The Nature Festival happens for the first time from the 1st to the 6th of October 2024

It is during the Nature Festival that goes on a week, that the entertainment is within the scope of nature. Above all allows you to be one with nature in an adventure through many radical sports.

This allows and encourages you the practice of activities either on land, on air, or on the sea. The vast range of activities that you can choose from makes it perfect for any radical sports lover. The festival aims to promote natural tourism among our visitors, encouraging the practice of activities in a natural environment. The wide range of extreme activities are free but subject to registration is good to sign up when possible.

Natural Festival Activities

There is a huge mountain activities that you can pick from such as hiking. BTT, the jeep tours the sun set, the walking tours, the paintball, the archery, the rappelling, the slide and the traditional games. Some of the Sea activities are kayak, the diving, the boat trips, the canoeing, the canyoning and the catamaran. On Air you will do paragliding, and all these activities will take place in different parts of the island.

The Nature Festival allows you direct contact with the rich natural heritage of the island, giving you the chance to experience a truly overwhelming adventure for all age groups.

In Conclusion in the downtown area, you can experience some activities that can be carried out within the scope of nature. There is also a mini festival in this space, with handicrafts and gastronomy, demonstrations of traditional games and performances by folk groups.

Find out more about the island Nature Festival and others Festival celebrations in the island by visiting www.visitmadeira.pt. Here´s a list of other major festivals that happens through out the year on the island.

The History of the Madeira Island.

The history of the island begins with the discovery of the Arquipélago by the Portuguese in 1419. Discovered by two Captains João Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeira signed to explore the African Coast by Pince Henry. Important to say that it was by accident that they discover this same islands . It was after a storm that lead them to the island of Porto Santo or Holy Harbour, named in gratitude for their rescue from the shipwreck. There is no record of anyone living on the island before or at that time.

The Portuguese started colonizing the islands in 1420 and so the History of island. The Name of the Madeira Island appeared for the first time in a document in 1433. And the first Portuguese to settle were the families of the three captains and a small group of minor nobility. Also, people of modest conditions and some old prisoners of the kingdom. These groups of people created the minimum conditions for agriculture development going through the rough and dense forest.

The Landscape

As parts of the island had excess of water and others were scarce, the colonists build a large number of irrigation channels or as we called “Levadas”. This Levadas allowed the cultivation of sugar cane and sugar. Sugar was the white gold at the time and obviously highly profitable and in demand in Europe. The same plan for sugar cultivation then became the model that would soon be tsken to the Caribbean and Brazil. So it is all part of the History of the island.

The Island climate

The island warm climate and winds to work the windmills and access to the sea and slave labour, created an important component in what became a huge and highly profitable industry. This factor funded industrialisation and European expansion where even Christopher Columbus, a sugar cane trader passed through and visited the island. Getting then married to one of the daughters of a sugar cane plantation owner on Porto Santo. Aware of the profit and understanding of the growing conditions of the sugar cane took him to the Caribbean. In the 15 century, the island was the world’s greatest producer of sugar. In the earliest times, fruits, vegetables and fish made the diet of the people of the island. Later, the colonist produces wheat initially for their own sustenance and later exporting it for Portugal.

Find out more about main events in the island by visiting www.visitmadeira.pt. Here´s a list of other major festivals that happens through out the year on the island.

Experience Madeira´s main events 2024

Carnaval 2024

From February 7th to 18th, 2024.
First Festival, From famous parades such as ‘Cortejo Alegórico’ and the ‘Cortejo Trapalhão’ to the festivities that take place during these days in multiple locations, the Carnival fills the entire island with a unique live.

Flower Festival 2024

From May 2nd to 26th.
Featuring a diversified programme, and with a clear emphasis on the Flower Parade, this celebration symbolises renewal and hope. Above all The Flower Festival fills the island with unforgettable colours, decorations and more fragrances.

Atlantic Festival 2024

From May,31st to June 23rd.
Next Taking place throughout the month of June, the Atlantic Festival brings to the island several cultural initiatives that take place in various parts of the island and also in Porto Santo.

Classics at Magnolia 2024

From July 29th to 30th.
Classics at Magnolia’ is a living showcase where the best preserved classic cars of the region shine. A tribute to the automobile but also to the motorist, with the recreation of the fascinating atmosphere of the early 20th century.

Wine Festival 2024

From August 25th to September 15th.
The Wine Festival is a highly symbolic cultural and ethnographic event. Held during the grape harvest season, at the end of summer, it celebrates the internationally acclaimed nectar produced in this archipelago.

Columbus Festival 2024

From September 19th to 22nd.
The Columbus Festival aims to recreate the atmosphere that the navigator encountered during his stay in Porto Santo. At this time, the streets are filled with theatrical performances, concerts and a realistic 16th-century market.

Nature Festival 2024

From October 1st to 6th.
The Nature Festival promotes a wide range of sports activities and where adrenaline and contact with Nature are key elements. Challenge yourself in the mountains and valleys and seas of the island!

Christmas and New years eve Festivities 2024/2025

From December 1st 2024 to January 5th, 2025.
New Year’s Eve and the entire Christmas season are experienced with unparalleled intensity. After all, this is ‘the party’ of the archipelago and celebrated throughout the month of December.

Find out more about main events in the island by visiting www.visitmadeira.pt. Here´s a list of other major festivals that happens through out the year in the island.

The Festival happens from the end of August to begging of September

There is always room for one more tribute to this regional product the Madeira Wine. A wine Known for its excellent quality all over the world, Well It’s time for the unique Madeira’s Wine Celebration. The Madeira’s Wine Festival honors the grape harvest with a celebration of traditional local heritage and wine production. This Festival happens because Madeira is a demarcated wine region for over 500 years.

The main event happens downtown in the center of Funchal city. The festival also embraces European Folklore Week with exhibitions, re-enactments and decorations depicting the ages-old culture of wine making.

The event takes place both in the streets of Funchal and in vineyards and wine cellars in rural areas. The central walkway of Avenida Arriaga plays host to exhibits of tools used in the art of viticulture such as presses, casks, barrels, grape picking baskets, traditional means of transportation, as well as stalls selling local handicrafts and, of course, wine tastings.

Other events related with wine talks and musical performances take place in the Wine Village in Praça do Povo. On Saturday, you can join in a Live Grape Harvest in Estreito de Câmara de Lobos.

Madeira Wine is one of the most impressive wines in the world, with a rare and much appreciated energy and complexity. When we tell the history of Madeira wine, we also tell a lot about the history of this island. Shortly after the colonization of the island and having been the protagonist and witness of many remarkable episodes in the history of mankind.

All things considered come and toast life with the incomparable Madeira Wine with us.

Find out more about the island wine celebrations by visiting www.visitmadeira.pt. Here´s a list of other major festivals that happens through out the year in the island.

Atlantic Festival is an event that takes place during the month of June in Funchal, Madeira.

Madeira bursts with life to celebrate the beginning of summer with music, fireworks and memorable shows. The Atlantic Festival has 20 years of existence this is the official event that opens the door for Summer. The Festival is much more than just the fireworks that fills the skies with colour every Saturday in June. During one month, this festival hosts a set of cultural activities that are hold in the archipelago’s streets. Taking place throughout the month of June, the Atlantic Festival brings to Madeira several cultural initiatives that take place in various parts of the island and also in Porto Santo. As the opening and closing pyromusical fireworks shows, International Madeira Fireworks Competition, Multimedia Shows, and Circus Shows, the Summer Sunsets. The Regional Arts Week and the Funchal Lyons Club Bread Fair are all worthy of mention.

Saturdays – From May,31st to June 23rd 2024

Atlantic Festival and it´s pyromusical shows are held on four Saturdays of June, at 22:30 at the pier outside Pontinha. These wonderful and exciting performances, lasting about 20 minutes each, combine fireworks and music in a unique experience for tourists and residents. In these shows, companies will compete for a trophy awarded as a result of public vote, through the Internet and boxes located aournd places in Funchal city centre. The locations are, City Pier – day of the show and La Vie, and Marina Shopping centres even more at Av. Arriaga main Tourism Office.

Summing up It includes three artistic components: the Madeira Music Festival, the Madeira International Pyrotechnics Competition and the performance of philharmonic bands in the city center.

Find out more about Madeira´s wine celebrations in Madeira by visiting www.visitmadeira.pt. Here´s a list of the other festivals that happens through out the year on the Madeira island.

Flower Festival happens on the 2nd to 26th May.

It’s definitely the most emblematic and colourful event of Madeira. importante to realize this event goes several weeks, Funchal has the aroma of the flowers and the joy of thousands of visitors. The Festival takes place from May 2nd to 26th. Featuring a diversified programme, with a clear emphasis on the Flower Parade exhibitions of tropical flowers, floral rugs and music. This celebration symbolises renewal and hope. The Flower Festival fills Madeira with unforgettable colours, decorations and fragrances.

The best known part is the Flower Festival Parade, which begins with the children’s parade on Saturday and culminates with the main parade on Sunday, where hundreds of dancers disguised as flowers pass in their floats decorated with flowers through the streets of the city Funchal Another event of this celebration is the exhibition of tropical flowers, which local producers set up at Largo da Restauração.

Above all on an island blessed by nature, flowers deserve more than an ode. The intire month of May is dedicated to the beauty and fragrance of the flowers. Don’t miss any opportunity to witness the beautiful tribute paid by the Madeirans to this natural entity.

Flower Collection

Takes place between 18th of May and the 19th. This event aims to promote the regional fashion sector, engaging a wide number of creators inspired by the flowers, therefore with a touch of contemporaneity and “glamour” to one of the greatest tourist attractions of Madeira.

Flower Festival Wall of Hope

Takes place on the 04th of May. A Symbolic construction of the “Wall of Hope” On Saturday morning, and the children are invited to place a flower on the “Wall of Hope”, in a appeal for Peace. Accompanied by their family members, the little ones carry their flower, that they probably picked.

Concert by the Empress Sissy Hungarian Salon Orchestra “Flower Fantasy”

Takes place on the 20th of May. For this concert, the distinguished local singers such as Vânia Fernandes and Maria Ferreira, Cláudia Sousa, Paulo Soares, João Camacho and the tenor Alberto Sousa, are the invited guests. The music panoply has a repertoire alluding to the theme of flowers.

Classic Car Revival

Takes place between the 24th and 26th of May. This event, which takes place at Praça do Povo, and from May 24th to 26th, is organized by Clube de Automóveis Clássicos da Madeira with the purpose of showing and rewarding the best and most elegant vintage and classic vehicles.

Flower Festival Classic Auto Parade

Takes place on the 12th of May. Starts at Avenida Francisco Sá Carneiro and Avenida do Mar e das Comunidades Madeirenses (north lane) until Praça da Autonomia do Mar, Avenida do Mar and das Comunidades Madeirenses (south lane), Avenida Francisco Sá Carneiro, Rotunda Harvey Foster (roundabout). Display…

Entertainment in downtown Funchal – Flower Festival

Takes place on the 05th and the 29th of May. The profusion of the island flora contributed greatly to the founding of this artistic manifestation. The making of the traditional flower carpets is carried throughout the island and had its origins in the decoration of religious processions.

Find out more about Christmas and New Year’s Eve celebrations in the island by visiting www.visitmadeira.pt. Here´s a list of other major festivals that happens through out the year in the island.

Carnival Festivities from February 7th to 18th, 2024.

Carnival is the frst big event in the island event calendar of the year. In all counties of the archipelago there are small parades and themed parties where everyone wears a carnival costume.
The Carnival Festivities starts on Wednesday, before the “Entrudo” (Shrove or Fat Tuesday as it is known). The fun on until the “Enterro do Osso” that takes place on the Saturday after Carnival day.

Many Samba groups parade, in magnificent and colourful dance costumes. This is a real show of light, colour and music, that thousands join in to watch. On Tuesday afternoon, you can also enjoy another parade, known as “Cortejo Trapalhão”, where comedy and satire are the main ingredients and anyone is free to join. Just make sure to wear a good disguise!

The origins of Madeiran Carnival

According to some authors and historians, the origins of Carnival festivities in Portugal, date back to the heyday of sugar cane production in the 16th century, its connection to slaves as a port of passage for goods and people, when the expansion of international sugar trade in the Atlantic began from that island, with it also traveled regional playful traditions and expressions, which intrinsically influenced the then carnival festivities in Brazil, which would become one of the main cultural manifestations. It is still a tradition at Carnival when the locals eat Malassadas.

The Allegorical Parade is always held on the Saturday before the Tuesday of Carnival. in which several groups take part, with thousands of extras, who parade through the main streets of Funchal.

Find out more about the Carnaval Festivities in the island by visiting www.visitmadeira.pt. Here´s a list of other major festivals that happens through out the year in the island.