From the cobbled streets of the old town and the broad seafront avenida, to the sweeping ocean views high on the Monte – Madeira’s elegant capital Funchal is a city which rewards energetic exploration.
Funchal grew around its naturally sheltered harbour, and the shape of the city still reflects its origins. Founded by Portuguese settlers in the early 15th century, it developed quickly as Madeira’s main port, with sugar providing the first great source of wealth. By the 16th century, Funchal had evolved into a prosperous European trading centre – a popular stopping point for ships crossing the Atlantic. Much of the old city grew from this maritime trade, and its churches, merchant houses, and fortifications are reminders of the wealth and importance Funchal once commanded.
The city’s hills are impossible to ignore, but they’re also part of Funchal’s charm. Climb above the centre and the tightly packed streets of the old town give way to more salubrious garden estates, built by the merchant classes to escape the congestion of the old town – they’re now competing for space with modern-day residential suburbs. Madeira’s mild climate means greenery is never far away, from the formal gardens of the Monte to the around the palms and sub-tropical flowering plants which spill over every wall and balcony.
Funchal isn’t a city to tick off in a morning; take the steep streets slowly, follow the lanes that catch your eye and be sure to stop for a coffee, a glass of Madeira wine, or simply the view.
Funchal’s Neighbourhoods.
The aptly named Zona Velha ‘Old Town’ is oldest part of Funchal, and its tightly packed streets were once home to the workshops of fishermen, blacksmiths and cobblers. The Capela do Corpo Santo, built by the fishermen’s guild in the 15th century, is one of the oldest buildings on the island, whilst the Fortaleza de Sao Tiago reflects the less peaceful side of Funchal’s history – it was constructed in the 17th century to protect the population, following repeated attacks by pirates. The nearby Mercado dos Lavradores was constructed in 1940 as a central market for farmers and fisherman from across the island. Outside, the building combines Art Deco architecture with traditional Portuguese azulejos, while inside its stalls are a colourful mixture of locally grown fruits, flowers, seasonal vegetables, and fresh fish.
Funchal’s centre is marked by the 15th century Se Cathedral. Like many of Portugal’s most-revered religious buildings, its dark stone exterior is deliberately understated. Inside, its intricate Mudejar ceiling, delicately carved woodwork, and religious art indicate the importance of Funchal during the island’s early prosperity. As the Madeiran economy blossomed and the ocean became safer, the city began to spread inland as prosperous merchants and landowners built their grand residences above the main throng of Funchal. Sao Pedro, Santa Luzia and Sao Roque are quieter today, but their old quintas are reminders of this period: large houses in the style of English country retreats, often surrounded by exotic and ostentatious gardens – many of these properties are now hotels.
High above the city, you’ll find the Monte – as Sintra was to Lisbon in the 19th century, the Monte became a cool retreat from the summer heat for the island’s wealthy. The Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Monte, the surrounding gardens, and old estates provide a much quieter contrast to downtown Funchal below. The Monte is also where you’ll find the city’s famous wicker toboggans. To the west, Sao Martinho has a very different character – its modern Funchal, where a 1990s property development boom continues to this day, with large hotels, chain restaurants, and high-rise apartments have replaced the banana plantations of old. It’s a very resort-like neighbourhood, but its position above the Atlantic makes it a popular place to stay, particularly if you want easy access to the sea.
Walking Old Town Funchal – the Se do Funchal, the Mercado dos Lavradores, and the Zona Velha.
As a city, Funchal makes most sense on foot. It’s maze-like layout of tight, one-way streets and formal squares can be frustrating by car, and often the most interesting buildings are easily missed if you simply drive from landmark to landmark. The city’s cathedral, or Se do Funchal, is a good starting point. When construction began in 1493, Funchal was little more than a remote fishing settlement on the edge of the Atlantic. By the time the cathedral was consecrated in 1517, Madeira had become an important outpost for Portugal’s growing empire and Funchal had been elevated to city status. Sugar was responsible for this transformation: the island’s plantations were producing a crop which was highly valued across Europe, and the wealth it generated can be seen in the cathedral’s remarkably elaborate interior. Its carved cedar ceiling mixes traditional Christian handicrafts with a Muslim artistic style which was lost after the Reconquista, only to be ‘rediscovered’ by Portuguese architects in the 16th and 17th centuries. It’s one of the finest surviving examples of ‘Mudejar’ decoration anywhere in Portugal.
The nearby Sacred Art Museum, housed in the former Episcopal Palace, reveals another unexpectedly Flemish thread to Madeira’s sugar story. Madeira developed close trading links with Flanders, and wealthy sugar merchants commissioned paintings, sculpture and silverware from their northern Europe cousins. The museum’s collection spans five centuries, but its remarkably sophisticated decorative Flemish panels are its greatest treasure.
It’s a short walk to the Praca do Municipio and the church of Sao Joao Evangelista, which was originally constructed by the Jesuits as a college in 1629. The interior decoration is overwhelming: gilded 17th century carvings, painted ceilings, Azulejos tiles and richly decorated chapels. The church marks Portugal’s passage from Renaissance Mannerism to the all-out exuberance of Portuguese Baroque.
Leaving the Praca do Municipio, a gentle climb will bring you to the Igreja Matriz de Sao Pedro – the Casa Museu Frederico de Freitas is just to its rear. This red-painted building was once known as Casa da Calcada – the historic seat of the Counts of Calcada: a long-established Madeiran family whose ancestors had occupied the estate since the seventeenth century. The title itself was actually created in 1882, when Diogo de Ornelas de Franca Carvalhal Frazao e Figueiroa was made the first Count of Calcada by Dom Luís I. Frederico de Freitas, a Funchal lawyer, notary and passionate collector, bought the house in 1941. He spent decades filling the casa with paintings, furniture, ceramics, sculpture and other objects, eventually leaving the collection to the people of Madeira in his will.
Quinta das Cruzes is a little further up the hill – another of Funchal’s old estates, it’s traditionally identified as the last residence of Joao Goncalves Zarco, the Portuguese navigator who helped colonise Madeira and Porto Santo. After Zarco, the estate passed through the hands of wealthy mercantile families – today’s museum contains five centuries of preserved furniture, ceramics, paintings, jewellery and other decorative arts. The museum’s history also reaches into the twentieth century, when the property became a much less aristocratic setting, serving instead as an embroidery factory and the headquarters of Funchal’s municipal band.
Descending back into the centre of the city, the Mercado dos Lavradores (farmers’ market) is a good stopping point for lunch. Opened in 1940, the market’s Estado Novo era architecture and colourful ceramic panels are impressive, but the wealth of produce is its true draw: tropical fruits, seasonal vegetables, colourful flowers and fresh fish from across the whole island.
Lookout for espada, the black scabbardfish caught in the deep Atlantic waters around the island and often paired with banana; bife de atum, grilled tuna; lapas, or limpets, cooked with garlic and butter; and the ubiquitous bolo do caco: a round, flat Madeiran bread traditionally served warm with garlic butter. The market is also a reminder of the extraordinary variety of Madeiran produce – the island’s subtropical climate allows bananas, passion fruit, custard apples and other fruits to flourish, alongside th more usual root vegetables used in everyday Portuguese cooking.
Exciting the market, the Rua de Santa Maria will bring you into the Zona Velha old town. This is where the city begins to feel intimate again – streets narrow, the paving becomes uneven, and the houses seem to lean into one another. Local artists have helped to transformed this once-dilapidated district into an informal open-air gallery, but beneath the colour is a much older neighbourhood of fishermen, craftsmen and small traders.
Looking back to your visit to the market, be sure to leave a little room for something distinctly Madeiran to end your day. A slice of bolo de mel, the island’s dark, sticky honey cake, with a small plate of local cheese and a glass of Madeira wine, or perhaps even a poncha for the bravest souls: a traditional cocktail made from sugar-cane spirit, honey and citrus.
Follow this route on Google Maps.
Walking the Monte – the Teleferico Funchal Monte, the Carreiros do Monte, and Blandy’s Wine Lodge.
The Monte sits high above Funchal, surrounded by gardens, old quintas of various shapes and sizes, and steep streets which look upon the Atlantic Ocean far below. The easiest way up today is by cable car, but nineteenth century visitors made the same journey on the Monte Railway – a remarkable, steep-graded rack line which stretched for almost four kilometres, from Pombal in Funchal to Terreiro da Luta in Monte. It opened in 1893 and made its final journey in 1943 – the modern day Teleferico do Funchal follows virtually the same route from its base at Almirante Reis. As cable car rises above the city’s rooftops, your elevated perspective is a reminder of how unusual Funchal’s geography is, squeezed between the steep mountains and the sea.
Your destination is the Jardim Monte Palace, which occupies the grounds of the former Quinta do Prazer. The estate dates back to the eighteenth century, when British consul Charles Murray chose this elevated spot beside the church of Monte for his country retreat. In 1897, the property was bought by Alfredo Guilherme Rodrigues, who built an imposing residence inspired by the palaces of the Rhine – his house became the Monte Palace Hotel, attracting wealthy visitors during the early years of Madeira’s development as an international holiday destination. Jose Berardo acquired the estate in 1987 and transformed it into the tropical garden which exists today: seven hectares of plants from around the world, with sculptures, water features, Japanese-inspired gardens and a few historic relics of the original estate.
Allow yourself time to explore – the gardens are not simply a collection of exotic plants, but a mixture of landscape, art, history, pools, ponds and waterfalls. There are views across Funchal from the higher terraces, while the old palace provides a sense of the estate’s earlier life. The Monte Palace Museum forms part of the same complex, and collections are rather different: a section is devoted to Berado’s love of African contemporary art, while another houses his substantial collection of seven hundred minerals, gemstones, and fossilised wood.
It’s a short walk from the gardens to the Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Monte, with its bright white facade and distinctive twin towers. Adao Goncalves Ferreira, traditionally regarded as the first person to be born on Madeira, found a small image of the Virgin Mary on this site in the 15th century and built a chapel in her honour. The chapel became an important place of pilgrimage and in 1741 a larger church was constructed. This is also the final resting place of Charles I of Austria, the last Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary. Following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of the First World War, Charles and his family were exiled to Madeira. They lived at Quinta do Monte, but his time on the island was brief: he died from pneumonia in 1922, aged just 34, and was buried in the church.
For your return to the city centre, the most entertaining option is the Carro de Cesto. These famous wicker toboggans may look like a tourist invention, but they began life as practical, effective way of travelling down the steeply graded streets. Two carreiros steer toboggan, using their boots to control the speed as the vehicle skids and slides down the polished road. Not for the faint-hearted, the speedy descent takes around ten minutes and ends at Livramento.
It takes around thirty minutes to walk from Livramento, down into the centre. In the afternoon, you might like to visit a Madeiran institution: the Blandy’s Wine Lodge. The history of the island and the history of Madeira wine are intertwined, and the Blandy family have been producing wines for over two centuries. John Blandy arrived on the island in 1808, initially looking for employment with a local wine merchant – within three years, he had established his own business with his brothers Thomas and George, exporting Madeira wine across Europe and North America. They gradually acquired a number of properties around Funchal – buildings which proved particularly well suited to the storage and aging of Madeira wine. Their thick walls, high ceilings and multiple levels created varying temperatures and humidity; conditions which helped the wines mature slowly in cask.
The wine is one of the great accidents in the history of Portuguese exploration. Like its cousins Port and Moscatel, Madeira wine was born from the practicalities of preserving table wine during the long sea voyages. Brandy was added to prolong the life of the wine – the rise and fall of the temperature during the voyage, the motion of the ocean, and the natural sugars in the barrels unexpectedly imparted a rich, deep character to the wine. The modern-day process is carefully controlled: as the grapes’ own sugars turn to alcohol, winemakers will stop the fermentation process by adding Aguardiente; a strong spirit, also distilled from grapes. The wine is filtered and heated to a temperature of around 45⁰C, where it sits for around three-to-four months, before being left to cool for a further month. Aging is in large wooden vats, to allow the remaining sugars, alcohol and natural acids to develop. The vats aren’t hermetically sealed, and oxygen reacts with the amino acids and proteins in the wine, which helps it stabilise over a ten-year period. This slow oxidation creates a more robust wine which doesn’t degrade after opening.
There are four principal styles of Madeira wine. Sercial is the driest, with a pale colour, delicate aroma and pronounced acidity. Its fresh, citrus character makes it particularly good as an aperitif, while younger examples can work well with seafood. Verdelho is richer and slightly sweeter, with a deeper, more golden colour that’s closer to honey, with a taste to match. With age, it tends to become drier and its citrus notes more pronounced. Bual is dark and sweet – intense without being cloying, making it a popular dessert wine. Malmsey is the Madeira wine most people have tasted. A good bottle tastes similar to (and moderately lighter than) a bual, often with a hint of vanilla – it darkens as it matures, with shades of coffee and chocolate creeping into the flavour.
