About your itinerary
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Don't forget that if something isn't quite right we can make changes to the itinerary.
Thank you for your email and I am super excited you are looking to get everything locked in! I have gone ahead and held your Villa for 24hrs as there have been a couple of other groups interested on similar dates to you, so conscious we wouldn't want to lose it.
Your pricing now includes your 7-night stay Villa do Monte, as well as your private transfers to/from Funchal Airport for your review. Should you wish to add in car rental instead, I would recommend we do one of the following:
- Hire 2 Compact Cars, such as a Citroen C4 of similar which would be an extra $22.00 per per person
- Hire 1 Passenger Van (up to 12 passengers) such as a Mercedes Vito, which would be an extra $98.00 per person
I can also confirm that the Lower Floor Room offers 2 x double beds which makes it perfect for your two single friends coming along for a fabulous getaway.
In terms of flights, the best options to get to Funchal, Madeira would be to go via Lisbon en-route for a short layover. You will find USA flights to Madeira fly regularly from Boston, NY, Atlanta, LA & Philly, to name a few. If you wanted me to price anything up, let me know and I would happy to add!
Really excited to confirm your dreamy trip, and following your deposit, I will ensure you have details regarding the Villa's chef with menu choices, as well as additional activities and experiences for your time in this amazing part of Europe.
Best travels,
Maria Gardner 
Your Itinerary In Detail
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This itinerary has been tailor-made for you. No two itineraries are the same and we are always able to make changes if something isn't quite right.
Saturday 8th June 2024
Welcome to Madeira
Welcome to Madeira
Geologically dramatic, bursting with exotic colour and warmed year-round by the Atlantic Sun, Portugal’s most enchanting island is a place that keeps all its subtropical holiday promises. Pearl of the Atlantic, island of eternal spring…Madeira well deserves its fanciful nicknames and the affection visitors and locals alike feel for this tiny volcanic island that offers so much.
Repeatedly voted Europe's, and even the world's, top island destination, Madeira is a diverse place when it comes to holidaymaking. Black sand beaches, the frothing Atlantic, towering rock walls and gushing streams and irrigation channels make this an outdoor nirvana. But it's also a place of gentler pleasures such as wine tasting, visiting lush botanical gardens and watching embroiderers and wicker weavers at work. Hiking the levada irrigation channels is the top activity, with tens of thousands pulling on hiking boots to discover Madeira's secret interior.
Private Vehicle from Funchal Airport to Villa do Monte
Private Vehicle from Funchal Airport to Villa do Monte
Upon your arrival into Funchal, you will be greeted by one of our friendly drivers who will take you all to the beautiful Villa do Monte, ready for six nights of sheer bliss, overlooking the ocean.
Villa do Monte for 7 nights
Villa do Monte for 7 nights
Villa do Monte sits within a small neighbourhood, commanding an elevated position overlooking the bay at Funchal, the capital city of Madeira. Surrounded by traditional village atmosphere and stunning hillside scenery, this contemporary holiday home is a place to feel welcomed and relaxed.
The inside of the villa is an oasis of calm, featuring crisp, white walls and soft furnishings that create a sense of peace. Complementing the neutral colour scheme and light wood floors are stylish design features, which is a theme that continues into the stunning outside space.
On the ground floor is an open-plan living-dining-kitchen space. It’s incredibly bright and airy, thanks to the numerous glass sliding doors that offer beautiful views and direct outdoor access.
There’s beautiful furniture throughout the space, with quirky pieces adding personality and charm. Within the living area is a large sofa where everyone can get together in front of the television in the evenings, with a fireplace creating an even cosier atmosphere. Behind the living area is a dining table that seats up to eight people, with the sleek kitchen conveniently located right next to it. There’s also an office on this floor, which is perfect for enjoying some quiet time alone.
The outside space is of a generous size and features several different areas. Directly accessed via the living-dining-kitchen area is a terrace with outdoor seating, as well as a table for enjoying alfresco dining with fantastic sea views. Further into the garden are areas of lawn dotted with exotic trees and plants. The star of the show, however, is the private swimming pool that lies right at the edge of the garden, giving unparalled views across the bay at Funchal. By the pool are several sun loungers and a daybed for taking in the scenery without getting your feet wet!
Your room: 4 Bedroom Villa
To the first floor are three of the four bedrooms. The Master bedroom has a double bed, large flat screen television, walk-in closet and an en-suite bathroom that features a walk-in shower with rejuvenating waterfall feature. There’s also a daybed perfectly positioned to make the most of the spectacular views over the bay. The other two bedrooms both have a double bed and en-suite bathroom each, as well as a balcony terrace.
On the lower-ground floor is the fourth bedroom with two double beds. There’s also a bathroom with walk-in shower.
Tuesday 11th June 2024
Discover Madeira | Highlights
Discover Madeira | Highlights
Madeira is an island of discovery, and there is nothing short of adventures and experiences to be had. Here are just a handful of fabulous options to consider on your day of leisure.
Step off the Cabo Girão Cliff
It takes a while to adjust your mindset. Madeira’s staircase geography of lush green terraces and dark, plunging cliffs is so abrupt and dramatic, it’s hard to comprehend when first you see it. So go to Cabo Girão early in the trip and accelerate your acclimatisation. Here, not far from the island capital of Funchal, a wall of rock drops 589m, straight down onto one of the island’s all-but-unreachable strips of faja farmland. And to deepen the sense of awe, the clifftop viewpoint has been rebuilt to include a glass-floored skywalk. Some people will tell you this is the highest cliff in Europe. It isn’t, but your heart will be thundering all the same.
Snorkel with Dolphins
The waters around Madeira’s island archipelago are teeming with life. You’d be mad not join a tour and go looking for it. Of course, whale and dolphin sightings are not guaranteed, but the boats are often guided by clifftop spotters — los vigias — to increase the chances, and most companies report a success rate (for dolphin sightings at least) of more than 90 per cent. Simply being out on the Atlantic, with a fresh view of the island, is exciting enough. But to then see a pod of bottlenose, striped or spotted dolphins, or maybe pilot or sperm whales, will give you goosebumps. Some companies also supply wetsuits and snorkelling gear. Swimming with dolphins is not always permitted. It depends which species you find. But if you can, grab your goggles and jump in.
Taste Madeira’s Wine
Madeira wine is, essentially, cooked. Hundreds of years ago the island’s winemakers discovered that if they fortified their produce and took it on a long, hot sea voyage to the East Indies, it became delicious and almost impossible to spoil. Once bottled, it can last for centuries. Now, of course, the process is more scientific, but the estufagem of the wine is still the key — as you’ll learn on one of the many guided tours on offer at the wine lodges of Funchal.
Walk the Levadas
Taming an island as remote and vertiginous as Madeira was a huge, sometimes brutal undertaking, and nothing quite evokes the size of the challenge as its network of levadas. This sinuous and spectacular network of irrigation channels brings water from the wetter northern and western parts of the island to the drier southeast, and at times the channels hug terrifyingly steep hillsides. For self-reliant hikers, the Sunflower guide is the bible, but if you’re setting out on your own, make your first levada walk an easy one. Some, such as the Levada Caldeira Verde, are not for the unfit or faint-hearted. Guided walking tours offer a more reassuring introduction, but avoid Saturday excursions to the Levada das 25 fontes, which can be overcrowded.
Swim in a Giant Rock Pool
Madeira sits at the top of a huge underwater volcano, 6.5km up from the ocean floor. So don’t be surprised by the lack of white-sand beaches. But what the island does have by way of compensation are spectacular, oversized rock pools in which to swim. Most are raw and rudimentary, but at Porto Moniz they’ve been shaped with concrete to create smooth-sided bowls with steps down into the water and, in places, flat bottoms too. With the waves breaking near by and sometimes washing over the pool’s leading edge, it’s the perfect place to flirt with the power of the Atlantic without actually being in its grip.
Ride the Monte Toboggan Run
Who needs snow? It’s more than a century since the locals in the village of Monte realised that their wicker sledges could carry people down into Funchal, just as well as fruit and veg. And it wasn’t long before the island’s growing number of tourists were joining them. On the steep road that drops away from Monte’s church (near the top of Funchal’s cable car) it’s not hard to get going, especially if you’ve greased the runners. It’s the stopping that’s the problem, which is where your team of two carreiros come in, keeping speeds down to 20mph and pulling up after just over 1.5km.
Climb the Pico Ruivo
Madeira scrambles through all kinds of ecosystems as it hauls its way to its highest peak. At the ocean’s edge on the south coast it’s almost tropical. Higher up, beyond the terraced fields and bananas, it can have an almost Alpine feel. But once you’re on the 1,862m peak of the Pico Ruivo, the atmosphere is altogether more austere. Up there you can expect narrow ridges and sun-blasted rock, and even though the R1.2 footpath from Achada do Teixeira is well-mapped and maintained, you might want to join a guided party for your first ascent.
Escape to Porto Santo
There may of course come a time when you’ve had enough of sheer cliffs and lush cloud forest, and long for a proper beach. In which case it’s time to take the boat to Porto Santo. Twenty-five miles northeast of the Ponta do São Lorenço, this is Madeira’s little sister, ready to deliver the ultimate mid-Atlantic beach day with an 8km strip of sand. The return crossing by ferry from Funchal takes two and a half hours each way and gives you almost a full day on the island, albeit with an early start. Once there, hire a kayak from the southern tip and you could deepen the middle-of-nowhere atmosphere by paddling across a narrow strait to the rugged and completely deserted isle of Cal.
Thursday 13th June 2024
Dolphin & Whale Watching Adventure | Small-Group
Dolphin & Whale Watching Adventure | Small-Group
This morning after breakfast, make your own way down to Funchal's Port where you will be greeted by your friendly skipper and small group for a really special 3hr experience out at sea, in pursuit of seeing some of the local dolphins and whales!
Enjoy comfortable and fun cruising aboard your Eco Catamaran, where you will embark on a lovely tour around the island, on the lookout for dolphins, whales and endemic birds. When sea life arrives, the catamaran's electric engines engage for silent emission-free cruising which helps keep the cetaceans very happy!
As specialists in dolphin and whale watching experiences, the team will do everything they can to ensure that you are successful at sighting these beautiful creatures, and however rare, there is a small chance that if there are no sightings, you will have the opportunity to rejoin another group for just 10 EUR per person.
Saturday 15th June 2024
Transfer from Villa do Monte to Funchal Airport
Transfer from Villa do Monte to Funchal Airport
After your special five-night stay, you will be ready for your flight home. Your private vehicle will collect you all from your Villa and take you back to the Airport, in enough time for your flight back to the US.
What's Included
Your itinerary includes
- Luxury Minivan Airport Transfers
- Meet & Greet services
- 7-night stay in Luxury Villa
- Self-Catering
- Small Group Dolphin & Whale Tour
- 24/7 emergency concierge service
Your itinerary excludes
- International flights
- Private Chef Hire
- Additional tours
- Spa Treatments
- Travel insurance
- Resort Fees / City Taxes
- Visas (if applicable)
- Gratuities
Important Information
Travel Advice
It is important to seek independent and up-to-date advice when travelling to any foreign country. Many of our customers ask us to keep them up-to-date on the existing legal position regarding LGBT rights in the country to which they are travelling. You can find up-to-date details on our website under the country which you are travelling to. They are provided as a guide only and laws can change frequently. You should seek advice from the relevant authorities and embassies before travel (if applicable).
Travel Insurance and Terms and Conditions
It is a condition of booking with Out Of Office that you have adequate insurance cover for your trip at the time of booking. Please also ensure you have referred to our terms and conditions which can be found at www.outofoffice.com/terms-and-conditions. Please note that as each booking is tailor-made for you we only confirm the itinerary once we have received a deposit. There is a small chance that availability on some items quoted may change. If this is the case we will book similar accommodation and let you know.