Funchal, Madeira: What to See and Do in the City

Funchal Cathedral

The Sé on Rua do Aljube was ordered by King João II in 1493 and finished in the early 16th century. It mixes Manueline and Gothic work, with a Gothic portal of Cabo Girão stone, a carved cedar Mudéjar ceiling and a gilded altarpiece. It has been a National Monument since 1910.

Hours are Monday-Friday 07:15-18:30, Saturday 08:00-12:00 and 16:00-19:00, Sunday 07:15-12:00 and 16:00-19:00. No entry fee is published. The weekend midday closure is the trap: see it before 12:00 on a Saturday or Sunday.

Mercado Dos Lavradores

The market opened on 24 November 1940 and was designed by Edmundo Tavares, with 1940 tile panels by João Rodrigues. It opens Monday-Thursday 07:00-19:00, Friday 07:00-20:00 and Saturday 07:00-14:00, and closes all Sunday. No entry fee is published for the building.

Saturday afternoon and Sunday are the two times it is shut. The Mercado dos Lavradores page has the rest.

The Old Town And Rua De Santa Maria

Rua de Santa Maria is one of the oldest streets in Funchal. Corpo Santo Chapel stands on it, a 15th-century building and one of the few that survive from that century. You will still find traditional workshops here, including hat and boot makers, plus Socorro Church and a small viewpoint.

Above the Old Town seafront sits the Fortress of São Tiago, begun in 1614, which housed the contemporary art museum from 1992 until 2015. The streets are free at all hours. More detail on the Funchal Old Town page.

Praça Do Município, The Colégio Church And Santa Clara

Praça do Município holds two sights in one square. City Hall was built in 1758 for the Count of Carvalhal and became city hall in 1883. It has a tiled courtyard from 1940 and a Leda and the Swan fountain.

Guided tours run on weekdays at 11:00 and last about 60 minutes. It is closed weekends and holidays, and you can call +351 291 705 060. The Colégio Church on the same square is a 17th-century Jesuit church with carved gilded altarpieces, open Monday-Saturday 10:00-18:30 and Sunday 09:00-13:00 and 18:30-22:00.

A short walk away, the Convent of Santa Clara on Calçada de Santa Clara 15 was built between 1489 and 1496 and holds a Gothic cloister and 17th-century tiles. It opens Tuesday-Saturday 10:00-12:30 and 14:00-17:00. It is closed Sunday and Monday, so it needs a weekday.

The Promenade

The seaside promenade opened in sections from August 1993, starting with the Lido. It runs west past Ponta Gorda to Ponta da Cruz and continues on to the Câmara de Lobos promenade. It is flat, free and open at all hours, and it is the easiest walk in the city.

Our Funchal walks page links it to the rest of the town.

The Municipal Garden

The Funchal Municipal Garden, also called Dona Amélia, sits on Avenida Arriaga opposite the Municipal Theatre. It covers 8,300 m² and was laid out in 1880. Entry is free.

Blandy's Wine Lodge is on the same avenue, at number 28.

Madeira Wine In The City

Blandy's Wine Lodge at Avenida Arriaga 28 runs four tours, compared below from the lodge's own tour page. Children under 6 go free and ages 6-17 pay $9.64 (€8.40). The lodge is open Monday-Friday 10:00-18:30, Saturday 10:00-18:00 and Sunday 10:00-13:00 and 14:00-18:00, closed Easter Sunday and 25-26 December.

Full details are on the Blandy's Wine Lodge page. For a shorter tasting elsewhere in the centre, the H.M. Borges winery tour is listed at $23.00 for an hour with 2 to 6 pours, on Rua 31 de Janeiro.

The CR7 Museum

The CR7 Museum on Av. Sá Carneiro, Praça do Mar 27, opened on 15 December 2013 and covers 400 m² with the trophies of Cristiano Ronaldo. Visit Madeira lists it Monday-Saturday 10:00-17:00.

No price is published on that listing, so we print none. Praça do Mar is on the seafront, so it fits a walk along the promenade. Our CR7 Museum page has the rest.

Monte sits above the city. The link is the Funchal-Monte cable car, whose lower station stands in the Jardim Almirante Reis garden at the Old Town end of the seafront, on Rua Dom Carlos I, near the market and the São Tiago fortress. It does not leave from the marina.

The ride takes 18 minutes over 3.2 km in cabins of 7, running 08:45-17:45 daily except Christmas Day, with 17:45 as the last boarding. One way is $18.37 (€16), return $25.30 (€22), children 7-14 half price and under 7 free. The line opened in 2000.

If weather stops the return, ticket holders get transport back or a 50% refund. The toboggan runs Monday-Saturday 09:00-18:00, never on Sundays or public holidays, and costs $34.40 (€30) for one, $45.90 (€40) for two and $68.90 (€60) for three, paid on site the same day. It covers 2 km to Livramento, which is not the city centre.

Monte Palace Tropical Garden costs $20.70 (€18), with children up to 14 free with an adult, and includes a museum and a Moscatel tasting. The garden opens 09:00-19:00 April-September and 09:00-18:00 October-March, last entry 17:00. The separate Monte-Botanical Garden cable car costs $12.63 (€11) one way, and the Madeira Botanical Garden itself costs $11.48 (€10) over 12 and opens 09:00-18:00.

Our pages on the cable car, Monte Palace, the Botanical Garden and the toboggan go deeper, and Monte cable car and toboggan tickets compares the ways to pay for the ride up and the ride down.

The table sums up what a half day at Monte costs and when each piece runs, so you can match it to the cable car's last boarding at 17:45.

Three closures do the most damage to a first visit. The market shuts at 14:00 on Saturday and all day Sunday. The toboggan never runs on Sundays or public holidays.

Santa Clara is closed both Sunday and Monday. The cathedral, meanwhile, closes at midday on both weekend days. Build your day around whichever of these you care about most.

What To Do On A Sunday

Sunday removes the market and the toboggan, so flip the plan. Take the cathedral before 12:00, because it closes at midday and reopens at 16:00. The Colégio Church closes 13:00-18:30, and Blandy's keeps short hours, 10:00-13:00 then 14:00-18:00.

Monte still works fully on a Sunday: the cable car runs 08:45-17:45 and Monte Palace is open, so the garden becomes the anchor of the day. Save the market and the toboggan for a weekday.

The honest answer is one full day for the city plus a half day for Monte, or two relaxed days if you want the food tours as well. A walking tour compresses the learning into 2 hours, which is why many visitors take the Funchal Old Town walking tour on their first morning.

If Funchal is only one stop on a wider trip, our 3 day, 5 day and 7 day itineraries slot the city in around the rest of the island.

The Tourist Tax

Funchal charges a tourist tax of $2.30 (€2) per person per night, for at most 7 consecutive nights, capped at $16.07 (€14) per stay. It has been in force since 1 October 2024. Our Madeira costs page puts it in the wider budget.

Weather In The City

Funchal's station sits at 58 m, and the IPMA 1991-2020 normals show an average daily high from 20°C (68°F) in January and February to 27°C (80°F) in August and September. Rain totals 574 mm a year, almost all of it October to March, with July and August near dry. The city is a year-round destination on those numbers.

See Madeira weather and the best time to visit for the island-wide picture.

The Tourist Office

The main office is at Avenida Arriaga 16, 9004-519 Funchal, phone +351 291 145 305. It opens Monday-Friday 09:00-19:00 and Saturday, Sunday and holidays 09:00-15:30. Info points also sit at the Mercado dos Lavradores and on Estrada Monumental.

The currency is the euro, the time zone is WET on the same clock as London and Lisbon, and the emergency number is 112.

Yes. Funchal holds 105,782 of the region's 250,744 residents (2021 census), and the city holds sights the rest of the island cannot offer: a 15th-century cathedral, a working market in a 1940 building, wine lodges, and Monte hanging above it all with a cable car to reach it. The amphitheatre setting means the flat seafront makes the city easy for every fitness level, and the steep streets behind it reward an extra hour.

If you are deciding whether to base yourself here, where to stay compares the areas.

With children, the cable car, the toboggan and the flamingos at Monte Palace do the work, see Madeira with kids. Couples get the most from a food tour or a wine lodge evening, see Madeira wine. The lower town costs nothing to walk, and the free list is long enough for a full day, see free things to do in Madeira.

A rainy day still works indoors at Blandy's and the museums, see rainy day ideas. For evenings, see Funchal at night. The rest of the island's sights are on things to do in Madeira.

• The cable car's lower station is in the Jardim Almirante Reis garden at the Old Town end of the seafront, not at the marina where most people first look for it (Madeira Cable Car).
• The toboggan was created in the 19th century as public transport for Monte residents going down to Funchal, not as an attraction (Visit Madeira).
• The market's tile panels date from 1940 and were made by João Rodrigues at the Fábrica Maria de Portugal, part of the building's original design (Visit Madeira).
• Monte Church holds the tomb of Charles I, the last Emperor of Austria, who died at Monte in 1922 (Visit Madeira).
• The fortress of São Tiago housed Funchal's contemporary art museum from 1992 until 2015, when the museum moved to Calheta (Visit Madeira).

Start in the centre on a weekday. The cathedral opens at 07:15 on weekdays, so it is the first door of the day: look at the Gothic portal and the cedar ceiling. From there go to Praça do Município for the Colégio Church, open from 10:00, and at 11:00 the City Hall tour if you want it. Santa Clara opens 10:00-12:30 from Tuesday to Saturday, on Calçada de Santa Clara. Then head east to the Mercado dos Lavradores, and on into the Old Town: Rua de Santa Maria, Corpo Santo Chapel and the São Tiago fortress above the seafront. Eat lunch in the Old Town.

In the afternoon, walk to the Jardim Almirante Reis at the Old Town end of the seafront and take the cable car up to Monte, remembering that 17:45 is the last boarding. Do Monte Palace first, 1.5 to 2.5 hours with the museum and the Moscatel tasting, before its 17:00 last entry. Then Monte Church, and either the toboggan down to Livramento before 18:00 from Monday to Saturday, or the cable car back if it is a Sunday. If you would rather have the lower town explained first, take the Funchal Old Town walking tour on the first morning and keep the afternoon for Monte. The rest of the island is on things to do in Madeira.