Madeira is one of Portugal's island regions and includes the islands of Madeira, Porto Santo, the uninhabited Desertas islnds and the tiny Savage Islands (Ilhas Selvagens). Lying in the north Atlantic, to the west of north Africa, the islands are essentially volcanic.

Madeira island is by far the largest,although still quite small, and has a rugged mountain backbone running most of the length of the island. It is this that is responsible for Madeira having two completely different climates. The north side is wet, watered by incoming clouds from the Atlantic. The south side is dry and sunny, the incoming clouds having lost their moisture as they are forced to rise by the mountains. Despite this, temperatures are generally comfortable rather than very hot, although occasionally the Leste wind from Africa can bring very hot temperatures. The island has plenty of lush vegetation on both sides, water being brought fom the north by canals, known as levadas. Many of these have footpaths alongside them so are great for walking and hiking. The coastline is craggy and abrupt, so there are no sandy beaches.

Contrastingly, Porto Santo island has beautiful extensive sandy beaches. At around 14km long, it is very small and a real 'get away from it all' retreat. The Desertas and Savage islands are uninhabited nature reserves which can only be visited by boat on day trips.

There are plenty of package holidays available to Madeira's hotels, most of which can also be booked independently. Rooms can also be found at aparthotels, guesthouses and hostels. In terms of private holiday acommodation, there is everything from luxury villas to waterfront apartments which can be booked direct with their owners. Port Santo also has a reasonable amount of houses and apartments to let although obviously these are less in number.