The English have flocked to Madeira for its year-round sunshine for hundreds of years, but now tourists come in many flavors. For the past century the most discriminating ones headed for Reid s, one of the world s great hotels. It s been Madeira s class act since 1891. William Reid, one of 12 children of a poor Scottish family, saw that Madeira lacked a fine hotel to accommodate the rich and famous. Thoroughly modernized in the 1990s, it commands an ocean hilltop on the edge of the island s capital, Funchal.
People flock here for the sun - but don t expect beaches.
You have to take a 15-minute plane ride or a boat trip over to Porto Santo island for that. The pleasant capital of Funchal offers a good selection of fine restaurants and a marvelous botanic garden in the hills. To get back down to town, by all means take the old-fashioned way. You slide down a long street on a sled pulled by a pair of Maderien men. It s a kick.