General
You can get around with speaking English in Madeira. Even that it is easier with Portuguese – which is the mayor language – or Spanish. Some people in the tourism industry even speak German.
Madeira is mostly a hiking/biking destination. Even that it has a few beaches, it is never that warm to go to the island only for a beach vacation.
Transportation
This dependence highly on what you want to do. It is easy to rent a car at the airport and go around on your own for a road trip. Madeira is a small island, it can be surrounded with a car in ~3 hours.
When it comes to hiking in Madeira transportation get a bit tricky because the most of the longer hikes are point-to-point hikes. Which means you would need transport to the beginning and a pickup at the end of the hike. With that in mind there are 3 options in place: take a cab, take the bus or find a travel agency that books together the hikes you want to do with the transport included.
Accommodation
There are several options available, hotels and guest houses. Even that Madeira is a small island it is not completely necessary to move around but you could enjoy different accommodations.
Money
Madeira is part of Portugal and with that they have the Euro. In general all the places take credit card. Hiking in general is free.
Madeira is one of the low-priced countries in the EU. Food, Accommodation, etc. is compared to Germany lower.
Hiking
Madeira is a hiking and biking paradise. There are countless day and multi day hikes possible. Several combinations of hiking paths. In case of doing the longer hikes, it is easier to have a transport arranged or call a cap after the hike. Also several bus option are available to go back to the start point.
Travel Duration
In order to hike a bit and get around plan in around 7 to 14 days.
