Madeira

Madeira is a mountain that rises straight out of the Atlantic off the coast of Africa — a Portuguese island of near-vertical green ridges, cloud forest, and a coastline of black volcanic rock. It has no real beaches to speak of and doesn't pretend to; the draw is the walking. A subtropical climate keeps it mild and flowering all year, and a network of levada trails threads the whole island, making it one of Europe's best hiking destinations without the seasonal lock.

Base in Funchal, the handsome capital that tumbles down to the harbour, then head up and out. The set-piece hike is the ridge walk from Pico do Arieiro to Pico Ruivo, along the spine of the island above the clouds. The levadas — centuries-old irrigation channels — come with flat paths beside them, so you can walk for hours on gentle grades through the ancient laurisilva cloud forest (a UNESCO site) or out to remote waterfalls. Elsewhere there's the eerie burnt woodland of Fanal, the natural volcanic swimming pools at Porto Moniz, the knife-edge Ponta de São Lourenço peninsula, and the local drinks — poncha and Madeira wine. It's compact enough to see a lot in a week, but the roads are steep and winding, so a car or transfers help.

The honest part: don't come for a beach holiday — there's almost no sand, the sea is cool and rough, and swimming means volcanic pools or lidos. The weather is a genuine variable: the north and the peaks catch cloud and rain while the south stays sunny, and a booked ridge walk can vanish into fog, so flexibility matters. Nightlife is quiet and it skews toward an older, walking-and-gardens crowd. But for hikers it's outstanding value and works nearly year-round — spring-like in January, warm through October — which almost nowhere else in Europe manages.