| Award Destination: Madeira, Portugal | Outbound Flight: TAP Portugal Business Class Duration ~7hr. | Flight Cost: ~$5000 USD for 2 passengers | Points Used: 70K Life Miles (for 2 passengers) | Award Taxes: ~$200USD |
Madeira is known for the year-long great weather (Island of Eternal Spring), suitable for visiting any time of the year. My main interest in going to the island was to do some of the spectacular hikes I have heard so much about from other hikers (Ponta de São Lourenço hike in the featured image).
How I booked the Flight to Lisbon
I booked a one-way TAP business class from JFK to Lisbon (two passengers) for 70,000 Avianca miles ($100 USD taxes), which is one of the best award sweet spots of the program.
Life Miles can also be used to book a connecting flight to Madeira (FNC), but the mileage requirement will increase to 63,000. The flights from LIS-FNC (<2 hours) are usually very cheap and I prefer to pay cash and save valuable points for another business class overseas redemption.
Typical cash prices for JFK-Lisbon one-way business class flights
Hyatt Regency Lisbon
We stayed in Hyatt Regency Lisbon (category 4) for one night (just opened recently) and it was a pleasant stay. The hotel has a grand lobby section, and the staff is very pleasant and offered us a welcome drink while our suite upgrade was being processed. The suite is very modern with a private balcony, a separate living room with a dining area, and a fully equipped kitchenette. The overall building construction is still not complete (the pool area and gym section are still being built), but there was no nighttime noise. Hyatt Regency Lisbon is one of the best places to make use of your free category 1-4 certificate.
From Madrid, we took a nonstop flight to Madeira (FNC), picked up the rental car (a must for exploring the various parts of the island), and went to our accommodation reserved on booking.com.
Madeira Accommodations
Madeira has several reasonably priced hotels and B&Bs and it is one of the most affordable travel destinations in Europe. I recommend readers to stay in the Santana/Faial region (Booking.com) which is close to the top two hikes which I described below. Even if you find accommodation in a different location, Madeira has very little rush hour traffic, and driving to any corner of the large island takes no longer than 30-40 minutes.
Madeira Dining
Madeira Island has plenty of restaurants that are reasonably priced and the food in general is very tasty. Several places offer large portion sandwiches for 5-6 Euros and it is easy to find restaurants near all the hikes.
Madeira Best Hikes
Madeira has some of the most spectacular hikes in the world and alltrails.com has over 400 trails listed (https://www.alltrails.com/portugal/madeira–2). We did as many hikes as we could in the four days we stayed, but the two hikes (see the picture below) are the most unbelievable ones and every traveler must do them once in their lifetime. The first hike (hard) takes you well above the clouds in several areas and the views are breathtaking. The second hike (oceanfront cliffs) is easy to do till the last section, where you need to climb holding onto the metal ropes.
Please see some of our pictures from the hike below:
Summary
Madeira Island is the ultimate hiking destination in the world and one can spend 1-2 months there doing various hikes. Portugal has several other scenic regions (Azores, Algarve, etc.,), which will be covered in another post.