Twenty seconds of The West Coast, written for this very spot. On the tour it plays by itself as you arrive.
Five hundred and eighty metres of straight down, and a glass floor to make sure you feel every one of them. Cabo Girão is one of the highest sea cliffs in Europe, and someone had the nerve to bolt a transparent platform onto the very lip of it. Walk out, look down through your own feet, and watch the Atlantic crawl against the rocks far, far below. Some people freeze halfway and can't take the last step. No shame in it. That's the whole point.
Now look down and slightly inland, to those tiny green rectangles at the very base of the cliff, right at the waterline. Those are the fajãs: patches of farmland on the narrow strip between cliff and sea. Until 2003 the farmers who worked them could only get down by boat. They grew vines and bananas on the most inaccessible plots imaginable, generation after generation, because flat fertile land on this island is precious enough to risk your neck for. Now a cable car drops down to them, and almost nobody rides it, which makes it one of the most surreal, empty corners of Madeira.
The name Girão (to turn) comes from the legend that Zarco turned his ship around right here on his first scouting trip along the coast. He went back. You won't.
Local tip: this is on every bus tour's list, so timing is everything: get here before 10:30 or after 16:00 and you'll have room to breathe. Since January 2026 the skywalk costs €5 for visitors (free for residents and children up to twelve), paid at the entrance.
