Funchal

Funchal is Madeira’s capital city and the bustling, cultural centre of the island.

Downtown Funchal is a charming collision of traditional and modern architecture, connected by a maze of intersecting cobbled streets and calcada mosaic pavements. With around 150,000 inhabitants, its Portugal’s largest city outside of the mainland, and its name comes from the wild Fennel, ‘Funcho’ in Portuguese, which the first settlers found growing here in abundance.

The city sits on the more temperate south coast of the island, within a natural amphitheatre whose slopes rise gently from the seafront Avenida do Mar and the busy marina, up to the Monte Palace Tropical Gardens. The 586m climb up to the gardens is an easy fifteen minutes, thanks to the Teleferico cable car, whilst the descent is a wild ride on a Carro de Cesto – the famous wicker toboggans which slide down the polished tarmac into Livremento.

The pedestrianised Avenida da Arriaga leads you through the city’s main shopping district, via the historic Se Catedral do Funchal to the Mercado dos Lavradores farmers’ market – the foodie centre of the city. As a mid-Atlantic Island, seafood dominates most Madeiran menus, but the island’s sub-tropical climate also allows local farmers to grow a diverse range of exotic fruits and vegetables.

The once-dilapidated Zona Velha Old Town district is now home to a huge range of restaurants and café bars, and in the evenings the Rua de Santa Maria vanishes under restaurant parasols and human traffic, transformed into a mile-long frenetic alfresco restaurant. The Old Town’s Portas Abertas art project provides a feast for the eyes – the doors, facades and frontages of the Zona’s previously derelict buildings have been repurposed by local painters, sculptors and photographers, creating a unique open-air art gallery.