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Digital Nomad

Digital Nomad Guide to Madeira

Yvo Keller

• 4 min read
Digital Nomad Guide to Madeira

As I am writing this, I am on the flight back from an amazing 5 weeks that I have been living on Madeira in the coastal village of Ponta do Sol. Translating to “spike of the sun” in english, Ponta do Sol definitely did it’s name justice during my November stay. Temperatures were mild, always around 20°C, and my rain jacket stayed in the closet the whole time. Madeira as an island for exploring is a paradise - I repeatedly found myself in awe and disbelieve about the surrounding landscape sceneries, nature spectacles and experiences like paragliding, canyoning and ripping along the Madeiran coast on a boat during sunset.

The Madeiran coast at Câmara de Lobos

The Digital Nomad Experience

Staying

I stayed at the Outsite co-living, directly at the beach promenade, and had incredible sunrise and sunset views from my room. The village itself is a magical place with a charm of its own and makes it very easy to feel at home. It is a bit away from everything - no road leads past it, so everybody in the village center is either visiting on a day trip or lives there. The Outsite building was once a hotel, so there’s a big kitchen to cook. Grocery options are limited, especially vegan ones, but most things can be found at the store next to the local petrol station.

A calm evening in Ponta do Sol, with the Outsite space to the left of the church tower.

Connecting

I loved the community aspect of Outsite and the Digital Nomad Slack combined - there were always opportunities to meet new people from various backgrounds and go on adventures together on the weekends.

Sunrise ocean views near Pico do Ruivo, on an early morning adventure with a group of strangers who quickly became friends.

Working

During the week, I switched between three different places to get work done from:

  • My Room at Outsite (best for calls where calm background is needed)
  • Outsite Co-Working area (mostly calm, not the most comfortable chair & table setups, but it’s close to coffee and the kitchen xD)
  • Ponta do Sol Co-Working (focused working atmosphere, laptop stand and 24” monitors provided)
The terrace at the Ponta do Sol co-working.

Learnings

One takeaway from my first extended digital nomad experience is that about 1 month seems to be the perfect length. It allows you to settle in and gives you plenty of opportunities to explore without becoming too repetitive.

Personally, I noticed the challenges that a lot of context switching can bring. I was studying (enrolled in about 10 courses). I was also doing freelance work for three clients in different industries. The lesson here is that it can be useful to have roughly fixed times and days for certain work, even if it means sacrificing some flexibility.

Exploring

Activity-wise, exploring is easiest if you either get your own car, or join groups of people on trips like a hike. Rental cars on Madeira are quite expensive, what I did and would recommend is getting a car for a few days every now and then. When you have a car, don't hesitate to just drive around the coast and on the windy roads over the mountain passes, and make lot's of viewpoint and exploration stops on the way!

One of Madeira's beautiful mountain roads.

Vegan Food

The options are a bit sparse, but they exist when you look for them, and are good! Here some of my personal suggestions, based on places I visited:

  • Old Pharmacy and Steak & Sun in Ponta do Sol: Several vegan options, some of the side dishes like the Tomato Risotto can also be made vegan.
  • Beach Promenade Restaurant in Ponta do Sol: A tasty Avocado Toast!
  • Vegetarian Café in Porto da Cruz: Several vegan options to choose from
Avocado toast in Ponta do Sol.

Recommendations

To wrap this up, I want to provide you a list of recommendations and helpful links.

Staying in Ponta do Sol

  • Outsite Ponta do Sol
  • Banana House (another co-living option, a bit cheaper):
  • Rent a room (ask in Digital Nomads Madeira Slack)

Events

Activities

When exploring by car, drive from town to town over mountains and make sure to stop at Miraduros. For most activities, a car or taxi is required.

Hiking

  • The iconic Pico to Pico hike (PR1 and PR1.2)
  • Hiking in the Fanal forest (PR 13 - Vereda do Fanal)
  • Take the Gondola at Achadas da Cruz and explore the village & coast
  • Hike the Dragon's tail (PR 8 Ponta de São Lourenço)

Other recommendations

  • Porto Moniz Natural Swimming Pools
  • Paragliding at Madeira's coast
  • Canyoning
  • Boat trips
  • Scuba diving

Conclusion

I can't wait to go back!