We continued visiting the North East coast of Madeira, and after the walk in levada do Caldeirão Verde we went to the beach of Ribera do Faial. It’s another urbanized beach, but this time the bathing area is not as spectacular as Porto Moniz.
The complex has a beach, a restaurant and a sport area with every service you may need, but this place is less known and much more peaceful. You can also see from the facilities a spectacular view of the cliffs and cape St. Lawrence in the East, and a strange formation of basaltic rocks in the West end of the beach.
This pebble beach is sheltered by a breakwater. There is ramp to ease the access and the complex has a swimming pool, too.
The rocky formation of the cliff in the left emerged during the volcanic eruptions that created the island itself. The almost hexagonal basalt columns that can be seen come from the slow cooling of the magma during the eruption.
The day was a bit spoiled and we didn’t feel like having a bath, so we ate at the restaurant and had a walk around the coast, took some photos and continued our excursion.
GPS coordinates: 32.792866, -16.848952