Two Locations in One Evening on Madeira

The question comes up in nearly every booking conversation. Can we do the forest and a beach in the same session?

Yes, and the two most common versions of it happen on the north coast: the laurel forest at Fanal paired with the black sand at Seixal.

Why these two go together

One is at 1,150 metres, usually inside a cloud, green and grey and quiet. The other is at sea level, black sand under two hundred metres of cliff, with the Atlantic making noise.

The drive between them is about twenty five minutes down the north coast road. It is the reason this particular pair is the one I suggest most often. Fanal to Praia Formosa, by comparison, is an hour each way.

Work backwards from sunset

The beach needs the last hour of daylight plus the half hour after sunset. On 2 September sunset was at 20:33, so Seixal owned the window from about 19:30 onwards. Subtract twenty five minutes of driving and the forest had to be finished by 19:10. Subtract an hour on the plateau and we started at 18:15. Subtract the hour of road from Funchal and pickup was at 17:00.

Every number in that chain comes from the last one.

Why Fanal goes first

Two reasons, both practical.

The first is that the beach has a hard deadline and the forest does not. Fanal in flat cloud looks much the same at six as it does at seven. Seixal after 21:00 is dark.

The second is clothing. Fanal is wet. Shoes get muddy, hems get stained. Doing it first means the mess happens before the change of outfit.

There is also a temperature note worth planning for. The plateau sits inside a cold wet cloud and the beach forty minutes later is warm and still. One layer that comes off in the car covers it. Both locations have their own pages with the drive times and the light: Fanal Forest and Seixal Beach.

What it costs you in session time

Two locations do not cost twice as much time. They cost the driving, which is dead time for photographs, plus ten minutes of settling at the second place.

On a two hour session that means roughly fifty five minutes at the first location and fifty at the second. Nobody is rushed, but there is no spare hour either. If you want three locations rather than two, the driving alone eats the difference.

The scope of each option is on the couples and proposal page. The short version: one hour holds one location properly, two hours holds two, and three locations need the longer booking.

Other pairs that work

Funchal old town and the harbour lighthouse sit ten minutes apart and need no driving day at all. Praia Formosa on its own gives a beach and volcanic rock formations within one walk. The locations map shows the drive times, and any pair inside thirty minutes of each other will work on a two hour booking.

An hour of mountain road in the middle of a two hour session leaves you with one location and a drive.

The full set from the evening described here: Edin & Arita at Fanal Forest and Seixal Beach.