2 Days in Funchal

The farmers' market opened on 24 November 1940 to a design by architect Edmundo Tavares, a Rationalist Modernist building with Art Deco tile panels by João Rodrigues. Fruit, flowers, fish and craft stalls fill the hall from 07:00 on weekdays. It is open Saturday 07:00-14:00 and closed Sunday, so if your first day falls on a Sunday, skip it and start at the cathedral.

One honest warning about hours: the municipal markets site says the market closes at 19:00 on weekdays while Visit Madeira lists 20:00 on Fridays, and the two official sources disagree, so do not plan a late Friday visit around either figure. The market sits minutes from the cable car's lower station, which is why it opens the day. Read more in our Mercado dos Lavradores guide.

Funchal's first settlement grew up in the Zona Velha, and the Portas Pintadas project invited artists to paint doors and façades along Rua de Santa Maria, turning the quarter into an open-air gallery. The Sé cathedral stands a short walk away at Rua do Aljube. Ordered by King João II in 1493 and completed in the early 16th century, it is Manueline and Gothic with a portal of Cabo Girão stone and a Mudéjar cedar ceiling, and it has been a national monument since 1910.

Entry is free, no fee is published by any official source, and it opens on weekdays 07:15-18:30. Our Funchal Cathedral guide has the detail, and the wider quarter is covered in Funchal Old Town.

The lower station sits in the Jardim Almirante Reis garden beside the Old Town at Rua Dom Carlos I, so you walk here from the market. The line opened in 2000 and carries cabins of up to seven people on a 3.2 km cable for an average of 18 minutes up to Monte. It runs daily 08:45-17:45.

A return is $25.21 (€22.00) and one way $18.34 (€16.00), and this itinerary suggests buying one way up and descending by toboggan, which is the classic circuit. If you would rather see the city with a driver first, the Funchal tuk-tuk tour with a cable car finale bundles the ride into a two-hour loop. Full practical detail is in our Funchal cable car guide.

You arrive at Largo das Babosas in Monte, a parish sitting roughly 550 m above the city, and the garden entrance is close by. Monte Palace covers 70,000 m² and the operator recommends 1.5 to 2.5 hours for a visit. The $20.63 (€18.00) entry includes the garden, a three-floor museum with minerals and precious stones below and modern and contemporary art above, and a Moscatel tasting at the Bluehouse Café.

Children up to 14 enter free with an adult. Hours are 09:00-19:00 from April to September and 09:00-18:00 from October to March, with last entry at 17:00. Note that there is no online ticket purchase, you buy at the kiosk on arrival.

The palace building itself is not open to the public. Our Monte Palace guide covers the paths.

The wicker sledges began in the 19th century as public transport for Monte residents heading down to Funchal, and today two carreiros in white with straw hats steer each basket 2 km downhill in about 10 minutes, braking with rubber-soled boots. A ride costs $34.38 (€30.00) for one or $45.84 (€40.00) for two, running Monday to Saturday 09:00-18:00 and closed Sundays and public holidays. There is no online booking, tickets are same-day at the rank beside the Monte church steps.

Two honest problems: the run ends in Livramento, a different point from the start, and the operator provides no shuttle back to central Funchal, so you arrange your own return. If you want that solved for you, the toboggan and Old Town tuk-tuk tour includes hotel pickup. More in our Monte toboggan guide.

By the time the toboggan drops you and you have organised the ride back into town, it is a natural lunch slot rather than a noon one, which is a quiet advantage of this order, popular kitchens have turned over. Classic Madeiran plates to look for are espetada, beef on a bay-laurel skewer over charcoal with fried cornmeal, bolo do caco, the sweet-potato bread served with garlic-parsley butter, and filete de espada, the black scabbardfish often paired with banana. We do not print restaurant prices here because no official menu source publishes current figures for the classics, so treat any price list you see online with caution.

Our where to eat in Funchal page lists options by area, including the Bib Gourmand listed Casal da Penha.

Both sit within easy walking distance of the centre and make a low-effort end to a day spent climbing and descending hills. Blandy's Wine Lodge at Avenida Arriaga 28 runs the 30-minute Lodge Tour at $19.48 (€17.00), with longer premium and vintage tours available, open Monday to Friday 10:00-18:30 and weekends slightly shorter. The CR7 Museum, opened in 2013 at Praça do Mar, charges $5.73 (€5.00) and opens Monday to Saturday 10:00-17:00, free for children up to 9.

Choose Blandy's for Madeira wine history and a tasting, the CR7 for football and a lighter ticket. Our Blandy's Wine Lodge guide explains the tour differences, and the CR7 sits on the route covered in Funchal city centre.

This is the morning that must start early, because the Monte-Botanical Garden cable car runs 09:00-17:00 with last boarding at 16:50. It is a separate operator from yesterday's line, MTA - Transportes Alternativos da Madeira, with its own fares, and it closes for maintenance every January, as it did from 5 to 31 January 2026. The ride takes about 9 minutes one way.

An adult return is $18.34 (€16.00) alone or $27.50 (€24.00) combined with garden entry, the sensible buy. The garden itself, about 8 ha at 150-300 m altitude and roughly 3 km from the centre, opens daily 09:00-18:00 with tickets until 17:30, entry $11.46 (€10.00) over 12 and $3.44 (€3.00) for ages 6-12 if bought separately. The viewpoint inside looks back over the whole Funchal amphitheatre.

If you prefer wheels and commentary, the Botanical Garden and Old Town tuk-tuk tour includes hotel pickup. Our Madeira Botanical Garden guide has the full picture.

Coming down from the garden, whether by cable car or bus 29, 30, 31 or 31A, you land back in the city around early afternoon, which suits a longer lunch than yesterday's. This is also the day to try poncha, the 18th-century fishermen's drink of sugarcane aguardente stirred with a wooden mexelhote, in versions from passion fruit to mint. If you would rather make lunch the main event, a guided option is the Funchal food and wine walking tour, which is listed among our food tours, though note it runs on a fixed departure time so it reshapes the afternoon.

Our where to eat guide sorts the city by neighbourhood and budget.

Boats leave from Marina do Funchal on the waterfront below the Old Town. Two operators set the benchmark prices: Rota dos Cetáceos charges $68.76 (€60.00) for an adult on a 2.5-hour trip and offers a free repeat trip if nothing is sighted, while Ventura do Mar charges $59.59 (€52.00). Large catamaran trips are also sold through the booking platforms, such as the ecological catamaran dolphin and whale watching trip with land-based spotters and the Seaborn catamaran cruise toward Cabo Girão, both from the marina.

Seas are usually kindest in the afternoon light and the trips need no walking, which suits legs tired from two days of hills. If no boat appeals, the swimming option below costs a fraction. Our whale watching in Funchal guide compares the operators.

Funchal has no sand beach in the city itself, and swimming here means either a paid bathing complex or the free pebble beach. Entry to the municipal complexes, the Lido, Ponta Gorda, Barreirinha and Doca do Cavacas, is $6.88 (€6.00), with the Lido built over the sea and holding Blue Flag status. The alternative is Praia Formosa, a 2 km rolled-pebble beach at the western end of the seaside promenade with free access and lifeguards in season.

Both choices sit on or near the promenade that runs west from the marina, so you can walk part of it and ride the rest. The honest note is that black pebble underfoot is not sand, bring footwear for the water. Our Funchal beaches and Funchal Lido pages compare them.

End the trip where the day people are not. The seaside promenade links the marina to the Lido district, and the stretch near the water catches the last light over the bay. Back in the Zona Velha, Visit Madeira notes the Old Town's nightlife is one of the island's major attractions, worth seeing by night after you saw the painted doors by day.

A slow walk from the marina through Rua de Santa Maria, dinner near the Fortaleza de São Tiago and a last look at the harbour closes the two days without another ticket. If you are leaving by ship the next morning, our Funchal cruise port guide explains the terminal, and evening ideas sit in things to do in Funchal.