Things to Do in Funchal: Old Town, Monte & the Best of the Capital (2026)

Funchal packs its headline sights into a walkable strip between the marina and the market, and most visitors cover the lot in one to two days. The signature outing is the cable car up to Monte and a wicker toboggan back down, and it is the one thing nobody forgets. Everything else fits around it.

The practical shape of a first day: old town in the morning, market before it closes, cable car after lunch. The Mercado dos Lavradores shuts at 14:00 on Saturdays and closes all day Sunday, which catches people out more than any other detail in this city. Below are the sights in the order that actually works.

The old town: Rua de Santa Maria and the painted doors

Start in the Zona Velha, where Rua de Santa Maria runs for a few hundred metres behind the seafront. Its doorways were painted by local artists from 2010 onwards under the Arte Portas Abertas project, turning a neglected lane into the most photographed street on the island. It costs nothing and takes an hour at a slow pace.

Go before 10:00 or after 18:00. Funchal receives cruise ships most days in season, and passengers reach this street mid-morning. The 15th-century Sé cathedral sits five minutes west, and the small squares between the two are where the city drinks its coffee.

Mercado dos Lavradores: what to see and when to go

The workers' market is the one indoor stop worth making. Upstairs, stalls sell tropical fruit you will not recognise, including custard apples, monstera deliciosa and the small red pitanga. Downstairs, the fish hall lays out espada, the black scabbard fish caught at depths of around 1,000 metres, alongside tuna.

Opening hours, which trip people up regularly:

• Monday to Thursday: 07:00–19:00
• Friday: 07:00–20:00
• Saturday: 07:00–14:00, the busiest and best morning
• Sunday: closed, as on most public holidays

Vendors will hand you slices of fruit to taste. It is part welcome and part sales pitch, and prices for cut fruit are aimed at tourists, so agree a price before accepting a bag.

Monte: the cable car up, the toboggan down

The Teleférico do Funchal climbs from the seafront near the old town to Monte, about 550 metres above the city, in roughly 15 minutes, floating over rooftops and terraced gardens. It runs daily from 08:45 to 17:45, closed only on Christmas Day. Take it up rather than down: the view improves as you rise, and it leaves the sledge as the finale.

At the top, the Carros de Cesto are waiting. Two carreiros in white cotton and straw boaters push a wicker sledge on wooden runners down about two kilometres of public road, steering with ropes and braking with their rubber-soled boots. The run takes around ten minutes and has operated since the 1850s, when it was genuinely how people got down the hill.

How much do the cable car and toboggan cost in 2026?

Toboggan prices rose on 1 May 2026, when the Carreiros do Monte association raised its rates from the previous €27.50, €35 and €52.50 for one, two and three riders. Older guides still quote the lower figures. Cable-car fares are from the operator's own site, checked in August 2026, and both are worth confirming on the day.

Doing it independently costs around €46 for one person for a one-way cable car and a solo sledge, before the taxi back. A guided tuk-tuk version bundles the sledge, the transport and the hill roads for a comparable amount, which is why it outsells the standalone tickets.

Monte Palace Tropical Garden

Fifteen minutes' walk from the cable car station, this hillside garden covers terraces of tree ferns, koi ponds, Portuguese azulejo tile panels and a collection of African sculpture and minerals. It is the natural way to fill the gap between arriving in Monte and taking the sledge, and an hour is about right.

It opens daily except 25 December, from 09:00 to 19:00 between April and September and 09:00 to 18:00 from October to March, with the museum rooms closing at 17:30. There is an admission charge separate from the cable car ticket, so check the current rate before you go.

Madeira wine, poncha and what to eat

Funchal is where you eat the island. Look for bolo do caco, a flat wheat bread cooked on a stone and served with garlic butter; espetada, beef skewered on a laurel branch and grilled over wood; and lapas, grilled limpets with lemon. Most old-town restaurants do all three.

To drink, poncha mixes sugar-cane rum, honey and lemon, traditionally stirred with a grooved wooden mexelote. Then there is Madeira wine itself, the fortified wine the island exports. Blandy's Wine Lodge at Avenida Arriaga 28 is the central place to taste it, open Monday to Friday 10:00–18:30, Saturday 10:00–18:00 and Sunday 10:00–13:00 and 14:00–18:00.

For a guided version that strings the tastings together with the history, see our Funchal food tour guide, or the dedicated Madeira wine tasting write-up for the lodges themselves.

Boat trips from the marina

Funchal's marina is the departure point for the island's easiest wildlife outing. Boats leave from Cais 8 on trips of roughly two to three hours into the deep water just offshore, where the sea bed drops away quickly enough to bring whales and dolphins close to the coast.

Sightings are never guaranteed, and operators vary a lot in boat size and approach. We cover which trips are worth booking, what you are likely to see and when, in the full guide to whale watching in Madeira.

For an evening rather than a wildlife trip, a Funchal sunset catamaran sails west under the cliffs with a swim stop and gets you back after dark.

The most distinctive boat on the marina is the Santa Maria de Colombo, a full-size replica of Columbus's flagship that sails the coast for three hours with a summer swim stop.

Views, gardens and easy add-ons

Beyond the headline sights, Funchal rewards a slower second day. The Botanical Garden sits on the eastern hillside with its own separate cable car and a long view down the valley. The CR7 museum on the marina is a quick, cheerful stop for football fans, Ronaldo having grown up in the city. The seafront promenade west towards the Lido is made for an evening walk.

How many days do you need in Funchal?

One full day covers the essentials: old town, market, cable car, toboggan, dinner in the Zona Velha. Two days lets you add Monte Palace properly, a wine lodge and a boat trip without rushing any of them.

Beyond that, use the city as a base rather than a destination. Nearly every levada walk and island tour picks up from Funchal hotels, so you can stay in one place all week, and the best hotels in Funchal guide covers where. For the island beyond the capital, start with the wider things to do in Madeira guide.