Hotel Quinta do Furão

Quinta do Furão stands on a cliff top at Achada do Gramacho, on the edge of Santana on Madeira's north-east coast. The estate covers five hectares, three of them planted organically with vines, vegetables and herbs, and the vines take up two, with Verdelho, Arnsburger, Touriga Nacional and Tinta Roriz. The grapes are picked in September, when the quinta holds its Wine Festival: lunches on set days, with a Madeiran buffet by the wine presses, grape treading and a tasting. The restaurant has been open since 1993, and the hotel, fully renovated in 2020, has 65 rooms in seven categories.

The rooms are light and warm in tone, and most have a balcony or terrace. The Twin Vineyards rooms, 22 m², look over the garden and the vines; the Classic rooms face the sea and the garden. The Superior, 24 m², is more contemporary and faces the sea, and the Premium, 27 m², has a balcony on the sea and the mountains. Above them sit a Junior Suite of 32 m² with an open-plan living area, a Suite of 35 m² with a separate sitting room, and a two-bedroom villa with a kitchenette. Every room has central heating, a shower, bathrobes and a minibar; larger categories add a Nespresso machine.

The reason to come is what starts on the doorstep. The quinta's own miradouro looks along the cliffs of the north coast, and the island's best-known walks begin a short drive inland: the Queimadas forest park, start of the PR9 Levada do Caldeirão Verde, is 15 minutes away, and Achada do Teixeira, where the PR1.2 climbs to Pico Ruivo, the highest point on the island, is 26. Both trails are paid for in advance through SIMplifica, €4.50 per walker over 12; the levada sometimes closes for rockfall repairs, so check it is open first. Back at the quinta there are indoor and outdoor pools, a jacuzzi, a sauna, a gym and massages, a pub with a fireplace and a billiard table, and a wine cellar for tasting Sercial, Verdelho, Bual and Malmsey. The restaurant has two big fireplaces and a sheltered veranda, and cooks Madeiran dishes: beef espetada on a bay-laurel skewer and black scabbardfish stew; Il Furetto, opened in 2023, bakes naturally fermented pizza.

The trade is distance and a north-coast room without air conditioning. Santana's centre is 3.1 km by road, a 51-minute walk, and Funchal is about 50 minutes' drive, so plan on a hire car. The rooms are heated rather than cooled, which matters more on a still August night than in winter. Book it if the levadas and the peaks are the reason for the trip, and take a room that faces the sea.