….I’ll admit it, we knew very little about Madeira before we arrived. We just saw the island on a map, did a quick Google search, and decided it would be cool place to check out! It only took a couple minutes on the island to see why why Madeira earned the title of World’s Leading Island Travel Destination in 2015 by the World Travel Awards.

Madeira is an autonomous region of Portugal off of the coast of West Africa, and is made up of a collection of four islands. Without a careful look on a map, the tiny islands are very easy to miss! We stayed in Funchal, the capital city situated right on the water.

Without further ado, here is my list of the Top Four Reasons to Love Maderra, the Best Island in the World. (Or at least I think so!) I recommend having a glass of Madeira wine and a banana while reading this post to get yourself in the true island spirit.

1. Island Scenery

A quick Google image search for Madeira back in September, and we were convinced it had to be a stop on our trip. The scenery on this small island encompasses everything; sea cliffs with spectacular views of the Atlantic, lava pools, cloud covered mountains, exotic flowers, beaches with the bluest water I’ve ever seen, and dense forests lined with levadas, mini canals that carry water throughout the island.

2. Food and Wine

As I’m sure you know, Madeira is famous for its wine. Wine is heated while it is aged on the island, mimicking the effects a long sea voyage had on barrels of Madeira wine that originally made it so popular. The higher quality Madeiran wines are warmed as they age solely by the heat of the island sun. We were able to pick up some bottles recommended by our hotel manager at a great price.

20160303_172203 — Traditional prego steak sandwiches served on bolo do caco

Madeiran cuisine is largely dominated meat and fish dishes. We were pleasantly surprised by the high quality of food at such an affordable price. One of my favorite discoveries was bolo do caco, traditional Madeiran bread. The circular bread is cooked on a stone slab, which gives it a great taste and texture perfect for

Portuguese meat sandwiches. (Important P.S.A: We ate sandwiches on bolo do caco every single day in Madeira and I have zero regrets)

Another new discovery was Poncha, a local drink made from honey, sugar, juice, and distilled alcohol from sugar cane grown on the island. Our tour driver claimed that after a few glasses of poncha we would be fluent in Portuguese, but I don’t know how anyone could handle all the sweetness! Poncha was supposedly originated as a tonic drink to heal various ailments.

Madeira also has an incredibly wide variety of local produce grown on the island, with everything from lemons and bananas, to potatoes and lettuce grown just a few miles from where we were staying. Everything was incredibly fresh and affordable.

3. Beautiful Plant Life

The plant life of Madeira gets their own separate category because it was so breathtaking. Everywhere you look is covered in something green. The island’s location and moderate mediterranean climate has given Madeira an incredibly wide diversity of flora. Large trees and shrubs that shade the island, and ferns and mosses covering the forest flowers.

Orchids, lilies, and birds of paradise are common place throughout the island. Flowers I’ve only ever seen in botanical gardens grow on street corner. If you haven’t already, check out my post on the Tropical Gardens.

4. Hospitality

With over one million tourists visiting the island each year, I expected locals to be a little tired of the constant flow of visitors. But everywhere we went we were met with locals who wanted us to love the island as much as they did.

Our hotel manager Alberto treated us like a visiting family member, and was always recommending places to visit and even renting us the hotel car for only 10€ each. At Alberto’s recommendation, we took a bus tour around the western tip of the island. Our bus tour guide Tony, shared as much information as he could and drove us through his childhood town to stop and meet his mother the end of the tour.

We loved the food and atmosphere at a local snack bar so much, that we ate a meal there every day! By the second day our waiter Antonio knew our orders, and started bringing us free crisps.

Do I wish we didn’t have to leave? Absolutely!