfect summer weather. Basically And before you go to Madeira, you should know that that is not always the case Yes, it was sunny most of the time, but we also had one week in those two months that we were there where it was pretty rainy and cloudy. The weather was honestly not great. It was still, it was not cold, but it was not the amazing summer weather that I was hoping for. It was only one week in the eight weeks that we were there, so it was for us, not a problem, but if you would go there for one week and you get unlucky, then you could have definitely a lot of rain. Another thing that I noticed about the weather that I also didn't really know or expect, but it makes a lot of sense is it's a pretty small island in the middle of the ocean, so the water can change really, really quickly And also the weather on one part of the island can be completely different from another part of the island. So we were staying in the main city on Madeira, funchal, and we have experienced where we would just leave our apartment in the morning It was sunny, it was super warm. We were going on a hike and we drove for maybe 45 minutes, arrived on a different part of the island and it was super rainy and the weather was just horrible. And then we drove back a few hours later and in Funchal it was sunny and I don't think it ever rained there that day. So that is also something to consider. The water can change so fast and it can be very, very different on different parts of the island. Just so that your expectations are realistic there, if you are going there for the weather, like me, then I think this is really good to know. And another thing that you should know before you plan your workation or nomad life in Madeira is that it's definitely not as affordable than it was a few years ago. I feel like prices have gone up immensely in the last few years because it's just so popular. We definitely struggled to find a really good but also affordable Airbnb because, yeah, that was pretty difficult to find everything that we wanted within also a pretty decent price range in the time that we were going. So I think that's also something to consider, but I'll talk a little bit more about the cost of living a little bit later on. If you're thinking about going to Madeira, then just know that it's not the most budget destination that you can go for in the world and or in Europe. Okay, so when I started planning our trip to Madeira, the first kind of like big decision that came up was where are we going to stay? A lot of digital nomads stay in the digital nomad village on Madeira, which is actually called Ponta Rousseau. It's a really small fisherman village and there is just not much more than a beach, like a small supermarket, like two restaurants and a lot of digital nomads. I wasn't really sure what to expect there, so that was pretty interesting And we eventually decided to stay in Funchal, like I said, the main city on Madeira. I was so glad that we made that decision. So I'll tell you a little bit about when I think Funchal is a good choice, when Ponta Rousseau is a better choice. So, like I mentioned, ponta Rousseau is really really small. There is not much there, there is not much to do, and it was a good 20 minute drive by car To go to Funchal where all the restaurants are, where you can go for coffee and things like that, and also co-working, i don't know just cafes to go to. There was definitely not much of that in Ponta Rousseau. There is one co-working space actually, so that was not entirely true what I just said. But if you want to go to a lot of different places and have a coffee at a different cafe every day, like I like to do, or I don't know, just do a lot of different things then Funchal is probably more your thing. And what I personally really really liked about Funchal was that it's very walkable. It's hilly, though. We eventually found an Airbnb that was really nice, it was actually perfect And it was just slightly out of the city center, like a 10 minute walk out of the city center, and that was great because it was really quiet in the evening. There was not much going on in the actual street where the Airbnb was, but it was a 10 minute walk to all the action And that was great. Like I said, it was very easy to just walk down the hill and have everything there. You could make a beautiful walk next to the ocean. The only thing that was not great, i think, about Funchal was that they have not really sandy beaches, they're just pabble beaches. So if you're a huge beach person, i don't know if you like Funchal that much, but that is a thing on most of Manera Island. There are a few sandy beaches, but not that many. Most are pabble beaches. So yeah, that's just also something to keep in mind. So swimming and stuff like that was always a bit of a hassle, but yeah, i mean still cannot really complain, right. But yeah, i really loved that about Funchal, that it was super walkable, that everything everything that I needed was in walking distance, even a dive school. I got my dive certification there. That also got sick from diving. The hospital, also in walking distance, came in handy, unfortunately. But yeah, i needed that. But yeah, like I said, everything there was a co-working space, with them walking distance, but also a bunch of cafes where digital nomads were working and beautiful market where you could buy fresh fruits and stuff like that, but also just massive supermarkets and a shopping mall where you could get anything that you need. So that was really great And I was a little bit surprised by that. I didn't really know what to expect, but Funchal was a super livable city, i think. Yeah, that was really great. And also within the city, it was so cute. Like they have all these really cute cobblestone streets. When you're down at the water, because it's very hilly, you can look up kind of like inland, and it was so beautiful. Like there were always some like higher parts of the island that were in the clouds And, yeah, it was just so beautiful. I was pretty wild to just live there for two months and I really enjoyed that. So, okay, that brings me to the next point that I wanted to talk about, and that is very important because we also have work to do. So I also wanted to touch on how Wi-Fi and kind of like the co-working situation was, or working situation in general, and in my experience, this was really good. I work most of the time from home or from my Airbnb, and in our Airbnb Wi-Fi was perfect. Also, the Nomads that I met they also did not have any complaints about Wi-Fi and their Airbnb. So I think, just in general, it's pretty good on the island And there were a lot of places where it was also just accepted that you would just work there with your laptop. So there were definitely some options. There's also, like I said, i think there are even two co-working spaces now in Funchal. It's a small city, but a new one opened just after we left, so you have a bit of a choice there also. But there were also, like I said, cafes where you could go and people were sitting there with laptops and it's totally fine. It's not frowned upon or anything, and Wi-Fi there was also fine. So yeah, in general, i think it is just really easy to work in Funchal and on different places on the island honestly, so that was not a problem at all. Another thing that I really really liked about Madeira as you can probably hear, i'm a huge fan Like I cannot wait to go back and I will go back for sure, because we had such a good time there. But the main thing that made Madeira really special was one living in Funchal because it was such a livable city, but then also getting out of the city on the weekends and there was just so much to do Like insane how much there was to do in such a small island And I was a little bit worried about that maybe before we went like two months on such a small island, but there are so many different things to do So I was not bored at all in those two months. I could have easily stayed another month or even two. So most weekends we rented a car. There is public transport on Madeira but my experience it was pretty difficult to go around by bus on the island, like within the city. It was not a problem. But for a lot of places on the island where I wanted to go, there were not many buses and it was pretty difficult to find out when buses were relieving and stuff like that. So we opted for the easy option and just rented a car, which was pretty easy and very common to rent a car for one or two days, so that was definitely not a problem. It was also really easy to drive on the island like nothing crazy, no crazy traffic or anything. So some of the things that we did on the weekend was a lot of hikes, a lot of different hikes also. Like there are it's like pretty like there's a lot of elevation and stuff, so like you can do some pretty intense hikes, but there was also there's also a part of the island where it's really green, but there's also a part where it's a lot drier and you have more like the views over the ocean and stuff like that. There are some really cute villages that you can visit. We did dolphin watching tour, which is also pretty awesome. There's a lot of water sports. I spent a lot of time on in the dye center because I was getting my dye certification, so yeah, it was just like, in general, a lot to do. We also went kayaking one weekend and then so it was kayaking and then on that spot you went snorkeling also, which was also really cool. So yeah, there was just a ton of things to do. There is also a party every Friday I believe Pearl Friday and I did not go even once, so but I think it's supposed to be really cool. I'm just not someone who goes to parties like that, but yeah, there was definitely a lot to do on the weekend. There were also a few different beaches on the island to explore, also some sandy beaches, but mostly power beaches. But if you like nature, hiking, water activities, things like that, then you will have an amazing time on Madeira. Okay, so everything was awesome so far. That I told you. Let's talk a little bit about the cost of living, because I think that's also really important to know, because I personally maybe expected Madeira to be a little bit more affordable, especially for accommodation, because our Airbnb was like. We searched for a long time to find the Airbnb that we eventually found and it was one of the cheaper options and eventually it was not crazy. I think we paid around 1200 euros per month for a one-bedroom Airbnb. Like I said, it was about 10 minutes walk outside of the inner city of Funchal, so it was super, super central and it was a really great little Airbnb. So I'm very happy that we found that. But, like I said, that was one of the most affordable options that we found and other than that, there was not that much, so also worth mentioning. We chose to book through Airbnb because there are quite a few scams going on in Facebook groups. We read about that a lot, so I was very hesitant to book something and transfer money to someone who I didn't know. So we opted for Airbnb this time because of that, to just make sure that there was actually an apartment when we arrived. In our experience, groceries were about the same price as we would pay here in Germany, where I am now. It is cheaper than, for example, the Netherlands, but more expensive than, i think, a lot of Eastern European countries. So, yeah, depending what your reference point is, that could be expensive or it could be cheap. Of course, in my experience, going out for dinner or lunch or breakfast was pretty affordable, especially compared to prices in the supermarket. For example, a coffee in the inner city of Frantzl or somewhere touristy was maybe one euro, which is actually really good, so I was pleasantly surprised by that. In the car rental, i think we paid around 50 euros for a day. Yeah, i think that's the most important cause that we had during our time in Funchal. So that's a little bit about the cost of living. Like I said, i think lately especially, it has become a lot more expensive to be a digital nomad in Madeira, especially because of housing costs. So something to keep in mind. And finally, if you're excited because of my whole episode here around Madeira, because I am so excited about Madeira. I think it was just one of my favorite places where I went in the past almost five years of nomadding. So yeah, if you're also excited, also want to tell you a little bit about the best time to go to Madeira. So we were there in October, november. That was a really good time to be there, like it was most days. It was not extremely hot, it was just like really good spring or like good summer weather where it was not crazy at all. Like in the evening it also cools off a little bit, which was really nice, and then in the mountains it's always a lot cooler than down at the coast. So there was definitely escaping the heat, if you want to. There was some rain, but not a lot, and as far as I know, that is the weather all year round, and I think that's also a big reason why Madeira is so popular is because it doesn't really get extremely cold, it doesn't get extremely hot. The weather is always like really mild. If that is what you like, then I highly recommend going to Madeira And I personally also recommend going for a little bit longer because, like I mentioned, we had one week where it was pretty rainy and the weather is just it's hard to predict. So if you can go for a few weeks instead of just one week, i highly recommend it. There is enough to do Then it doesn't matter as much if it's a little bit rainy, because a lot of the activities are also outside activities. Best time to go, i think, whenever you want, but I personally really liked October, november, because it was just getting pretty cold in a big part of Europe And we did want to stay within Europe. So then Madeira was actually a really good decision, i think. All right. So that was a little bit about being a little nomad at Madeira and what to expect, what you should know before you go. And, yeah, hopefully this is helpful also If you're planning a trip to Madeira. Just some things to know. If you liked this episode, let me know, because that is super fun for me to know that people are actually listening, and then I'll also record some more episodes about places where I went. There's a lot of travels planned for the rest of the year, so I'm excited to record a few more of these episodes. Thank you for listening. Bye, and that's it for today. Thank you so much for listening. I appreciate it very, very much. I would appreciate it even more if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts for me. That way, more people can find this podcast, more people can hear the inspiring stories that we're sharing, and the more people we can impact for the better. So, thank you so much if you are going to leave a review. I really appreciate you and I will see you in the next episode.