Camara de Lobos From Funchal: Buses, Fares And Whether It Is Worth It

The Rodoeste Route

Rodoeste's Cabo Girao route leaves from Funchal Avenida do Mar and calls at Camara de Lobos 20 minutes after departure, working west through the Lido area after 5 minutes and Forum Madeira after 10. The bus then continues to Estreito de Camara de Lobos and on to Cabo Girao, so the same ticket serves both the town and the cliff if you want to combine them. Weekday departures are spread across the morning and early afternoon.

Saturday and Sunday or holiday services run less often, so check the timetable on the Rodoeste site before a weekend trip.

The Horarios Do Funchal Urban Option

Horarios do Funchal, Funchal's own city bus network, also reaches Camara de Lobos. Line 3 stops at Depois Ribeira Pizo and line 01 stops at Ponta da Laranjeira. From the Ponta da Laranjeira stop it is about 1 km, roughly 10 minutes on foot, into the village centre.

This is the slower option but it uses the same flat on-board fare as a city bus, and you can see the timetables at Horarios do Funchal.

What It Costs

Here is the honest answer. No specific fare is published for the Funchal to Camara de Lobos hop by either operator. Rodoeste prices single tickets by zone count on its general fare page and does not state which zone Camara de Lobos falls into.

Its zone fares run from $1.49 (€1.30) for 1 zone through $2.52 (€2.20) for 2 zones, $3.15 (€2.75) for 3 zones and $3.84 (€3.35) for 4 zones, up to $6.88 (€6.00) for 8 zones. Horarios do Funchal charges a municipal on-board fare of $2.35 (€2.05) on its urban routes, but Camara de Lobos is its own municipality, so it is not certain from our sources whether the municipal or the intermunicipal band applies to their lines that cross the boundary. Carry a little cash, pay on board, and treat $2.35 (€2.05) as the likely minimum either way.

You can check current fares at Rodoeste.

A Working Fishing Town With A Famous Visitor

The town takes its name from the sea lions, the lobos-marinhos, that once hauled out in the cove. João Gonçalves Zarco settled here first between 1420 and 1424 and the parish dates from 1430, which makes it one of the oldest settled places on the island. The flat-bottomed boats in the bay are called Xavelhas and they are still part of the view.

Winston Churchill painted the bay during a visit to the island, which is why you will hear his name mentioned near the waterfront. The municipality covers 51.82 km² and roughly 35,000 to 40,000 people across five parishes, including Curral das Freiras. Ten minutes further along the same bus route sits the highest sea cliff in Europe as described by Visit Madeira, and our Cabo Girao page covers that stop separately.

What Is And Is Not Published

No taxi fare for this route is published, and no official drive time or driving distance is published either. The only distance figure we can cite is 9 km from Funchal, which comes from the municipality's own description of its location at cm-camaradelobos.pt. Treat that as the town's own stated separation, not a verified drive time, since no drive time appears in our sources.

In practice the road follows the coast through the hotel zone west of Funchal, and a taxi driver will quote you directly. Walking the whole way is possible along the coast road but we do not state a walking time, as none is published and the route is not a marked walking trail.