Madeira is an island that officially belongs to Portugal where you can do some of the most beautiful snorkeling. The island is located about 700 km west of Africa and lies in the Atlantic Ocean. The weather is always very nice with a lovely temperature between 16 and 22 degrees. In addition, the island is known for its beautiful nature and steep cliffs. For us that means, unfortunately, virtually no sandy beach on the island. This has an advantage though as it stops mass tourism in Madeira. We have the best places to go snorkeling on Madeira!
Image used with permission, courtesy of azuldiving.com
Especially the north is a very steep area. This has ensured that colonization has started in the south. The capital Funchal is also located there. Last fun fact before going to the snorkeling spots: Madeira is full of levadas. This is a plant species that is even on the World Heritage List!
Snorkeling in Madeira
Snorkeling in Madeira is wonderful when you hit the right conditions. Madeira’s beaches are beautiful and YouTube is full of snorkeling videos like the following:
Of course the best snorkeling weather is when the wind is a bit calm and there is a lot of sun. There are plenty of companies that also offer snorkeling such as the “Madeira Divepoint”, click on the name to go to their page for additional info. Another form of company are more supervised beaches. We have found the following places for you where you can snorkel perfectly on the island!
Madeira Snorkeling Spot 1: Garajau Marine Reserve
This spot in the south / east is a good place to enter the water. It is often supervised and that makes it a bit safer. A good place to travel to is the Barreirinha area in Funchal and then look for a spot from there.
Snorkel spot 2: Garajau beach
In fact, the Garajau beach should be in the first place because this is one of the few real beaches on the island. The reason we have chosen a second place is because it costs 2.50 euros to get here. Well via a nice cable cart and therefore a beautiful trip, but still. Here is a (stone) beach where you can easily enter the water. Highly recommended are the water shoes and other good stuff to make it easy.
Snorkel spot 3: Praia do Toco
This is no ordinary snorkeling spot as it can be quite a climb to get here. You can also choose to swim from Barreirinha, which seems to be just under five minutes. It is also a very popular place for snorkeling in Madeira, but more for the more daring snorkelers!
These three places are just part of everything that can be found on the island. As always, we miss a lot and we like to be supplemented. Have you been there yourself? Let us know! It is always advisable to buy snorkel gear in advance. Then you are sure of good quality! Especially on Madeira with all its stone beaches it is a necessity.