Madeira Is More Than an Instagram Shot.

At Ribeira da Janela, Madeira.

I work in hospitality, so perhaps I shouldn't say this, but I have very mixed feelings about what social media has done to Madeira.

Of course, there are huge positives. It's put this gorgeous island on the radar of people who might never have thought about coming here. It's brought visitors, supported businesses and shown millions of people just how stunning Madeira is.

I've worked with social media for years, so I know there are two sides to it. It can create incredible opportunities, and I'm certainly not against it.

But I also hate some of what it's done.

Scroll through Madeira on Instagram or TikTok for long enough and you'll start seeing the same places over and over again. Fanal, Seixal, Pico do Arieiro, someone standing in the middle of that road in São Vicente. The same waterfalls, viewpoints and, quite often, almost exactly the same photograph.

They're beautiful places. I've photographed plenty of them myself.

But I do wonder when we stopped travelling somewhere to see it and started travelling somewhere to recreate a photograph we'd already seen.

Madeira is so much more than that.

When getting the photo becomes dangerous

The repetition isn't actually the part that bothers me most. It's what I've seen people do to get the photograph.

I've seen cars stop suddenly because someone has spotted a view, with seemingly very little thought about the car behind them. People park in places that clearly aren't parking spaces. And around some of our waterfalls and viewpoints, I've watched people concentrating so hard on their phone that they don't seem to notice the very low wall beside them, or the huge drop on the other side.

The same goes for trails and paths that are clearly marked as closed or unsafe. The warnings are there, yet people still go past them. I've seen videos online of people making their way down steep paths to coastal spots without seemingly thinking about how they're getting back up, or what happens if the tide comes in while they're down there.

Before heading out, it's worth checking the official IFCN trail status, which is updated with routes that are open, closed or restricted. If a trail is closed, there's usually a very good reason for it.

That's the part I really struggle with. It's one thing to take a risk yourself, but if something goes wrong, somebody has to come and get you. And on an island with terrain like Madeira's, that's not always a simple rescue. It's hardly fair on the emergency services when a warning has been deliberately ignored in the first place.

Fanal doesn't have a permanent fog machine

Fanal is beautiful, especially when the mist rolls in through the ancient trees. It's easy to see why it's become one of Madeira's most photographed places.

The only problem is, the mist doesn't always turn up.

I've seen people arrive clearly expecting that Fanal they've seen all over Instagram, and sometimes it's simply a beautiful sunny day in the forest. Nobody switches the fog machine on each morning.

Of course, go and see it. Just don't arrive expecting Madeira to perform exactly as it did in the Reel you saved.

Unfortunately, the lack of mist is the least of Fanal's problems.

The side of Fanal that isn't so beautiful

There is another side to Fanal that I find much harder to watch.

These trees are hundreds of years old, some dating back to before Madeira was even settled, yet people are climbing all over them to get a photograph. And with so many people now visiting Fanal, it's starting to leave a mark.

It isn't just about the trees themselves either. Quercus has raised concerns about the impact on Fanal, including vegetation disappearing in some areas, soil becoming compacted and the roots of some of the ancient trees becoming exposed. Over time, compacted soil absorbs less water and makes it harder for the vegetation around the trees to recover.

Earlier this year, fencing was put around some areas. You'd think that would make the message fairly obvious.

Apparently not.

A video appeared on Instagram showing a family, children included, going underneath the fencing into the protected area. I commented:

“If you have to crawl under a conservation fence, you're not exploring nature, you're the reason it needs protecting.”

That comment received almost 30,000 likes, so clearly I wasn't the only one who found it frustrating.

And I've seen it myself since, people climbing over or going underneath the barriers.

These trees have been here for hundreds of years. Surely getting that Fanal photograph isn't more important than making sure they're still here for hundreds more.

And no, I'm not giving you ten hidden gems

This is probably where I'm supposed to give you 10 Madeira Hidden Gems Nobody Knows About.

I've never really understood that phrase. If I've just told thousands of people where somewhere is, I've rather ruined the hidden part.

And we've seen this happen in Madeira. A quiet swimming spot appears in a Reel. Someone shares the exact location. Then somebody else does. Before long, the place that was lovely precisely because hardly anyone went there is suddenly somewhere everyone has on their list.

I find that a bit sad.

Not because I think certain places should be kept for those of us who live here. Madeira is there to be enjoyed. But I do think we've lost some of the fun of finding things for ourselves.

You don't need to know where every beautiful viewpoint is before you've even landed. You don't need a Google pin for every swim, coffee and lunch. And you definitely don't need someone on TikTok telling you the seven secret places you absolutely cannot miss.

Sometimes the best finds are the ones you weren't looking for.

Get a little bit lost

One of my favourite things about Madeira is how quickly a road you've driven a hundred times can turn into one you've never been down before.

And yes, sometimes that road leads absolutely nowhere and you have to turn around. That's also Madeira.

But sometimes you find a tiny village, somewhere beautiful to swim, a little bar full of people, or a restaurant you would never have found because it wasn't on anyone's Top 10 list.

Stop because somewhere looks interesting. Have a coffee without reading 47 reviews first. If you hear music coming from a village, there's probably a festa happening, go and see what's going on, and grab yourself a Poncha.

There's something quite nice about not knowing exactly what you're going to find.

Having said all of that, I'm now going to be a complete hypocrite and give you one restaurant.

The Rio in Tábua is somewhere I genuinely love. It's nothing fancy, it's not full of tourists and the food is properly Madeiran. And I'm putting my neck on the line here, but I think they do the best picado on the island.

There. One recommendation.

The rest you'll have to find yourself. :)

I'm aware of the irony

Yes, I am going to publish this article online and then share it on social media. I see the irony.

I'm also in hospitality and I want people to visit Madeira. Social media has been incredibly valuable to the island and to the small businesses that depend on tourism.

I don't want that to stop.

I just think we could be a little more thoughtful about it.

Maybe we don't need to tag every quiet place we find. We definitely don't need to climb somewhere unsafe because somebody else did it in a Reel.

Use Social Media for ideas, not as a checklist of photos you need to recreate.

Madeira doesn't need to perform for you

Maybe that's what I'm really trying to say with all of this.

Madeira doesn't need to look exactly like the Reel that made you book the flight.

Fanal might be sunny. Pico do Arieiro might be completely covered in cloud. You might leave Funchal in blue skies and twenty minutes later find yourself driving through rain, only to come out the other side into sunshine again.

The microclimates here are very real.

Madeira is wild and alive, and things can change quickly, particularly in winter. The sea can turn, clouds roll over the mountains in minutes, roads and trails sometimes close and plans have to change.

That's island life. And personally, I think it's part of what makes Madeira so very special.

Not everything needs to go exactly to plan. Sometimes the place you were desperate to see doesn't quite deliver that day, and somewhere you hadn't given a second thought ends up being the highlight.

That's the Madeira I wish social media showed a little more of. Not just the perfect shot, but the island as it actually is.

By all means, save the photos. Use them for ideas. Come and see the places you've been dreaming about.

Just give Madeira a chance to surprise you too.