Madeira Island Discovery - Winter

An excellent trip to explore and discover Madeira. Staying in one hotel, in a convenient Funchal location, was a bonus. Best moments for me were the swim in the volcanic rock pools of Porto Moniz, the walk above the clouds to Pico do Arieiro, and, not least, the amazing travel companions and our guide Benny.

wonderful trip with an excellent leader, we explored most of the island

I enjoyed the trip, the group interacted well with every one. The tour leader took our views and was very helpful to all. The program was well chosen and all participated. We had some energy left after each tours. The leader made the tours exciting and I was quite happy to participate in activities. I would recommend this trip to anyone wishing to visit the island. Also there are benefits in choosing a small group as it is easier to interact with others and form friends.

A relaxed trip but I feel I experienced all corners and aspects of the island. The itinerary was varied each day and there is nothing I would have left out. Filipe the tour leader was excellent and very knowledgable about his home island. Every evening there was an option to join him at a good local restaurant which most did and matters for a single traveller.

Hotel was under construction and we were not told before. Welcome drink is awful sweet sparkling wine,horrible. You could take out the museum and embroidery place,neither interesting and have a waterfall hike@

A fantastic trip with a varied itinerary seeing highlights across the island. From levada walks in wonderful scenery, to boat trips to spot dolphins and whales, swimming in the amazing natural pools, making bread, tasting regional delicacies and plenty of madeira wine and poncho tasting. I Loved the addition o tea at the world-famous Reid's Hotel making this trip just a bit more special than it's competitors. This is a wonderful trip led by an outstanding guide in Benny. Highly recommend this trip to anyone.

We loved Joao! He made the trip **

Great adventure and itineracy. Joao was an amazingly knowledgeable and fun guide. Nice sized group, worked really well. Maderia is a beautiful island.

The entire trip was wonderful and well planned out . The hotel was bad as it was being renovated so no hot water for showers and banging all day

An excellent holiday, very enjoyable. The tour leader and programme were both very good. The trip provided an excellent introduction to Madeira.

Excellent itinerary and knowledgeable leader, who also knew the right places to eat. Slightly let down by the absence of aircon in the hotel - it wouldn't usually matter but this was an exceptionally hot wekk.

This was my first group tour and it was a truly fantastic experience! Our group leader was so knowledgeable and a great asset to our group, he went above and beyond to make sure we were all happy. The tour of Madeira showcased the fabulous landscape, industry and local people. I had the most amazing time and would encourage anyone who is thinking about going to book!

This accomodation for this trip was at one hotel in centre Funchal Though well located it had no air conditioning and was very noisy. Explore booked this hotel knowing its problems which had been highlighted in previous reviews. Lack of sleep due to heat and noise severely impacted the enjoyment of this holiday. When I complained I was offered a fridge in the room as compensation. If explore had been genuinely remorseful they would have acknowledged that all trip members were affected and looked to see how all could be helped I have been a customer of Explore for over 30 years and feel let down by their lack of care

It's the second time I've done this trip with Explore. It's just a lovely holiday on a beautiful island, with a nice easy paced itinerary and every day is enjoyable. The coastline, mountains, flora and fauna are amazing for such a small island and Funchal is a really nice old town with lots of nice restaurants and shops to look around and squares and gardens to sit and enjoy a coffee. I'll definitely be going back again.