The Best Time of Year for Photos on Madeira

People ask me this before they book their flights, which is the right order to do it in. The answer most travel sites give is July and August, because that is when the weather table looks best. For photographs it is close to the worst advice on the list.

I have shot here in every month of the year. This is what each one actually gives you.

The short answer

March and April.

The island is green from the winter rain, the waterfalls are running, the air is clear, and the crowds have not arrived. Daytime sits around 20 degrees, which is comfortable for walking and dressing well without anyone freezing or sweating. Sunset lands between seven and eight in the evening, so a session finishes at a civilised hour.

If you are choosing your dates around photographs, choose these two months.

What the summer actually looks like

July and August have the numbers everyone quotes. Barely any rain, around 26 degrees, sun every day.

They also have haze. The sky goes white rather than blue, the light at midday is straight overhead, and the contrast between a lit face and its own shadow becomes hard to work with. Every location is at its busiest, and sunset does not arrive until past nine, which is late if children are involved.

Summer sessions work. They just have to happen early in the morning or in the last hour before sunset, and there is no flexibility in that.

The quiet half of the year

September gives back the clarity without the crowds. The sea is at its warmest, around 24 degrees, so this is the best month of the year for anything involving water. I photographed Emilia at Seixal in September and she went into the surf in a dress without hesitating.

October is my own favourite. Green returning, air clean, fog behaving at Fanal. I shot Manuela’s family there on an October morning where the sky opened blue and the fog held on the far ridge, then moved in behind the trees by the end. Two versions of the same place inside two hours.

November through February is the low season and the most underrated for photographs. Big Atlantic swell, dramatic cloud, empty locations, and the lowest prices on flights and hotels. Rain is real, around 115mm in December against 2mm in July, but it arrives in fronts rather than all day. Saket and Sneha had gold across the water by five in the afternoon in December. A family from Israel got soft orange light in February with the whole park to themselves.

The trade is flexibility. Winter sessions sometimes move by a day, and if that would ruin your trip, book another month.

Sunset times, because they decide your evening

This catches more people out than the weather does.

• December: sunset around 18:05. The shortest day is 10 hours of light.
• March and April: between 19:00 and 20:00 as the clocks and the season move.
• June: sunset as late as 21:20. The longest day runs 14 hours 20 minutes.
• September: back to about 20:00.

That difference changes what an evening looks like. In winter you can shoot golden hour and be at dinner by seven. In midsummer the best light finishes when a restaurant kitchen is closing.

Sunrise moves the same way, from about 06:15 in June to nearly 08:00 in December. A sunrise session at Pico do Arieiro in June means leaving Funchal at half past four. In December you can leave at six and still be early.

Water temperature, if the sea is part of it

The Atlantic here runs cold by Mediterranean standards. Around 18 degrees from February to April, climbing to 23 or 24 by September.

If you want anyone standing in the surf, or a dress in the water, aim for August to October. Outside that it is possible and people do it, but it is a short, deliberate part of the session rather than something anyone lingers over.

The month I would actually avoid

None of them, honestly. But if you forced me to name the hardest, it is late July into August: haziest sky, hardest light, most people in every frame, and the latest possible finish time.

Even then, an early morning at Seixal or the last hour at Praia Formosa still works. It only means the schedule is fixed rather than flexible.

What actually decides it

Your dates. Almost nobody plans a trip around a photo session, and nobody should.

Tell me when you are here and I will work backwards: which locations suit that month, which hour, and where to move if the forecast turns. The island has weather on both coasts at once, so if the north is wrong we go south. That decision gets made the morning of the session, not weeks ahead.

The month matters less than picking the right hour inside it. That part I can solve for you.

Sessions across the year

September at Seixal · October at Fanal · December at Praia Formosa · February at Santa Catarina · April at Guindaste · May at Praia Formosa · June at Câmara de Lobos

Know your dates? Send them over on WhatsApp and I will tell you what that month gives you. More on photo spots across the island, or session types and pricing.