Madeira in 5 Days: One Zone a Day, One Base

The market opened in November 1940 and still holds the centre of Funchal's morning. Visit Madeira lists the hours as Monday-Thursday 07:00-19:00, Friday 07:00-20:00 and Saturday 07:00-14:00, closed Sunday. Arrive before the tour groups, buy fruit for the day and watch the flower stalls set up.

It sits a few minutes from the old town, so the morning flows straight into the next stop. Entry costs nothing, and no official page publishes a fee for the building. Compare prices with the Mercado dos Lavradores guide.

The old town is the painted-door quarter, with the Fortress of São Tiago begun in 1614 at the water and Rua de Santa Maria, one of the city's oldest streets, running through it. The 15th-century Corpo Santo Chapel stands on the same street. Walking costs nothing.

If you want the story told properly, the Funchal Old Town walking tour runs 2 hours, the listing runs 2 hours, and it also takes in the Farmers' Market, a wine lodge and the Jesuits' College at $19.00. Keep the walk short, because the cable car queue grows toward midday. More streets in the Funchal old town guide.

The Funchal-Monte cable car leaves from Jardim Almirante Rei by the old town and climbs 3.2 km in an average of 18 minutes to Largo das Babosas in Monte. Published hours run 08:45-17:45 daily except 25 December. Fares are $18.37 (€16) one way or $25.30 (€22) return, children 0-6 free and 7-14 half price.

Take the one-way ticket, because the toboggan brings you down. Buy ahead on the Monte cable car and toboggan tickets page, or read the full Funchal cable car guide.

The garden sits at the top station area and fills the rest of the morning. Entry is $20.70 (€18) for adults, and children up to 14 go free with an adult, bought online or at the three ticket offices for the same price. Online tickets stay valid 365 days.

The garden opens 09:00-19:00 from April to September and 09:00-18:00 from October to March, closed 25 December, with last entry at 17:00. The ticket includes the museum and a Moscatel tasting. The garden's own recommended visit is 1.5 to 2.5 hours, and the terrain is steep, so wear real shoes.

Full detail in the Monte Palace guide.

The wicker toboggan starts on Caminho do Monte 151 by Monte Church and runs 2 km down to Livramento in about 10 minutes, per Visit Madeira. It costs $34.40 (€30) for one person, $45.90 (€40) for two, and tickets are sold on site only, with no online booking. It runs Monday to Saturday 09:00-18:00 and closes Sundays and public holidays.

Two warnings. The arrival is not central Funchal and no official transport waits there. And if the queue is long, the tuk-tuk and toboggan tour bundles the ride with old town time at $46.00.

Everything on the Monte toboggan page.

End the day back in the centre. The Sé was ordered by King João II in 1493 and 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, and no entry fee is published.

From the cathedral, walk Avenida Arriaga past the City Hall of 1758, where weekday guided tours run at 11:00, and out onto the seafront promenade as the light goes. Dinner in the old town closes the day well, and the options are set out in where to eat in Madeira.

The summit stands at 1,818 m and on clear days looks across to Ponta de São Lourenço, Curral das Freiras and even Porto Santo. Sunrise at Pico do Areeiro on the 15th of each month, by our computation from NOAA formulas, comes at about 07:50 in September, so a 06:30 arrival gives time in the dark and a place at the rail. Cloud decides everything up here. The sunrise and PR1 transfer at $38.00 handles the pre-dawn drive and the return pickup from Achada do Teixeira, and the listing runs 8 hours with free cancellation up to 24 hours before.

Read the summit guide at Pico do Areeiro.

PR1 is the island's ridge walk and needs the full-crossing fee of $12.06 (€10.50), which covers PR1.1 and PR1.2 as well, booked on SIMplifica with an entry slot. The rules matter. The trail is two-way only between Pico do Areeiro and the Pedra Rija viewpoint at km 1.2.

From Pedra Rija to Pico Ruivo it runs one way only, Areeiro to Ruivo. Visit Madeira gives PR1 about 3 hours at moderate grade, their figure, not an IFCN grade. Pico Ruivo itself is 1,862 m, the highest point of the archipelago, and reachable only on foot.

Book the slot and read the rules on Madeira trail fees.

There is no walking back. From Pico Ruivo the exit runs by PR1.1 to Ilha, 8.2 km with a board time of 3h, or by PR1.2 to Achada do Teixeira, 2.8 km with a board time of 1h30. The IFCN trail boards give those durations without saying one way or return.

PR1.2 is the shorter exit and the one the transfer tour collects from, so that is our pick. IFCN provides no return transport from either exit, which is why the afternoon depends on the pickup you arranged. Note that IFCN has closed the Pedra Rija to Ruivo section on announced works days before, as on 14-17 and 21-22 September 2026, so check the notices for your date.

Achada do Teixeira sits above Santana, so the afternoon falls into place. The municipality has been a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 2011, and its thatched triangular casinhas are the most photographed houses on the north coast. Seeing them from outside costs nothing.

The laurel forest around here is the reason the island holds UNESCO World Heritage status, granted in 1999, and the forest explanation is worth an hour. If the legs still work, this is also the day the seven-day plan would extend, but five days turns here instead. Full background at Santana.

Start with the glass-floored skywalk, 580 m above the sea, the highest promontory in Europe per Visit Madeira. Entry is $5.74 (€5) for adults, booked on SIMplifica, with free entry for children 12 and under, Madeira residents and wheelchair users. It opens daily 08:00-20:00, so an 08:30 arrival beats the coaches that come up from Funchal mid-morning.

The view runs the whole south coast back toward Funchal and down to the terraces of Câmara de Lobos below, the first place Zarco settled between 1420 and 1424. The full write-up is at Cabo Girão.

Fanal is a plateau of centuries-old til trees in the laurisilva, the forest inscribed by UNESCO in 1999. No entry fee, ticket or paid car park is published on any official page for the plateau itself, though the PR13 and PR14 trails that start here do need SIMplifica bookings and fees. Mist turns it into the photograph everyone wants, and clear light works too, it is just a different picture. The Skywalk, Porto Moniz, Seixal and Fanal 4WD tour reaches it at $79.00, with the listing running 8 hours and free cancellation up to 24 hours before.

More on the plateau at Fanal forest.

Drop down to the coast for lunch and a swim. The black-sand Praia do Porto do Seixal has free access, and the Clube Naval do Seixal pools are also free from 10:00 to 19:00. One caution from the council: at Poças das Lesmas the sea often surprises bathers, so stay on the guarded beach.

This is the quietest stop of the day and the one people skip when the schedule tightens. Do not skip it. The village sits between the cliffs and the ocean with the greenest terraces on the island, and the details are in the Seixal guide.

The day ends in the lava pools on the far north-west tip. The council-run pools cost $3.44 (€3) over 3 years, free for children 3 and under, open 09:00-17:00 in winter and 09:00-19:00 in summer, with lifeguards on constant duty. The free pools at Piscinas Naturais do Aquário nearby are the fallback if the paid pools are crowded.

The day's gate total, Cabo Girão plus the pools, comes to $9.18 (€8), our sum. If time allows, the Achadas da Cruz cable car charges $3.44 (€3) one trip, though its hours are not published. Stay the evening: Porto Moniz.

The Calheta municipality shuttle reaches the Posto Florestal do Rabaçal for $5.74 (€5) one way or $9.18 (€8) return, and toilets at the forestry post are the only ones on site. Buy the return, because there is no walking out along the closed road. Drivers who would rather not think about any of this can take the Rabaçal 25 Fontes and Risco transfer at $50.00, which covers both levadas with a route map rather than a guided walk, and the listing runs 8 hours.

Calheta's own beach and marina close the day, described at Calheta.

Start with the quieter branch. PR6.1 runs 3 km each way to the Risco waterfall, and the IFCN trail board gives 2h without saying one way or return. The trail needs a SIMplifica slot like every classified walk, and on a single day the combined PR6 and PR6.1 rate applies at $10.33 (€9).

Walking Risco first splits the crowds, because most people beeline for the 25 Fontes name and the Risco path stays calm until late morning. The forest here is the UNESCO laurisilva at its most enclosed, with the levada channel running level beside you. Rules and fees on Madeira trail fees.

The famous one. PR6 runs 4.3 km to the springs, and the IFCN board gives 3h without saying one way or return. Circulation is one-way: out along the levada and back on the Bypass, which keeps the narrow sections moving.

The $10.33 (€9) 1-day rate covers both walks, and the system applies the cheapest combined rate automatically, though each trail still needs its own slot. Tunnels appear on this walk too, so carry a torch as the IFCN guidance suggests for the longer levada tunnels. This is the walk the hero photograph comes from, and it earns it.

Trail fee detail at Levada das 25 Fontes.

Come down off the mountain and put your feet in the sand. Calheta's beach is 100 m of golden sand imported from Morocco, per Visit Madeira, sitting beside a working marina on the sunny south-west coast. No entry fee is published.

The swim washes off the levada mud, and the marina is where the late lunch happens. If the weather ever forces this day to move, note that the levada fee is lost on a no-show, since refunds happen only when IFCN itself closes the trail. The town guide is at Calheta.

PR8 is the register trail to the eastern tip, 4 km each way with an IFCN board time of 2h30, again without saying one way or return. The fee is $5.17 (€4.50) with its own SIMplifica slot, the cheapest of the plan's three walks. The track rides a bare ridge with the sea on both sides, and the colours are nothing like the green forest of Rabaçal.

Drivers park at Baía d'Abra. Without a car, the Caniçal transfer for the PR8 hike at $36.00 includes the PR8 permit and a digital map, with pickups from Funchal, Caniço, Santa Cruz and Machico, and the listing runs 6 hours. Trail detail at Ponta de São Lourenço.

Machico is where the island's story starts, because Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeira came ashore here in July 1419. Praia de São Roque sits in the bay with free access, and the Banda d'Além beach carries golden sand imported from Morocco. Lunch here beats the airport road, since the town sits on the flight path side of the island and keeps the afternoon short if you fly out tonight.

It is also a calmer finish than Funchal on a Saturday. The history and the beaches are set out in the Machico guide.

The alternative ending, and our pick for a last evening if the flight is not until the next day. The ecological catamaran dolphin and whale watching trip leaves Funchal marina, runs 2 hours 30 minutes as listed, and costs $40.00. The boat carries land-based whale spotters' reports, two decks and wheelchair-accessible toilets, and cancellation is free up to 24 hours before. It turns the final afternoon from logistics into sea air, and pilot whales and dolphins are the realistic sightings.

The full seasonal picture is in the whale watching guide.