✨ Discovery5 days

Round the island in five days of culture

Funchal · Monte & Machico · west coast · Santana & northern wine · São Vicente & Porto Moniz

At a glance

The first three days, then the north coast: Santana's thatched houses and Biosphere Reserve, the wine museum and rose garden of Arco de São Jorge, São Vicente's Calhau chapel, lava caves, the lime museum and the Porto Moniz pools — the full circuit of the island.

Difficulty: Easy · two nights possible on the north coast · car
Best season: All year round: regional museums close on Sundays, Mondays and public holidays; major festivals — Carnival, Flower Festival (May), Wine Festival (late August – early September), Christmas and New Year — on the regional tourism calendar.

🎒 Packing list

Comfortable shoes for the cobbles
Light jacket (Monte, north coast)
Opening-hours list: museums closed Sundays and Mondays
SIMplifica bookings (Cabo Girão) and cable-car tickets
Swimsuit for Ponta do Sol or Porto Moniz

Day by day

Day 1 · Funchal of sugar and wine11

📍 Market → cathedral → Adegas → Rua da Carreira museums → Zona Velha · ⏰ 07:15

07:45 → 08:30Visiton foot · 2 min · ~2 min
Mercado dos Lavradores at opening time
The market opens at 7 am Monday to Saturday: tropical fruit, flowers and the fish hall under the 1940 Battistini azulejos, before the crowds. Closed on Sundays. Saturdays it shuts at 2 pm.
📍 Mercado dos Lavradores
💡 Insider tip — Edmundo Tavares's 1940 building is typical of the Estado Novo — look up at the façade.
08:45 → 09:15Visiton foot · 5 min · ~5 min
Sé cathedral and its Mudéjar cedar ceiling
Open from 7.15 am on weekdays, the 1493–early 16th-century cathedral (National Monument since 1910) is quiet in the morning: Gothic portal in Cabo Girão stone, gilded altarpiece and a ceiling of island cedar, a Mudéjar masterpiece.
📍 Sé Catedral do Funchal
💡 Insider tip — Saturday 8–12 and 4–7 pm. Sunday 7.15–12 and 4–7 pm (services).
09:20 → 09:50Mealon foot · 5 min · ~5 min
Coffee under the trees of the Jardim Municipal
Breakfast or a break in the free municipal garden on Avenida Arriaga, steps from the cathedral, the Baltazar Dias theatre and the Adegas de São Francisco — the natural start of a morning on foot.
📍 Jardim Municipal do Funchal (Jardim Dona Amélia)
10:00 → 11:15Visiton foot · 5 min · ~5 min
Adegas de São Francisco: Madeira wine
The island's oldest lodges (17th–18th centuries) tell the wine's journey from vine to ageing, and explain the Sercial, Verdelho, Boal and Malvasia grapes. Open Mon–Fri 10–6.30 pm, Sat 10–6, Sun 10–1 and 2–6.
📍 Adegas de São Francisco – museu do vinho Madeira (Blandy's Wine Lodge)
💡 Insider tip — Closed at Easter
11:30 → 12:45Visiton foot · 5 min · ~5 min
Museum of Sacred Art, the Flemish paintings of the sugar age
In the former bishops' palace (1594), Flemish paintings of a rare size bought with sugar money, silverware and gold embroidery. Mon–Fri 10–5.30, Sat 10–1.30, closed Sundays and holidays: a weekday visit.
📍 Museu de Arte Sacra do Funchal
13:00 → 14:00Mealon foot · 1 min · ~1 min
Lunch around the market: prego no bolo do caco
The lanes around Largo dos Lavradores serve the island's quick classics: the prego (steak) in a garlic-butter bolo do caco, black-scabbard fillet, milho frito — a short lunch before the afternoon museums.
📍 Mercado dos Lavradores
14:30 → 15:45Visiton foot · 5 min · ~5 min
Quinta das Cruzes, Zarco's residence
The discoverer João Gonçalves Zarco's second residence, opened in 1953: Portuguese and English furniture, Qing porcelain, silverware and an archaeological garden. Tue–Sat 10–5.30, closed Sundays, Mondays and holidays.
📍 Museu Quinta das Cruzes
💡 Insider tip — Santa Clara convent (1489–1496) and the Universo de Memórias are on the same street.
15:50 → 16:45Visiton foot · 1 min · ~1 min
Santa Clara convent
Built between 1489 and 1496 for the daughters of the nobility and cloistered for centuries: 17th-century Hispano-Moorish tiles, Gothic cloister, upper and lower choirs, church commissioned by Zarco. Tue–Sat 10–12.30 and 2–5.
📍 Convento de Santa Clara
17:15 → 18:15Visiton foot · 2 min · ~2 min
Painted doors of Rua de Santa Maria
Funchal's oldest quarter is best seen by day for its heritage: Corpo Santo chapel (15th century), the hat and boot workshops, Socorro church, and the doors painted by the Portas Pintadas artists.
📍 Zona Velha (Rua de Santa Maria)
💡 Insider tip — Small viewpoint at the top of the street, by Socorro church.
18:30 → 19:15Breakon foot · 5 min · ~5 min
Praça do Povo at sunset
The big seafront esplanade, free, between the marina and the Zona Velha: time to sit facing the bay before dinner, five minutes' walk from Rua de Santa Maria.
📍 Praça do Povo
19:30Mealon foot · 1 min · ~1 min
Dinner in the Zona Velha: espetada or espada
In the evening Rua de Santa Maria becomes the liveliest quarter in town: tables outside, bay-laurel beef espetada, black-scabbard fillet with banana, bolo do caco, and a poncha to finish.
📍 Zona Velha (Rua de Santa Maria)

💡 A weekday (Tuesday to Saturday): the regional museums close on Sundays and Mondays, the market closes on Sundays. Everything is on foot in the centre.

🌧️ Rainy-day alternative — Madeira Story Centre (daily 10–6), Adegas de São Francisco, Museum of Sacred Art or Quinta das Cruzes (closed Sundays and Mondays); the Lido stays open all year.

🎒 What to bring — Comfortable shoes for the cobbles, cap, water bottle, swimsuit and towel for the Lido, a light jacket for Monte (500 m higher and cooler).

Regional museums (Direção Regional da Cultura): most close on Sundays, Mondays and public holidays; the Mercado dos Lavradores closes on Sundays and at 2 pm on Saturdays.
Sun: the National Maritime Authority advises avoiding the sun between 11 am and 4 pm and drinking regularly — hence beach time early and late in the day.

🔗 Mercado dos Lavradores

Day 2 · Monte, Botanical Garden and the discoverers' Machico9

📍 Funchal → Monte → Botanical Garden → Caniçal → Machico · ⏰ 07:45 · 🚗 ~1 h 05

08:45 → 09:15Visiton foot · 2 min · ~2 min
Cable car up to Monte
3,200 m of cable from Rua Dom Carlos I on the seafront up to Largo das Babosas: open from 8.45 am daily except Christmas (€22 return, €16 single, free under 6). Going up early leaves the whole morning for Monte.
📍 Teleférico do Funchal (Funchal – Monte)
💡 Insider tip — Maintenance closures are announced on the operator's site (with a shuttle).
09:20 → 09:45Visiton foot · 15 min · ~15 min
Monte church, tomb of Emperor Charles I
At the top of its staircase, the 18th-century sanctuary where Charles I, Emperor of Austria, who died in exile at Monte in 1922, still rests; azulejos and paintings by Nicolau Ferreira. Steps from the cable-car station and the sledge start.
📍 Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Monte
💡 Insider tip — Feast of Nossa Senhora do Monte: novenas from 5 August, main feast on 14–15 August.
09:45 → 11:15Visiton foot · 10 min · ~10 min
Monte Palace tropical garden
70,000 m² and some 100,000 plants, centuries-old cycads, azulejos from the 15th to the 20th century, Buddhist sculptures and the Berardo museum (minerals, African sculpture); open 9–7 daily except Christmas, right next to the cable-car station.
📍 Monte Palace Madeira (jardin tropical et musée)
💡 Insider tip — Paid entry (fare on the operator's site).
11:30 → 13:00Visiton foot · 15 min · ~15 min
Botanical Garden, by cable car from Monte
From Babosas a second cable car drops to the regional forestry institute's Botanical Garden (1960): eight hectares, more than 2,000 exotic plants, orchids, lookouts over the capital; open 9–5.30 daily. Free for residents since 2026, paid for visitors.
📍 Jardim Botânico da Madeira Eng.º Rui Vieira
💡 Insider tip — The Botanical Garden viewpoint is one of the 85 official viewpoints.
13:45 → 14:45Mealby taxi · 5 min · ~5 min
Lunch around the market: prego no bolo do caco
The lanes around Largo dos Lavradores serve the island's quick classics: the prego (steak) in a garlic-butter bolo do caco, black-scabbard fillet, milho frito — a short lunch before the afternoon museums.
📍 Mercado dos Lavradores
15:15 → 16:30Visitby car · 30 min · ~30 min
Whale Museum, Caniçal
In the former whaling port, life-size models of whales and dolphins, 3D films and the memory of 20th-century whaling. Tue–Sun 10–6, closed Mondays — the sheltered afternoon after Ponta de São Lourenço.
📍 Museu da Baleia da Madeira (Caniçal)
💡 Insider tip — Closed 1 January, Easter Sunday and 24–26 December
16:45 → 18:00Visitby car · 10 min · ~10 min
Machico, where the story begins
The town where Zarco and Teixeira landed in July 1419: Milagres chapel (site of the first Mass), Solar do Ribeirinho (Mon–Fri 9–4), the sandy Banda d'Além beach and São Roque's pebbles in one of the island's finest bays.
📍 Machico
18:15 → 18:45Photoby car · 10 min · ~10 min
Pico do Facho, the warning fire
At 280 m above Machico, where fires were lit to warn of enemy ships: the whole valley, Ponta de São Lourenço and the Desertas in one lesson of volcanic relief. Free, before the Caniçal tunnel.
📍 Miradouro do Pico do Facho
19:15Mealby car · 10 min · ~10 min
Dinner on Machico bay
The bay where the island's history began in 1419, with the Desertas in the background: fish or espetada dinner on the seafront, twenty minutes from Funchal by the expressway.
📍 Machico

💡 From Babosas the second cable car goes down to the Botanical Garden and back; the Whale Museum closes at 6 pm and on Mondays, the Solar do Ribeirinho at 4 pm on weekdays — hence the afternoon order.

🎒 What to bring — Comfortable shoes for the cobbles, cap, water bottle, swimsuit and towel for the Lido, a light jacket for Monte (500 m higher and cooler).

Funchal cable car: 8.45 am – 5.45 pm daily except Christmas, €22 return, €16 single. Monte sledges: Monday–Saturday 9 am – 6 pm, closed Sundays and holidays, tickets on site, no three-person sledge in wet weather.
2026 fees at regional sites: Cabo Girão €5 and Ponta de São Lourenço €4.50 (over 12, via SIMplifica), Ribeiro Frio trout farm €3, Botanical Garden paid for visitors — free for residents of the Region.
Regional museums (Direção Regional da Cultura): most close on Sundays, Mondays and public holidays; the Mercado dos Lavradores closes on Sundays and at 2 pm on Saturdays.
Narrow, winding mountain roads, tunnels and fog: journey minutes are estimates without traffic or photo stops — allow extra time.

Day 3 · Churchill, Cabo Girão, ethnography and contemporary art8

📍 Câmara de Lobos → Cabo Girão → Ribeira Brava → Calheta → Ponta do Sol · ⏰ 07:45 · 🚗 ~1 h 21

08:45 → 09:30Visitby car · 15 min · ~15 min
Câmara de Lobos bay, Churchill's easel
The fishing bay Churchill painted in January 1950 from the Espírito Santo viewpoint: colourful "xavelha" boats, the 15th-century Nossa Senhora da Conceição chapel, lanes of bars — the first stop on the west coast, a quarter of an hour from Funchal.
📍 Câmara de Lobos (baía)
09:45 → 10:30Photoby car · 10 min · ~10 min
Cabo Girão skywalk
A sheer 580 m, Europe's highest promontory and its glass platform over the cultivated fajãs; 2026 access: €5 per visitor over 12 via SIMplifica, free for children up to 12 and residents. Early morning, before the coaches.
📍 Miradouro do Cabo Girão (Skywalk)
💡 Insider tip — Nossa Senhora de Fátima chapel (1951) nearby; paragliding site.
11:00 → 12:30Visitby car · 20 min · ~20 min
Madeira Ethnographic Museum
In Ribeira Brava, in a former sugar mill and distillery of 1862: fishing, farming, levadas, wine, crafts, transport — the key to reading the island. Tue–Fri 9.30–5, Sat 10–12.30 and 1.30–5.30, closed Sundays and Mondays.
📍 Museu Etnográfico da Madeira (Ribeira Brava)
12:45 → 13:45Mealon foot · 5 min · ~5 min
Lunch in Ribeira Brava
On the town's seafront, between the São Bento fort (1708) and the ethnographic museum: tuna steak, milho frito or espetada, before taking the road west or up to Encumeada.
📍 Ribeira Brava
14:30 → 15:30Visitby car · 20 min · ~20 min
Engenho da Calheta, cane honey and rum
One of the island's oldest sugar mills, still working: cane turned into honey and aguardente, 19th–20th-century machinery. Mon–Fri 8–7, weekends 10–7 — the visit that breaks up the beach afternoon.
📍 Engenho da Calheta (moulin à canne et musée)
15:45 → 17:00Visitby car · 1 min · ~1 min
Casa das Mudas, contemporary art
Paulo David's building (2004, Alvar Aalto medal 2012) on the hill above Calheta, some 400 works from the 1960s to today. Tue–Sat 9.30–1 and 2–5.30, closed Sundays, Mondays and holidays.
📍 Casa das Mudas – Centro das Artes (Calheta)
17:45 → 19:00Breakby car · 15 min · ~15 min
Ponta do Sol, sunset over the cove
The 160 m pebble cove of the island's sunniest little town: in the evening the sunset reflects on the sea — the best moment. Supervised 10 June – 14 September; summer library on the beach.
📍 Praia da Ponta do Sol
19:15Mealon foot · 1 min · ~1 min
Dinner in Ponta do Sol
The municipality with the most hours of sunshine on the island, bananas and sugar cane: dinner on the seafront after sunset, half an hour from Funchal.
📍 Ponta do Sol

💡 Ethnographic Museum closed Sundays and Mondays, Casa das Mudas closed Sundays, Mondays and holidays: a Tuesday-to-Saturday day; book Cabo Girão on SIMplifica (€5).

🌧️ Rainy-day alternative — The official advice is to give up the trails in heavy rain, wind or hail: São Vicente caves, Ribeira Brava Ethnographic Museum, Madeira Story Centre, or the more sheltered south-coast viewpoint road.

🎒 What to bring — Closed shoes, swimsuit and towel, hat, sunscreen, water, a jacket for Paul da Serra (1,500 m, fog and wind possible).

2026 fees at regional sites: Cabo Girão €5 and Ponta de São Lourenço €4.50 (over 12, via SIMplifica), Ribeiro Frio trout farm €3, Botanical Garden paid for visitors — free for residents of the Region.
Regional museums (Direção Regional da Cultura): most close on Sundays, Mondays and public holidays; the Mercado dos Lavradores closes on Sundays and at 2 pm on Saturdays.
Narrow, winding mountain roads, tunnels and fog: journey minutes are estimates without traffic or photo stops — allow extra time.
Sun: the National Maritime Authority advises avoiding the sun between 11 am and 4 pm and drinking regularly — hence beach time early and late in the day.

Day 4 · Thatched houses, north-coast wine and roses8

📍 Santana → Arco de São Jorge → Boaventura → São Vicente · ⏰ 08:00 · 🚗 ~1 h 50

09:45 → 10:30Visitby car · 45 min · ~45 min
Santana's traditional houses
The Núcleo of triangular wooden houses with thatched roofs and blue-red-white façades in the centre of Santana: free, with one of the 85 official viewpoints — the children's stop after the levada.
📍 Casas Típicas de Santana (Núcleo)
10:45 → 11:45Breakby car · 10 min · ~10 min
Queimadas, the thatched house
Santana's busiest forest park: the thatched Casa de Abrigo, now the Casa das Tradições Madeirenses, centuries-old tils and tree heaths, picnic area, café and bird hide; paid parking (€2/h).
📍 Parque Florestal das Queimadas
12:15 → 13:30Mealby car · 10 min · ~10 min
Lunch in Santana, Biosphere Reserve
The north-coast town, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 2011: lunch of sopa de trigo or espetada before the coastal viewpoints (Quinta do Furão, Rocha do Navio, Cabo Aéreo).
📍 Santana
14:00 → 15:00Visitby car · 15 min · ~15 min
Wine and Vine Museum, Arco de São Jorge
In the experimental vineyard at Sítio da Lagoa: three restored presses, tools donated by local people, the region's grape varieties and a bolo de mel tasting — open on weekday afternoons only (Mon–Fri 2–5.30), hence its place after lunch.
📍 Museu do Vinho e da Vinha (Arco de São Jorge)
15:00 → 15:45Visiton foot · 1 min · ~1 min
Quinta do Arco rose garden
More than 1,500 varieties, one of the world's largest rose gardens, a "Garden of Excellence": open April to December, 10–6, closed January to March — next to the wine museum.
📍 Roseiral da Quinta do Arco (Arco de São Jorge)
16:15 → 16:30Photoby car · 15 min · ~15 min
São Cristóvão viewpoint, Boaventura
On one of Boaventura's highest slopes: the terraced valley, the Atlantic and, in the distance, Arco de São Jorge on the jagged north coast. Free, between Santana and São Vicente.
📍 Miradouro de São Cristóvão
17:00 → 18:00Visitby car · 15 min · ~15 min
São Vicente, the Calhau chapel
The town at the bottom of its valley of vines and Laurisilva, with its tidy historic centre and, by the sea, the little chapel of São Vicente built into a basalt rock; a 620 m promenade to the Baía dos Juncos.
📍 São Vicente
19:00Mealon foot · 1 min · ~1 min
Dinner in São Vicente
The north-coast town at the bottom of its valley of vines: picado or fish dinner in the historic centre, for those sleeping on the north coast or driving back over Encumeada.
📍 São Vicente

💡 The Arco de São Jorge wine museum only opens on weekday afternoons (2–5.30) and the rose garden April to December: a Monday-to-Friday day, morning in Santana, wine and roses after lunch.

🎒 What to bring — Closed shoes, swimsuit and towel, hat, sunscreen, water, a jacket for Paul da Serra (1,500 m, fog and wind possible).

Regional museums (Direção Regional da Cultura): most close on Sundays, Mondays and public holidays; the Mercado dos Lavradores closes on Sundays and at 2 pm on Saturdays.
Narrow, winding mountain roads, tunnels and fog: journey minutes are estimates without traffic or photo stops — allow extra time.
North coast: lively sea, swell, and water access often limited by sea conditions — the natural pools (Porto Moniz, Seixal) are the safe option.

🔗 Official weather forecast

Day 5 · Volcanoes, lime and the Porto Moniz pools8

📍 São Vicente → Seixal → Porto Moniz · ⏰ 08:00 · 🚗 ~1 h 30

09:30 → 11:00Visitby car · 40 min · ~40 min
São Vicente caves
700 m of lava tubes formed 890,000 years ago, among the first volcanic caves opened to the public in Portugal (1996), with the Volcanism Centre: the visit under cover whatever the north-coast weather. Paid entry (fee and hours not found on an official source).
📍 Grutas e Centro do Vulcanismo de São Vicente
11:15 → 12:15Visitby car · 10 min · ~10 min
Rota da Cal, the lime museum
Above São Vicente, two quarries, a lime kiln and fossils over five million years old linked by a thirty-minute path. Tue–Sat 10–5, closed Sundays, Mondays and holidays.
📍 Núcleo Museológico Rota da Cal (São Vicente)
12:30 → 13:45Mealby car · 10 min · ~10 min
Lunch in São Vicente
Between the caves and the road to Seixal, lunch in the town of São Vicente: picado to share, bolo do caco, wine from the valley's vines.
📍 São Vicente
14:00 → 14:15Photoby car · 10 min · ~10 min
Véu da Noiva waterfall
On the old road between São Vicente and Seixal, the "bride's veil" falls to the sea: a roadside stop, free, one of the most shared spots on the north coast.
📍 Miradouro do Véu da Noiva
14:30 → 15:15Breakby car · 5 min · ~5 min
Seixal's black-sand beach
The north coast's postcard, formed naturally beside the harbour of refuge: showers, a bar, kayak hire, bodyboarding and stand-up paddling all year. Supervised 1 June – 30 September; in heavy swell, obey the flags.
📍 Praia do Porto de Abrigo do Seixal
15:45 → 17:00Visitby car · 15 min · ~15 min
Porto Moniz, Aquário and Ciência Viva
The town at the island's far north: the Aquário da Madeira (over 90 species of the archipelago) and the Ciência Viva centre with its Laurisilva exhibition, the Ilhéu Mole opposite — enough to keep children busy if the sea forbids swimming.
📍 Porto Moniz
17:00 → 18:30Breakon foot · 1 min · ~1 min
Porto Moniz natural pools
3,800 m² of lava pools constantly refreshed by the sea, water at 20–21 °C: open all year (summer 9–7, winter 9–5), €3 (residents €0.50), supervised season 15 April – 15 October, Blue Flag — in the afternoon, when water and air are warmest.
📍 Piscinas Naturais do Porto Moniz
💡 Insider tip — The Cachalote pools (Aquário) next door are free.
19:00Mealon foot · 2 min · ~2 min
Dinner in Porto Moniz, fish of the Semana do Mar
Fishing has sustained Porto Moniz since its beginnings: fish of the day facing the natural pools and the Ilhéu Mole, before a night on the north coast or the drive back over Paul da Serra.
📍 Porto Moniz

💡 The Rota da Cal closes on Sundays and Mondays. Porto Moniz's Aquário and Ciência Viva complement the caves for reading the island's volcanism, and the pools close at 7 pm in summer.

🎒 What to bring — Closed shoes, swimsuit and towel, hat, sunscreen, water, a jacket for Paul da Serra (1,500 m, fog and wind possible).

Regional museums (Direção Regional da Cultura): most close on Sundays, Mondays and public holidays; the Mercado dos Lavradores closes on Sundays and at 2 pm on Saturdays.
North coast: lively sea, swell, and water access often limited by sea conditions — the natural pools (Porto Moniz, Seixal) are the safe option.
Swimming: lifeguards only during the bathing season set by a regional order of 2026; follow the flags — red = no swimming — and never go into the water to rescue someone: call 112.
Narrow, winding mountain roads, tunnels and fog: journey minutes are estimates without traffic or photo stops — allow extra time.

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