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If you are headed to Madeira and trying to figure out what to do in Funchal during your visit, this post is for you. I live on the mainland of Portugal but managed a trip out to Madeira this spring. During the trip I spent several jam packed days exploring all fo the Funchal local attractions. From the botanical gardens and Blandy’s winery to more hidden gems in Funchal, here is everything I got up to and my tips for you to maximize your time and see it all during your stay.
Table of Contents
Visit Funchal Cathedral
Funchal cathedral — full name, The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption — sits in the center of Funchal and is the main church of the island. The architecture is in the gothic style and the church is rather simple inside. There are three naves filled with rows of pews for worshippers.
The space is a combination of stone with white ceilings. There are several altars along both of the side walls as well as the main one at the front of the center nave — these are all more ornately decorated with gold and a good amount of detailing.
The cathedral is open daily to visitors but do check the opening times as they vary from day to day and some days the cathedral is shut during mid day for a lunch break. There is no cost to enter the cathedral.
Climb to the top of Igreja de São João Evangelista do Colégio do Funchal
In my opinion, a more impressive alternative to the cathedral is this 16th century Baroque and Mannerist church which is part of the greater Jesuit College complex. The interior of the church is ornately decorated, there is a good deal of color and gold through, and large mosaics splash across the walls and ceiling.
When I visited, mass was in session so I stood quietly in the back but it is possible to walk around the interior of the church when mass is not being held. You can also pay €1 to climb to the top of the building for views across the city. Again, because mass was happening when I went into the church, the stairs were closed, so make sure to check times so you can avoid mass as well as lunch time closures.
In addition to the church, there is more of the college complex which you can visit on a free guided tour — this is a great way to see this Funchal historical site led by a former university student.
Take pictures at the Madeira sign
You can’t miss the large, colorful Madeira sign which is the official tourism office logo of the island. With palm trees flanking it on both sides and the blue sky and harbor in the background, this is the perfect spot to snap a souvenir shot from Madeira.
Visit Ronaldo and the CR7 Museum
Though he has since risen to an immense level of international stardom, Christionao Ronaldo was once just a small town Madeira boy, born and raised in Funchal. And if gestures such as the renaming of the Funchal airport to Cristiano Ronaldo International Airport in 2017 are any indications, the island is very proud of their local boy.
Now, at the western end of Funchal, along the water, you’ll find the CR7 museum which is fully dedicated to the footballer as well as a statue of him standing tall and proud outside. I did not go into the museum as football is not my passion, but I did stop by and say hello to Ronaldo out front.
If you decide to go into the museum you can catch a glimpse at many of Ronaldo’s trophies from throughout his career such as golden boots and golden balls. There are photo galleries and plenty of his old jerseys. It’s a small museum but any Ronaldo obsessed footballer lover will absolutely love it in there. This is definitely one of the best family activities in Funchal for anyone who has a small football fan in the fam.
The museum is only open throughout the week and is generally closed on the weekends, though there are some exceptions on certain Sundays. Tickets to enter cost €5.
Check out the art along Rua de Santa Maria
In an effort to beautify a somewhat rundown harbor neighborhood, Open Doors for Art was launched in 2010. This effort saw the doors of the houses lining Rua de Santa Maria transformed into works of art. Materials were provided by the city council and local artists and residents went to work. Now, the space is vibrant, colorful, and full of amazing pieces all making up a totally free open air art gallery.
Try Poncha
You can’t leave Madeira without trying at least one glass of poncha. While it is unclear the exact origins of the drink, and some say it was originally used to prevent scurvy, it is clear that today it is emblematic of the island of Madeira.
The drink is alcoholic and is traditionally made with aguardente de cana which is a high alcohol content sugar cane spirit, honey, and lemon juice. These days there are a whole load of variants on the traditional recipe. Switching out honey for sugar, changing the juices up — there are plenty of options. I recommend trying Bar No. 2 which has the traditional poncha as well as a long menu of alternative options. They have some indoor and outdoor seating and are regularly pretty busy with customers.
I also loved the mural they have on the inside wall with a black cat watching poncha be made at the bar — it’s my goal now to find a small reproduction of it to hang on my wall at home.
Plus, the bartenders let us behind the bar to mix our own glasses of poncha and take pictures.
Visit the Mercado dos Lavradores
The Farmer’s Market is one of the most popular spots for tourists in Funchal, so be aware that it may be very crowded, especially if there is a cruise ship (or multiples) in the harbor. It’s here that you can try all of the exotic fruits of the island. Be aware, there are unfortunately regular complaints of fraud at the fruit stalls in the market. One of the complaints is that sugar is injected into the fruit given out as a sample, so then the actual fruit does not match the flavor of the sample. Other complaints include inflated prices and vendors sneaking in extra fruit which has gone off before the bag is weighed, thus increasing the price and off loading bad fruit. Most of these complaints are from around 2021 and since then there have been investigations into the accused vendors. The hope now is that the behavior has been curbed and you do not need to worry about these types of scams.
Personally, I bought from the vendor in the corner on the right when you walk in the main front door. He was friendly and while he was certainly a professional seller, he was not too pushy. None of the fruit is cheap, it is generally marketed towards tourists, but it is not outrageously expensive either.
I only bought one fruit — a surinam cherry — and the seller told me that if I took the seeds home and planted them I could grow my own trees (mind you I live on the mainland so you need to be careful of import laws before doing this overseas). I have a few years to go to have my own fruit, but I now have small seedling surinam cherry trees!
Beyond the fruit, you can also find a lot of dried fruits, nuts, and spices upstairs. And in the back there are fish vendors — but this area clears out much earlier as the fish sells out.
Go on a cable car ride
Funchal is set below a steep cliffside, so getting to any of the attractions at the top of that cliff means a lot of climbing. The cable cars which ascend the hill are fun as well as very functional. There are two separate cable cars in Funchal. The first brings you from more or less the center of the city all the way up to the top of the hill — more than three kilometers (about two miles) due north). From there you can walk about five minutes to hop on the second cable car. That second ride actually brings you back down towards the coastline, but it goes slightly off to the east and into a vast valley.
If you have any fear of heights I do not recommend either of these rides, but the first is a little bit less stressful as you don’t have quite such a chasm opening below you. The first ride you will have a view of the rooftops of Funchal as well as the harbor and the sea. For the second ride you have a lot more nature, trees, birds, and of course still the coast.
The first cable car brings you to the location of Jardim Monte Palace Madeira which I did not have a chance to visit, and the second drops you off directly at the top of the botanical gardens.
There area far fewer people who take the second cable car, so lines are not an issue, but the first car which leaves from the center of the city has quite a long queue. Arriving just after lunch time the queue was out the back door when I arrived and it took me about 30 minutes to get into a car and head up. Coming back down just before 5:00 PM it took less than 20 minutes to get in a car for the final ascent into the city.
The round trip journey on both cable cars is €35.
Visit the botanical gardens
I love a good botanical garden, and the Funchal botanical gardens absolutely fall into that category. Getting off the second cable car you will be just about at the entrance to the gardens. But you can also access them from the road at the bottom either by Uber or bus — the journey is around 20 minutes from the center of Funchal.
If you do enter the gardens from the top where the cable car is, I recommend going directly to the bottom and then working your way back up. The gardens are very steep so it’s better to do the climb back up slowly as you make your way through each level rather than all at once in one go.
The gardens are full of bonsai, manicured hedges, exotic plants, cacti, and so much more. And that’s not even to mention the fact that the gardens have some of the best viewpoints in Funchal. I spent close to two hours wandering through and would say that a visit to the botanical gardens is one of the best Funchal outdoor activities and not to be missed.
Entrance is €7.50/adult. Do be careful at what time you exit if you’re taking the cable car as the gates of the gardens close at 5:30PM but the final boarding to head back down is 5:20PM.
Take a tour at Blandy’s
I have spent months visiting wineries all around Portugal. And throughout that time one of my favorite Portugal wine facts remains that the founding fathers of the US toasted with a glass of Madeira wine after signing the Declaration of Independence. It’s calculated that by the time the old boys had their famous sips the wine had about a century’s worth of history already. While Blandy’s was not operating during either of those times, it has been in operation now for more than 200 years. And, if you are ready to really splurge, you could grab yourself a bottle that dates just about that far back.
But that’s totally not necessary to enjoy a visit to Blandy’s. You can do a basic tour with a tasting of two wines for €15. This is what I did. The tour lasted about 30 minutes and was just a quick overview of the winery’s history. It was full, with a big group of about 15 people. I was with two friends who tried to join last minute and they couldn’t because the tickets had all been sold, so definitely plan at least a day or two in advance if you want to do a tour. There are other tour options including a premium tour or a tour without a wine tasting.
If you’re not interested in the tour, you can also just pop in and do a wine tasting at the bar. The space is beautiful and very old world colonial with lots of dark wooden accents and big shady trees. The property also has a restaurant — the 1811 Bistro & Wine Bar, as well as holiday apartment rentals.
Try niquita at Rei da Poncha
The third famous Madeiran beverage is niquita, and this one was my favorite. This is sort of like a pina colada — but also very different. It is made with ice cream (pineapple or vanilla), pineapple juice, and beer. And it’s delicious. It’s sort of like an alcoholic milkshake and it goes down real easy. If I hadn’t had a plane to catch I could have sat and had several more of these. My stomach may have hated me for it — and my head the next day, but I would have been very content in the moment.
We went to Rei da Poncha to have them. This is a small bar in the center of the city which has a good amount of seating along the sidewalk out front.
If you can manage the check list of all three Madeiran drinks while in Funchal, I would say that is one of the best Funchal cultural experiences to have!
Get a massage
I didn’t get a massage in Funchal, but my friends did. So while I was up at the botanical gardens they went to Breeze Massage. There you can get a full body massage as you lay on the beach. So if you’re looking for something very relaxing to do in Madeira, this is the spot to get pampered.
Watch the planes take off and land
The Funchal airport is teeny tiny, you’ll be through security in a matter of minutes, and you won’t have far to go to get to your gate because there is just about nowhere to go. But you might still consider getting there a bit on the early side as you can pop out onto a terrace where you can watch the planes land and take off. The airport is not busy so you won’t see many, but when it’s time it’s quite fun to watch. The airport is unique in that it is fairly dangerous and quite a challenge for pilots. Not only is it shorter than standard commercial runways, but on one side is a drop into the ocean and on the other is a mountain — this means the pilot has to accelerate faster than normal to make it up and out safely. To top it all off, the runway itself is built on a number of pillars in the ocean. It’s all very exciting and I recommend seeing if you can catch an arrival before your departure.
See the rest of the island (rent a car or take a tour)
There are so many Funchal day trips you can take, but I’d also recommend considering spending part of your time on Madeira island staying elsewhere, outside of the city. There are a lot of other places to stay in Madeira that are even more spectacular than Funchal. One of my favorites was Seixal which has amazing black sand beaches.
But, if you only have time for a day trip around Madeira, you can definitely pack a lot in! There are some amazing day tours you can take, such as heading up to Pico do Arieiro for sunrise, or to hike the pass. Or you could do an all encompassing tour of the island. If you’d rather self-tour, I recommend renting a car as it will give you a lot more freedom to see everything you want within the day.
Are you planning a trip to Funchal? What else have you got on your itinerary? If you need help putting it all together, feel free to shoot me a message and I will be glad to help you with the perfect Funchal itinerary for your visit to Madeira.
