Funchal Nightlife: An Evening Route Through the City

The logic is simple: go west to east for the light, then east to west for the bars. The rooftops and the seafront face the sunset, the old town comes alive after dinner, and the casino only matters if you are still going at 23:00.

If You Only Have One Evening

Do the old town and nothing else. The painted doors, one poncha and a slow walk back along the Avenida do Mar is the version of this city people remember, and it costs a taxi fare.

If you have two evenings, spend the second one differently: a rooftop at sunset on one side of the city and the casino or the late bars afterwards, which gives you the modern Funchal rather than the historic one.

Rua De Santa Maria and the Painted Doors

The council says the city's first settlement is thought to have begun in the Zona Velha, and the quarter is a historic area of great architectural value: narrow cobbled streets and old house façades. Rua de Santa Maria is one of the oldest streets in the city, and it carries the doors project, which the council calls Arte Portas Abertas and Visit Madeira calls Portas Pintadas: artists were invited to paint the doors and façades of the buildings, turning the street into an open-air gallery.

Walk it slowly. The doors are the point, and after dark the bar lights make them look better than they do at noon, when half of them stand open. The daytime version of the same street, with what each door is, is on Funchal old town.

What Else Is on the Street

In the heart of the quarter stands the Capela do Corpo Santo, one of the few 15th-century buildings that survive in the city. Following the cobbles up the street brings you to the Igreja do Socorro, and at the top there is a small viewpoint with a view over the city.

At the western end the quarter runs into Mercado dos Lavradores, which is shut in the evening but worth knowing as the landmark that tells you where the old town ends. It is at its best in the early morning, as our market page explains.

• Capela do Corpo Santo: one of the few surviving 15th-century buildings
• Rua de Santa Maria: the painted doors, and most of the bars
• Igreja do Socorro: at the top of the cobbled street
• A small viewpoint above it, looking back over the city

Why It Is the Epicentre

Visit Madeira is direct about this: it is virtually impossible to talk about the city's nightlife without mentioning Funchal Downtown, and it calls the area the undisputed epicentre, with two things never missing from the bars there, fun and poncha.

That is also why the lanes get crowded on a Friday or Saturday. If you want the doors without the crowd, walk the street before dinner and come back for the drink. The walking version of the same district by day is on Funchal walks.

Rua Das Fontes

On Rua das Fontes, at the heart of the Avenida do Mar, a number of bars open until late and set the tone for a lively evening. Visit Madeira says the street is especially popular with young people and that the fun happens as much outside the bars as inside them.

It is the closest thing Funchal has to a spill-onto-the-street night, and it is a two-minute walk from the seafront, so it works as the stop between dinner and the club.

Rua Imperatriz D. Amélia

The opening of the Savoy Palace hotel brought a revitalisation of the whole surrounding area and turned Rua Imperatriz D. Amélia into a hub of bars for pleasant evenings of conversation over music and cocktails, in Visit Madeira's description.

It is the calmer of the two, and the one to pick if your evening is a conversation rather than a night out. It also puts you closer to the casino end of the city.

Why This Page Names No Bar

Visit Madeira keeps a directory of ten bars and nightclubs in the city, and the council keeps its own night entertainment directory. Neither ranks or inspects anything, so quoting them as recommendations would be passing off a list as a judgement.

This site names a venue when an inspection guide names it, like the MICHELIN Guide, or when the venue's own site is the source, which is why only the casino appears by name below. The 12 guide-listed restaurants for the island, which is the same rule applied to dinner, are on where to eat, and the island-wide view of all this is Madeira nightlife.

Rooftops

Visit Madeira's own line is that the best rooftops in Funchal are in the city's hotels, with views that in some cases run to 360 degrees, and that they are made for a cocktail and the island's much-photographed sunset. It names none of them, and neither does this page.

The practical version: most of the tall hotels sit on the western side of the centre and along the Estrada Monumental, so a rooftop drink sits naturally before a night on Rua Imperatriz D. Amélia rather than before the old town.

The Seaside Promenade

At sea level the alternative is the promenade, whose first section opened in August 1993 at the Lido and which now runs west past Ponta Gorda to Ponta da Cruz, and on towards the Câmara de Lobos promenade. It is lit, flat and busy in the early evening.

If you would rather chase the view than the drink, the island's sunset viewpoints are ranked on Madeira viewpoints, and the highest of the coastal ones is the skywalk at Cabo Girão, which has its own published hours.

The gaming room opens 15:00 to 03:00 from Sunday to Thursday and 16:00 to 04:00 on Fridays, Saturdays and the eves of holidays, and the whole casino closes on 24 and 25 December. The Copacabana nightclub and the open-air Garden beside it run 23:00 to 04:00 on those same late nights, with an extra Wednesday slot from 23:00 to 03:00 during special seasons.

Entry requires the free Welcome Card, which is what lets you in and out, and the published rules refuse anyone under 18, anyone in beach sandals, flip-flops or crocs, and anyone in a tracksuit or sportswear. Identification must be shown on request. There is a taxi rank and about 60 parking spaces on site, which matters at 04:00.

• Gaming room: 15:00-03:00 Sunday to Thursday, 16:00-04:00 Friday, Saturday and holiday eves
• Copacabana and the Garden: 23:00-04:00 on those late nights
• Closed 24 and 25 December
• Free Welcome Card, 18 and over, ID on request
• No beach sandals, flip-flops, crocs, tracksuits or sportswear

Is It Worth the Trip

Our view: it is worth it if you want to dance, because it is the only place in the city that publishes when it will be open, and the Garden is a rare thing, an outdoor dance floor in a city that stays mild at night. It is not worth changing hotels for.

The island-level detail, including what the complex holds and the two restaurants inside it, is on Madeira nightlife.

Sunday Evening at the Colégio Church

The 17th-century Jesuit Colégio Church on Praça do Município opens Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 18:30 and on Sunday from 09:00 to 13:00 and again from 18:30 to 22:00. That evening Sunday slot is unusual and it is the quietest hour in the centre of Funchal.

The square itself is worth crossing at night: the City Hall was built in 1758 as the Count of Carvalhal's residence and has been the city hall since 1883. The rest of the centre is on our Funchal guide.

A Wine Bar Rather Than a Bar

Blandy's Wine Lodge on Avenida Arriaga, one of only two wine lodges the council lists in the city, has a shop and its own bistro and wine bar on site, named 1811 after the year in the family's history. The lodge publishes tour times but not bar hours, so ask on the day.

The wine itself, and which of the tastings to book, is set out on Madeira wine, with the visit detail on Blandy's Wine Lodge.

One Night a Year at the Market

Noite do Mercado, on 23 December, turns Mercado dos Lavradores and the streets around it into the biggest night of the year: stalls open late, homemade liqueurs, carne de vinha d'alhos sandwiches, festive lights and traditional music.

If your trip lands on it, everything else on this page can wait. The other dated nights, from Carnival to the New Year fireworks, are on Madeira events.

Taxis

The night tariff runs from 21:00 to 06:00 and applies all day on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. The flag fare is $5.51 (€4.80) at night against $4.59 (€4) by day, then a small charge per fraction of distance or time, with a supplement of $1.72 (€1.50) for luggage or a pet. Tariff 1 applies inside the Funchal municipality only, so a ride to a hotel outside the city is on a different tariff.

Taxis are metered, the tariff sheet says to ask for a receipt, and complaints go to the PSP on 291 208 400. A 6 or 8 seat vehicle adds 20 per cent, which is the thing to check before a group climbs in. The full table is on our Madeira taxi page.

Buses, and Why Not to Drive

Horários do Funchal runs the city's buses, with frequencies that change by day of week, season and time of day, and real-time information in its GiroBus app. No night timetable is published on the council's transport page, so plan the bus for the evening and the taxi for the night. Routes and fares are on getting around Madeira.

Leave the hire car at the hotel. Funchal's centre is a grid of one-way cobbled streets that climbs steeply the moment you leave the seafront, parking near the old town is scarce at night, and the roads out of the city are steep and tight in the dark. Where to sleep so that the walk home is short is covered on where to stay in Madeira.