Madeira Island, Portugal walks: The three best hikes

As well as creating the surreal sense that you're teleporting between countries, these extremes of precipitation created big problems for early settlers. The levadas were created largely to help irrigate the desiccated south with the abundant water from the north. Now, they act like veins across the centre of Madeira, while also providing ready-made paths for ambitious hikers to follow.

Perhaps the most popular is Levada do Caldeirão Verde (Green Caldera), which is almost 12 kilometres as a return journey, but which is generally flat and wet for the duration. Nonetheless, it's a beautiful route, one that requires some nimble footwork along the edge of the levadas, as well as plenty of ducking through long tunnel sections.

Perhaps because almost everyone is from somewhere else, the etiquette of how to pass strangers on these narrow paths is a little unclear. A belligerent English woman seems outraged that I haven't been able to psychically predict that she and her enormous group would be coming in the opposite direction along the tunnel. We snarl at each other in the dark, and I smile to myself knowing that a few metres down the line she'll have to walk through an icy waterfall on the way back to the start.

But the crowds aren't enough to detract from the experience. For a couple of kilometres, the route requires walking along the levada itself, but while there's water below, there's also plenty above and after a while it becomes impossible to tell where the run-off from the overhang ends and the mist begins. Beyond, on a clear day, it'd be possible to see all the way to the north shore and the Atlantic, but this is very certainly not one of those and so instead there's a mysterious grey void.

The goal for this trek, like so many in Madeira, is a huge waterfall. This one, also called Caldeirão Verde, is set inside a blown-out caldera from the island's volcanic past. At 100 metres tall it looks as though the water is being poured straight from the sky. Everything else is green and the entire scene looks as though it's been untouched since dinosaurs ruled the Earth. On the hike back, I find myself encouraging strangers to keep going, especially those with children asking how long they have still to go.

By the time I get back to the car, and eventually to Funchal, my feet are still wet from the trek. I feel a little embarrassed taking my muddy, tired body through the resplendent lobby of the Belmond Reid's Palace, but the staff are perfectly polite. I'd understand if they sent out a cleaner with a mop to follow me to my room or told me to use the back door. Open in 1891, this grand old property in the heart of the city has hosted everyone from Winston Churchill to Gregory Peck to George Bernard Shaw. My name won't be added to that August wall of fame, but I'd wager I'm as grateful as any of those alumni for being able to slide into a bath.

I have three more days of trekking on Madeira, once along the coast, down the spectacularly craggy Ponta de São Lourenço peninsula (the only time I'm away from the interior of the island) but more often along levadas, with waterfalls marking the way like crumbs for Hansel and Gretel.

The best of these is Levada do Moinho, which creeps deep into a V-shaped valley, before looping back on a higher level, where it becomes Levada Nova and leads all the way back to the town of Ponta do Sol. At one point, it makes a dramatic U-turn in a nook made by yet another waterfall. The flow from this one is too dangerous to walk through, so instead the path ekes in behind it, the water thundering over my head without a drop landing on me. Because this route is graded as more difficult, the number of tourists drops off dramatically – for the final two hours, the only people I encounter are local women out to collect water from the levada. A few moments after that, the trail pops out next to an 18th century church.

Perhaps the strangest off the walks, however, is up to the island's highest point, Pico Ruivo. Having left the sunny coast, after an hour's drive into the sky, the Fiat Panda loudly complaining the whole way, I find myself standing ankle-deep in snow.

I'm a bit unclear at which point I passed through a trans-dimensional wardrobe, but there doesn't seem to be any other explanation for how I could have been applying sunblock in the morning and want a coat now. It's hard, too, to believe that Madeira lies off the coast of Africa, not Portugal – Morocco is less than 600 kilometres from here.

When I finally get back to the hotel, bathed in optimal 23C afternoon sunshine, I find myself blurting out to the concierge that I've seen the impossible. She calmly explains that finding snow in the centre of the island isn't uncommon in January and February, even though there's never enough for winter sports. I nod and thank her for the information, then quickly retreat from the desk before she sees that it's me who's left the dreadful Panda in front of her hotel.

Jamie Lafferty was a guest of Belmond Reid's Palace.

FIVE MORE HIKES IN PORTUGAL

1. ROTA VICENTINA

Rota Vicentina runs for 110 kilometres along Portugal's south west Atlantic coast and was opened only a few years ago. The newness of the trail coupled with low population in this part of the country makes it one of the most raw hiking experiences in the country. See en.rotavicentina.com/

2. FAIAL ISLAND

The Azores (islands), an autonomous region of Portugal, share a lot with Madeira. There are dozens of trails spread across the archipelago, but perhaps the most epic is the 12-hour coast-to-coast hike across Faial Island. trails.visitazores.com

For a country with as much history and countryside as Portugal it's perhaps a surprise to learn that it only has one national park, Penada-Gerês. Less surprising is that inside its boundaries you'll find a network of excellent hiking trails. See visitportugal.com

4. VIA ALGARVIANA

For some Portuguese, the Algarve represents the worst of pandering to foreign tourism. While there are dreadful British resorts dotted around the area, you can bypass them all by embarking on the 300 kilometre Via Algarviana, overnighting in historic towns along the way. See visitportugal.com/en/node/73808

5. SERRA DA ESTRELA NATURAL PARK

This vast park is located in Portugal's largest mountain range. The Manteigas to the Poço do Inferno waterfall circular route is perhaps the simplest trekking option here, but longer options are also available.

TRIP NOTES

MORE

traveller.com.au/Portugal

FLY

Emirates flies twice daily from Sydney to Lisbon, via Dubai, see emirates.com/au

From there, both national carrier TAP Air Portugal and EasyJet have multiple daily departures to Madeira.

See flytap.com/en-pt/

See easyjet.com/en

WALK

The WalkMe app can be downloaded from the usual sources and costs $6.50.

STAY

Madeira's premier hotel, Reid's Palace, has been welcoming the great and the good through its doors since 1891. These days, the grand, coastal property is managed by Belmond. There isn't another hotel anywhere in Madeira that matches the history and luxury of this place. Doubles from $495. See belmond.com