Madeira

THE walkers' guide to Madeira for more than 30 years and a winner of the Thomas Cook Best Travel Guide Award, this book has been thoroughly revised for the current 13th edition because of recent storm damage and path rebuilding.

In addition to all of the 'classics', about half of the 100 long and short walks in the guide have been re-walked just a couple of months prior to publication. Naturally each of the 6 the car tours has been checked as well - and the new edition warns you about major road closures.

The book guides the visitor across the island by car and on foot. But it is primarily known as a walking guide. The Sunday Times said, 'A remarkable paperback which may have done more than any other to change the way its readers spend their holidays: this book single-handedly turned levada-walking into something approaching a craze.'

Levadas are watercourses that carry rainfall from the mountains to irrigate the cultivated terraces, and they have totally captured the imagination of visitors to the island - whether walkers or not. Many people use the book just to picnic or stroll in the idyllic surroundings beside a levada.

But best of all, Madeira is one of Europe's top destinations for mountain walks. With this in mind, we've concentrated in this updated 12th edition on re-walking all the high-level routes - especially important in view of the recent path collapse on the major traverse from Pico do Arieiro to Pico Ruivo - the island's top walk.

As usual, there are fairly significant changes to all the maps - including the addition of two new breathtaking mountain roads for keen motorists.

Features: 100 long and short walking routes - topo maps at a scale of 1:40,000 - 6 car tours and accompanying pull-out touring map - timetables for public transport - plan of Funchal with tourist attractions and the all-important bus departure points.