Portugal property hot spot is also renowned for its wine

Madeira, 1000 km south-west from Portugal’s capital Lisbon, is famous for its sweet wine which was a staple purchase for exploring ships on route to the New World hundreds of years ago.

In 1963 the airport was opened in Madeira, full of eager passengers from Germany, Scandinavia and the UK seeking winter sun and a Mediterranean alternative to the Costa del Sol package holidays. This reigns true today with Madeira attracting a discerning profile of tourists throughout the year. Cruise arrivals to the archipelago are still popular with Funchal, the capital, still a favoured port on the Atlantic cruise routes. As well as for sunshine (and the wine!) visitors now come for holidays with a difference; Madeira has much to offer in the way of leisure activities including walking, surfing, deep-sea fishing and mountaineering. But of course the 20 beautiful blue flag beaches are still a huge draw.

Jet2.com, the low cost airline, will begin flights from Manchester airport from 3rd May 2010 for as little as £49.99 one way (including taxes) to Funchal. Ian Doubtfire, Managing Director at Jet2.com comments, “Madeira is a stunning island and an absolutely fantastic summer holiday destination which I am sure will be extremely popular with our customers in the North West and beyond.”

Duarte Ferreira, Director at Madeira Airport, goes on to say, “The launch of this new scheduled route is extremely positive news for Madeira and will open up this beautiful region to many more visitors. The creation of this brand new link, especially at a time when other operators are looking to cut costs and services, plays such an important role for tourism in the region, benefiting the local economy and people working and living on the island. We hope that this partnership with Jet2.com will result in the opening of several new routes from the UK in the near future.”