The 17th December, was the shortest day of the year in Funchal on the island of Madeira in 2009, dusk arrived at 4 minutes to five in the afternoon only 600 minutes after sunrise. Compare that to London whose shortest day came a day or two later and was only 470 minutes long. So a winter break on the island of Madeira will not only provide more sun and warmer temperatures, but the days will be over two hours longer too.

You can reach the island of Madeira on one of flythomascook.com's regular flights from the UK with departures from a choice of 4 airports each week during the winter and 6 airports during the summer months. Funchal's legendary New Years Eve fireworks display is always a good reason to take a holiday there during the festive season, as is the Twelfth Night Festival on 6th January.

The pre-Christmas attractions are mostly in the capital, Funchal but there are also children's attractions in Ponta do Sol. Funchal has some pretty spectacular Christmas lights and last year over 400,000 lights were illuminating the town.

For visitors to Madeira during February the big social event in the island's annual carnival that starts with a Grand Procession on 13th February and continues until 16th February. This annual celebration is the highlight of the year for locals and the streets will be filled with thousands of revellers.

Other places worth visiting during a stay on Madeira include the pretty fishing village at Camara de Lobos, a walk up the Paul da Serra plateau if weather allows or the Pico do Arieiro, which also offers amazing views. Keen swimmers may want to head for Porto Moniz in the north west of the island where they can take a dip in one of the many natural bathing pools that have been formed by volcanic activity.