IS IT WORTH VISITING MADEIRA IN WINTER?
On this post I will highlight what we did while visiting Madeira in a short break in winter. To follow the whole trip, read my previous posts Madeira Day 1, Madeira Day 2 and Madeira Day 3.
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We had a peaceful night at Pestana Casino Park with no storms during the night. I also woke up feeling better with my stomach but decided that I should not exaggerate on breakfast today and refrain from any fry ups or heavy foods.
So, my breakfast resumed with just some bread and butter and a cappuccino to fully wake up.
We were travelling independently as we are confident travellers and speak the language. However, if you prefer to be part of a tour and to have everything organised for you, I advise you to book a complete tour with Tourradar.
Tourradar has different kinds of tours that will fit your time and budget. If you book it via my links you can get a discount by using this code: RoseG50.
The weather was very cloudy and looked like it was going to rain soon. So, we picked up our umbrellas and left in the direction of Santa Catarina Park.
Below is a map of the places we visited on Day 4.
VISITING THE OLD TOWN, MADEIRA
We had booked a Free Walking Tour of The Old Town at 9:30 am and the meeting was at Capela Santa Catarina inside Santa Catarina Park.
We walked down to the meeting point and joined other people also taking part of the tour. While we were waiting for the tour to start it started raining. When the tour left it was properly raining and we had to use our umbrellas.
The tour guide took us via Avenida do Mar and we passed in front of the Ministry of Defence building that is installed in a refurbished old fort in front of the sea.
We continued on the same road and stopped at a curious monument called” Monument to honour the Health Professionals and people that got involved in helping during the Covid 19 Pandemic”. We found this monument very curious as it was a round concrete structure resembling a shower cubicle that you could get inside.
Next to it there was a nice water fountain called “Funchal Fountain” in the Parliament Library Building completing the space.
We next turned left on “Capelistas Street” and stopped to look at the “Trilogia dos Poderes” Statue. This statue represents the principles of democratic governance showing three women embracing and each one representing the Legislative, Executive and the Judicial.
On the same little square you will find the “Capela de Santo Antonio da Mouraria” a small, private chapel, part of the Customs building and next to it. The chapel was built in 1715 by the Judge João de Aguiar who is resting inside the chapel.
Further down on the road you can find “Sé Catedral do Funchal” a Gothic style church from 1490.
We followed on” Rua da Alfândega”, crossed the bridge to the other side of town and ended up at “Largo do Pelourinho”. On this square we stopped to look at the “Varadouro Old Gate”.
The “Varadouro Old Gate” is a reconstruction of the old city’s wall gate, which once formed part of Funchal’s defences. It was constructed in 1689, but in 1911 it was demolished. The reconstruction was in 2004 as part of the rehabilitation of the historic centre and the gate was reconstructed in the same place as the old one used to be.
Near the “Varadouro Old Gate” you can also see the “Pelourinho of Funchal”, a monument also reconstructed using two original parts that were saved and were in the Museum Quinta das Cruzes in Madeira. Slaves used to be punished chained on this “Pelourinho” in the olden days.
From there, the tour entered Rua de Santa Maria which we had already visited on our second day in Madeira (see my post Madeira Day 2).
We took the opportunity to look at the art doors in more detail. We passed “Forte de São Tiago” and climbed some steps to get to “Santa Maria Maior Church”.
Our tour finished in front of the church and people were invited to give some tips to the tour guide. It is a free tour, but everybody gives something as nobody works for free.
The tour was OK, but it was not great, and it was a quick tour, lasted only about an hour. We gave her about £20 pounds each for the effort. Maybe because it was raining, the tour had not been the full extent? I don’t know. Funnily enough as soon as the tour finished it stopped raining and the sun came up.
You can book the following tour of the Old Town HERE. This is a two hour tour that will take to many more places and seems to be much better than the Free one that we took.
Or you can take an historical tour of Funchal in a side car. That seems to be fun! Book it HERE.
After that we stopped at a bakery and had some light snacks at lunch time. We than walked back to the road next to “Pelourinho” where there were bus stops with buses that go to Monte. After taking the cable car to go up the previous time, this time we decided to go to Monte by bus. The bus to take is bus 22 and it was less than 5 Euros for both of us to go up to Monte on the bus.
Once up there we climbed more steps to see the “Nossa Senhora do Monte Church” where the tomb of King Charles I of Austria is found.
This is a beautiful church built in 1741 but destroyed by an earthquake in 1748. It was re-built in 1818. Nowadays you can also visit the church roof where you have amazing views of Funchal. We didn’t visit the roof this time.
Just in front of the church and further down a little bit you will see the place where the sledges or “toboggans” cars are. As it was raining in the morning they were not working, but as the rain stopped and was due to be away until late, they started getting things ready to operate in the afternoon.
We also didn’t go down on the sledges, we walked to the other cable car further down the road to take us down to the “Botanical Garden”.
On the way to the Botanical Garden Cable Car we also saw the “Capela das Babosas” a charming little church.
You can book the tickets to the cable car in advance by using this LINK.
The” Botanical Garden” was created in 1960 and today is one of the most visited attractions in Funchal. There are eight hectares of gardens containing various species of trees, ornamental shrubs, orchids, lawns, exotic plants, viewpoints etc.
We explored the gardens for a few hours, but unfortunately because of the rain, many paths were very muddy, and we avoided them. After the visit we caught the bus down again and walked back to our hotel.
Below is a reel from The Travelling Surveyor Instagram covering the places we visited on that day:
For the evening, we had a reservation at a restaurant called “Taberna Madeira”. It was a simple restaurant with home-made, very hearty food. We enjoyed our dinner at “Taberna Madeira” and after dinner returned to the hotel for another night in Funchal.
Next day we had another tour booked. This time we would explore the east side of Madeira. The forecast was for a cloudy day and no rain, so we crossed our fingers before going to bed!
Don’t forget to check the tours available at Tourradar if you prefer to have your trip and tours all organised for you.
I hope this post will give you some idea of what can be done in one day in Funchal, Madeira and will help you plan your own visit there.
HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR TRIP
Below you will find a list of what to visit, where to stay and where to eat in Funchal, Madeira. I classified each place as follows:
BOLD – Visited, tried and recommended
NOT BOLD – Not visited or tried, but planning to visit or try and heard very good reviews
RED – Visited and tried but do not recommend, avoid or be cautious
*** – Excellent
** – Good
* – OK
£££ – Expensive
££ – Fair and affordable
£ – Cheap
PLEASE NOTE: Every hotel, restaurants and attractions I mention on my blogs are not sponsored reviews and we always paid the full price when visiting. We give our own opinion of the place and detail our experience, good or bad.
WHAT TO SEE IN MADEIRA
ATTRACTIONS – Day 4
1 – Capela Santa Catarina/Santa catarina Park – ***
2 – Ministry of Defence Building, The Old Fort – ***
3 – Monument to honour the Heath Professionals – ***
4 – Funchal Fountain – ***
5 – Trilogia dos Poderes Statue – ***
6 – Capela de Santo Antonio da Mouraria – ***
7 – Sé Catedral do Funchal – ***
8 – Largo do Pelourinho – ***
9 – Varadouro Old Gate – ***
10 – Pelourinho do Funchal – ***
11 – Rua de Santa Maria – ***
12 – Forte de São Tiago – ***
13 – Santa Maria Maior Church – ***
14 – Igreja Nossa Senhora do Monte – ***
15 – The Toboggans (sledges) – ***
16 – Botanical Garden – ***
17 – Capela das Babosas – ***
WHERE TO STAY
ACCOMMODATION
1 – Three House Hotel – 4* – £££
2 – Pestana Casino Park – 5* – £££
3 – Belvedere Boutique – 4* – £££
4 – Next – Savoy Signature – 4* – £££
5 – Funchal Tropical Apartments – 3* – ££
6 – Barreirinha Suite by HR Madeira – 3* – ££
If you prefer to look for your own accommodation, search and book via the below widget:
I use affiliate links such as the links above for Booking.com, Get your Guide, Viator and others. It means that if you use any of my links to make a booking, I will get a small commission from the partners I’m affiliated with without any additional cost to you. Please, use the links provided when making a booking, this is a way of supporting blogs like this so we can continue writing informative and interesting posts. I’m very thankful for that.
WHERE TO EAT
RESTAURANTS
1 – Taberna Madeira – *** – ££
2 – Restaurante Alta Vista – £
3 – Il Gallo D’Oro – £££
4 – Restaurante Zarcos – £
5 – Rustikus – ££
6 – Prima Caju (vegetarian) – £
If you tried any of my recommendations above, please send me a message and tell me about your experience good or bad, so I can update the list accordingly. Thanks!
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