We landed in Funchal expecting a small island and found something closer to a mountain range that happens to be surrounded by water. Within an hour of leaving the airport we had gone from sea level to a viewpoint sitting above the cloud line, and that turned out to be the pattern for the whole week.

The levadas are the reason most people come. They are old irrigation channels with narrow footpaths running alongside them, threaded through laurel forest and cut into cliff faces. Some are gentle walks. Some are not, and the difference is not always obvious from the guidebook description — bring a torch for the tunnels and check the forecast for the north coast rather than for Funchal, because the two are frequently different islands.

What we would do again

Ponta de São Lourenço at first light, before the car park fills. The drive across the centre of the island, which takes twice as long as the map suggests and is worth every minute. And the long lunches in the fishing villages on the north side, where nobody is in a hurry.

If you only have a few days, choose one side of the island and stay there. We lost half a day driving between coasts more than once.

What we would skip

The busiest viewpoints between eleven and three. Not because they are not beautiful, but because the light is flat and the coaches have arrived. Go early, sleep in the afternoon, go out again at five.

When to go

April to June — warm, green, and before the summer crowds

Getting around

Rental car, essential. Roads are steep but well kept

Where we stayed

Funchal for the first half, north coast for the second

Rough budget

Around €90 per person per day, including the car

We had thirty hours in Doha between flights and no particular plan. The question was whether it was worth leaving the airport at all. It was — but only because we treated it as a short city break rather than an extended wait.

Katara Cultural Village was the surprise. It reads as a purpose-built district on paper and feels like something else entirely in the late afternoon, when the heat drops and the courtyards fill up. The architecture does an enormous amount of work with shade and light, and it photographs beautifully in the hour before sunset.

The souq after dark

Souq Waqif is the other place to give real time to. Come after eight, when the temperature is bearable and the restaurants set out tables in the alleys. It is touristic and also genuinely busy with locals, which is a rarer combination than it sounds.

Anything under twelve hours, stay in the airport. Anything over eighteen, go into the city — the difference is enormous.

Practicalities

The metro is clean, cheap and air-conditioned, and it goes to almost everywhere you would want to go. Between eleven and four, plan indoor things. Everyone who lives there does the same.

When to go

November to March — anything later is very hot

Getting around

Metro, plus short taxi rides in the evening

Where we stayed

One night near the Corniche

Rough budget

Around €40 per person per day

Marrakesh does not ease you in. You step out of the taxi at the edge of the medina and everything arrives at once — the noise, the smells, the mopeds that pass closer than you would like. The first hour is overwhelming for everybody. The second hour is when it starts to make sense.

We stayed inside the walls, which we would do again. A riad is quiet in a way the streets outside are not: thick walls, a courtyard, and a roof terrace that becomes the best place in the city at seven in the evening. Ten steps beyond the door you are back in the noise, which is exactly the point.

The gardens matter more than you expect

By the middle of the day the medina is hard work. The gardens are the reason the city is liveable — shade, water, and somewhere to sit for an hour without anyone selling you anything. We planned every day around one of them, and it changed the whole trip.

Everything in the souks is a conversation, not a transaction. If you are not in the mood for one, come back later.

Practical things nobody tells you

Carry cash in small notes. Agree the price of a taxi before you get in. And do not trust the map inside the medina — the streets are not really streets, and the fastest way to find something is to walk past it twice.