Madeira Itinerary: Seven Days, One Zone a Day

Start at the market while the fish stalls are still working. It opened in November 1940 and closes at 14:00 on Saturdays, so mornings are the honest time to see it. It shuts entirely on Sundays.

Vendors sell fruit by the piece outside, and prices are not posted on any official page we read, so ask before anything is cut for you. The market sits at the edge of the old town, which makes it the natural first stop of this Funchal day. Bring small change and keep moving inside.

Wander the painted doors and the oldest street in the city. Rua de Santa Maria carries the 15th-century Corpo Santo Chapel, and the Fortress of São Tiago at the water's edge was begun in 1614. If you want the stories rather than the doors, the Funchal Old Town walking tour runs 2 hours for $19.00 and includes the Jesuits' College, a wine lodge and a sweet factory.

Otherwise this costs nothing and needs no booking. Breakfast is easier on this street than inside the market hall.

The Funchal-Monte cable car runs from the lower station in Jardim Almirante Reis, a short walk from the old town. Published hours are 08:45-17:45 daily except 25 December, with 17:45 the last boarding, and the ride is about 18 minutes over 3.2 km. One way costs $18.37 (€16), return $25.30 (€22).

Buy one way, because you come down on the toboggan. Children 0-6 ride free and ages 7-14 pay half. Tickets for this and the toboggan sit together on Monte cable car and toboggan tickets.

The garden opens at the top station's shoulder. Entry is $20.70 (€18) for adults, children up to 14 free with an adult, online or at the gate for the same price. Hours are 09:00-19:00 April-September and 09:00-18:00 October-March, last entry 17:00, closed 25 December.

The ticket includes the museum and a Moscatel tasting, and the garden's own recommended visit is 1.5 to 2.5 hours. The terrain is steep, so wear real shoes. Give it the full two hours and you still have the church next door.

The wicker basket run starts at Caminho do Monte 151 by Monte Church and ends 2 km later in Livramento, about 10 minutes. It costs $34.40 (€30) for one person, $45.90 (€40) for two sharing a basket, tickets on site only with no online booking. It runs Monday to Saturday 09:00-18:00 and is closed Sundays and public holidays, which is why this day must not be a Sunday.

The arrival is not central Funchal and no official transport back exists, so plan the walk or a taxi. If the queue is long, the Monte toboggan and old town tuk-tuk tour bundles the ride with pickup.

End the day back in the centre at the Sé, ordered by King João II in 1493 and a National Monument since 1910. It opens Monday to 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, and no entry fee is published. From there walk the seafront as the light goes.

Dinner options and evening streets are covered in Funchal at night. Keep it short. Day 2 starts before the sun does.

Be on the summit at 1,818 m before first light. Sunrise here falls about 07:50 in September by our computation, and cloud decides if you see it. On clear days the view reaches Ponta de São Lourenço, Curral das Freiras and even Porto Santo.

Without a car, the Pico do Arieiro sunrise and PR1 hike transfer costs $38.00, the listing runs 8 hours, and it includes permit booking help, with the permit fee paid separately to the forestry institute. Dress for near-winter cold at dawn, and carry your own water and food, because nothing at the summit is guaranteed to be open at that hour. The summit page is Pico do Areeiro.

The full PR1 crossing costs $12.06 (€10.50) for non-resident adults and needs a SIMplifica slot. The trail is two-way only between Pico do Areeiro and the Pedra Rija viewpoint at km 1.2. Past Pedra Rija it is one-way, direction Areeiro to Ruivo, no turning back.

Visit Madeira gives PR1 about 3 hours, moderate. Pico Ruivo at 1,862 m is the highest point of the archipelago and reachable only on foot. If IFCN has closed Pedra Rija to Pico Ruivo for works on your date, as on 14-17 and 21-22 September 2026, walk Areeiro to Pedra Rija and back for $5.17 (€4.50) instead.

Details on Pico Ruivo.

You cannot walk back the way you came. From Pico Ruivo the exits are PR1.1 down to Ilha, 8.2 km and 3h on the trail board, or PR1.2 to Achada do Teixeira, 2.8 km and 1h30 on the board, which gives durations without saying one way or return. IFCN provides no return transport from either exit, so this is where the transfer tour earns its money: the sunrise and PR1 hike transfer collects you at Achada do Teixeira.

With your own car, leave a second vehicle or arrange a taxi in advance, because no official shuttle is published.

Achada do Teixeira sits above Santana, so finish with the triangular thatched casinhas de Santana, free to see from the street. The municipality has been a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 2011, and the wider laurel forest has been World Heritage since 1999. This is a photo stop, not a hike, and it needs no booking.

If your legs are finished, skip it and head back. More on Santana. Back in Funchal, eat early and stretch.

The glass-floored skywalk hangs 580 m above the sea, the highest promontory in Europe by Visit Madeira's measure. Entry is $5.74 (€5) for adults on SIMplifica, free for children 12 and under, Madeira residents and wheelchair users. It opens daily 08:00-20:00, so an early arrival beats the coaches.

Cloud can sit below the platform and hide the water, which is the main thing that goes wrong here. More on Cabo Girão. Thirty minutes is enough unless the fog lifts slowly.

Fanal is a high meadow of centuries-old til trees, and no official page read publishes an entry fee, ticket or paid car park. The light through the mist is the reason people go, and the weather there can be the opposite of the coast's. Trails PR13 and PR14 start at Fanal and need their own SIMplifica booking if you walk them.

Without a car this stop is effectively unreachable except on the Skywalk, Porto Moniz, Seixal and Fanal 4WD tour, $79.00, the listing runs 8 hours, with free pickup in central Funchal. See Fanal forest.

Lunch stop on a black-sand beach. Praia do Porto do Seixal is free access, and the Clube Naval do Seixal pools are free from 10:00 to 19:00. Bring swimwear even in uncertain weather, because a stop here with nobody swimming is a short stop.

The council warns that the sea at the nearby Poças das Lesmas often surprises bathers even when the swell looks harmless, so keep to the beach and the club pools here. More on Seixal. If the surf is up, watch it from the bar rather than in it.

The volcanic pools at Porto Moniz cost $3.44 (€3) for anyone over 3, free under 3, and open 09:00-19:00 in summer and 09:00-17:00 in winter, with lifeguards on constant duty. Free pools also sit nearby at Piscinas Naturais do Aquário if you resent the fee. Go into the water, not just the photo platform.

The full day with the skywalk comes to $9.18 (€8) at the gates, our sum. Everything practical is on Porto Moniz.

North of Porto Moniz, this cable car drops a vertigo-inducing cliff to a coastal field system. A return trip costs $5.74 (€5), one trip $3.44 (€3). Its hours are not published, which is why this stop is optional and best attempted early rather than last.

If you have already had a full day and the light is going, drive on and call it. The stop has its own page at Achadas da Cruz cable car. Then take the coast road back towards Funchal, our estimate allows the whole day for this loop.

The ER105 road from Encumeada to Rabaçal is closed to traffic, so access is the Calheta municipality shuttle, $5.74 (€5) one way and $9.18 (€8) return, which drops you about 2 km from the start of the route. Toilets exist at the forestry post only, so use them before you set off. Without a car or shuttle patience, the Rabaçal 25 Fontes and Risco levada hiking transfer costs $50.00, the listing runs 8 hours, and gives a route map rather than a guide.

The trail itself is on Levada das 25 Fontes.

Do Risco first, while your legs are fresh and the path is quiet. The IFCN trail board gives PR6.1 as 3 km each way and 2h, without saying one way or return. It ends at a tall single cascade and shares its booking with the afternoon walk: PR6 and PR6.1 booked on the same day fall under the 1-day rate of $10.33 (€9) for non-resident adults.

Book the earliest slot you can on SIMplifica, because the plateau fills. Both classified trails need their own slot even when booked together.

The main event. The IFCN board gives PR6 as 4.3 km and 3h, with one-way circulation: you walk out along the levada and return on the Bypass, so do not fight the flow at the narrows. The springs at the head of the valley are the payoff, and the tunnel sections are dark in places, so a phone torch helps.

Rain here does not refund your fee: money comes back only if IFCN closed the trail on your booking date. Full fee rules on Madeira trail fees.

Finish at sea level. Calheta's beach is 100 m of golden sand imported from Morocco by Visit Madeira's description, next to a marina, and no entry fee is published. Swim, dry off, and eat somewhere in the marina before the road home.

Note that Calheta charges its own tourist tax of $2.30 (€2) per person per night, capped at 7 nights, but that applies to overnight stays, not day visits. The town's page is Calheta. If the levada day got rained out, this beach is the consolation prize.

PR8 runs 4 km each way from Baía d'Abra, the board says 2h30, and you register at the start. The trail fee is $5.17 (€4.50) for non-resident adults with a SIMplifica slot. There is almost no shade on the whole peninsula, so a hat and water are not optional, and the wind can be serious on the ridge.

Without a car, the Caniçal transfer for the PR8 hike costs $36.00, runs 6 hours per the listing, and the PR8 permit is included per its listing. The walk's details sit on Ponta de São Lourenço.

Machico is where Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeira came ashore in July 1419, which earns it an afternoon. Praia de São Roque in the bay is free access, and the Banda d'Além beach carries golden sand imported from Morocco. Swim, eat, and walk the seafront.

This is the softest afternoon of the week and deliberately so, because day 6 is another hard walk and the legs need the break. The town page is Machico. From here the road back to Funchal runs through the tunnel network, toll-free by the official description.

PR9 Levada do Caldeirão Verde runs 8.7 km each way from Queimadas, the IFCN board says 6h30, without saying one way or return. The fee is $5.17 (€4.50) for non-resident adults with a SIMplifica slot. The trail passes through tunnels, and the boards tell you to carry a torch, so do.

This is the wet side of the island: rain is normal and does not refund your fee, only an IFCN closure does. A guided option is the Caldeirão Verde levada walk at $55.00, 7 hours per the listing, with hotel pickup from listed hotels only.

The waterfall drops 110 m into a green cauldron, the caldeirão verde of the name. The walk in follows the levada through laurel forest that has been UNESCO World Heritage since 1999, and the last stretch to the pool is the narrowest part of it. Eat here and turn back in good time, because the return is the same 8.7 km and the board's 6h30 does not distinguish directions.

Mud is the main hazard, and the tunnels are dark and dripping. The trail page is Levada do Caldeirão Verde.

If the weather at Queimadas is hopeless, PR18 Levada do Rei is the swap. It runs 5.3 km each way from Quebradas to Ribeiro Bonito, and costs the same $5.17 (€4.50) trail fee if walked instead of PR9, with its own SIMplifica slot. Shorter, lower, and easier to abandon halfway without losing the day.

The two walks should not be booked for the same day unless you enjoy suffering. More on Levada do Rei and the forest walks in general on levada walks.

Last day, go to sea. The ecological catamaran dolphin and whale watching trip leaves Funchal marina, costs $40.00 as listed and runs 2 hours 30 minutes per the listing, with land-based whale spotters guiding the boat and wheelchair-accessible toilets on board. Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead means a rough-sea morning costs you nothing. If you want a naturalist rather than a catamaran, the responsible whale and dolphin watching tour runs 2 hours for $69.00 from Marina do Funchal Gate 4.

The season overview is on whale watching in Madeira.

The fishing town west of Funchal, 9 km from the city by the council's measure, was the first place Zarco settled between 1420 and 1424. Walk the harbour, look at the boats, eat grilled fish. No fee, no booking, no timetable.

It pairs naturally with the morning boat because both are on the same side of town and neither needs the legs you no longer have after a week of walking. The town page is Câmara de Lobos. An afternoon coffee on the sea wall finishes the island better than any gift shop.

End the week above the caldera. The Eira do Serrado viewpoint sits at 1,095 m over Curral das Freiras, the valley where nuns of Santa Clara sheltered during the 1566 pirate attack that gave the village its name. Free to see, and on the day 2 summit list of clear-day sights, so you may recognise the view from the other side.

Sunset in September falls about 20:16 at Pico do Areeiro by our computation, and the valley catches the last light too. The village page is Curral das Freiras. Then home to Funchal for the last supper.