Getting Around Funchal: Buses, the Cable Car, Taxis and What to Skip

The Old Town (Zona Velha) and the city centre around the Sé are effectively one walkable zone. The Old Town sits by the cable car lower station and the Mercado dos Lavradores, and the Sé and Praça do Município are a few minutes further along the flat. Avenida do Mar runs between them at sea level. Read our Funchal Old Town page for the streets themselves.

The Lido and São Martinho/Praia Formosa are a different story. They lie west along Estrada Monumental, linked by a seaside promenade whose first section opened in August 1993. The walk is flat and pleasant along the water, but it is long, and no official source publishes walking minutes between any of the five areas. Treat the promenade walk as a morning activity, not a shortcut.

Monte is not walkable from the city in any practical sense. It climbs several hundred metres, and the only link between sea level and Monte with an officially timed figure is the cable car at 18 minutes. If Monte is the plan, the plan involves a lift or a bus.

One practical point for walkers: the hills behind the centre are steep enough that locals drive between neighbouring streets. If your hotel sits above Rua da Carreira or anywhere on the upper slopes, check the gradient before booking. Our where to stay page notes which areas are flat.

Fares are set nationally by Portaria 128/2026 and are easy to state. On board, a municipal ticket costs $2.35 (€2.05) and an intermunicipal one $3.04 (€2.65). With GIRO prepaid the same rides drop to $1.66 (€1.45) and $2.29 (€2.00), so the card pays for itself on the fourth ride. The card itself costs $0.57 (€0.50). Day passes are $5.67 (€4.95) municipal and $7.51 (€6.55) intermunicipal. If you are also riding the Aerobus or operators beyond the city, the regional tourist pass covers all operators and starts at $15.76 (€13.75) for one day up to $41.26 (€36.00) for seven.

Two rules catch visitors out. First, on-board tickets are cash only. SIGA's own FAQ confirms no card payment is accepted on board any bus, so carry coins or notes. Second, bicycles are explicitly not permitted aboard Horários do Funchal buses, per the operator's own FAQ. If you rent a bike and the hill wins, you cannot bus back down with it. Our bike and scooter rental page covers alternatives.

The lines visitors actually use. Four buses climb to Monte: 20, 21, 22 and 48. Line 20 is the classic choice from the centre, zigzagging up to Monte village in the same direction the toboggan riders come down. If you plan to ride the Monte toboggan and then return by bus, any of the four will do the job, and note the toboggan itself closes on Sundays and public holidays.

The Botanical Garden has its own set of buses: 29, 30, 31 and 31A reach it, and bus 22 also serves Babosas, the street at the upper cable car station where the Monte gardens spread out. For a longer outing, bus 81 runs from Funchal to Curral das Freiras via Eira do Serrado, about 54 minutes and roughly 83 stops on the operator's route listing. The departure PDF did not render as readable text in our last pass, so we will say only that it runs roughly hourly to two-hourly rather than invent a timetable. Check at the main bus terminal before committing.

The Aerobus, run by CAM under the same SIGA ticketing, links the airport to Praia Formosa through the centre and is covered in full on the Funchal airport page. For a longer circuit of the island by road, see our car rental page, and if you drive in yourself, Funchal parking tells you where a car is actually a burden.

The cabin takes 18 minutes from the lower station by the Old Town up to Monte, running daily from 08:45 to 17:45 and closing only on 25 December. A one-way ride costs $18.34 (€16.00), a return $25.21 (€22.00). That is far more than the $2.35 (€2.05) bus fare, so the choice is about legs and time rather than money.

Our practical read: ride the bus up and the cable car down. The climb to Monte by road is a long series of switchbacks that some passengers find queasy, while the descent in the cabin is the view everyone came for, over the bay and the red roofs. If you do it the other way round, you will queue at the bottom station at the same time as every cruise passenger in port.

At the top, the cable car connects directly to the upper station at Largo das Babosas, from which the Botanical Garden cable car, the Monte gardens and the toboggan start are all reachable. Note that a second cable car, the Monte-Botanical Garden line, runs daily 09:00-17:00 with the same 25 December closure. Full details, history and queue tactics live on our Funchal cable car page.

The tariff is fixed by the regional authority. The flag fare is $4.58 (€4.00) by day, defined as 06:00 to 21:00, and $5.50 (€4.80) at night and all day on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. After the flag, the meter adds $0.11 (€0.10) per 65 metres or 30 seconds in the day period. There is no fixed fare anywhere in the tariff, including to and from the airport, so any flat quote you are given is a private arrangement, not the official rate. A luggage or pet supplement of $1.72 (€1.50) applies.

Where to find one: ranks exist at the main squares and the bus terminal, and a taxi can also be hailed in the street or booked by phone. We would love to print a definitive rank list, but no single authoritative current list was confirmed in our research. Municipal notices show several ranks have been temporarily relocated in recent years, so the rank you remember from an old guide may have moved a block. The rank at Praça do Município and along Avenida do Mar is the safest bet for the centre.

For anything longer, our Funchal taxi page covers booking apps that actually work here, and the airport transfer page prices the run in from Cristiano Ronaldo airport.

Bolt works here, Uber is not confirmed. Bolt's own Madeira page lists ride and taxi categories and airport rides, with the taxi options priced by the meter. No official source confirms Uber operating in Funchal. If a driver offers you a ride through a rideshare-style app, you are effectively taking an unmarked taxi. Use the metered taxis instead, where the tariff is public and the flag fare is $4.58 (€4.00).

No bike share or e-scooter share. No official municipal bike-share or e-scooter-share scheme exists, and no published cycle-lane network was found for the city. Private rentals do exist and are covered on our bike and scooter rental page, but there is no city-run dock system, and the hills mean a rental is a commitment, not a hop.

No bicycles on city buses. The operator's own FAQ states bicycles are not permitted aboard Horários do Funchal buses. Cyclists who tire on the climb to Monte cannot bring the bike down on the bus.

No card payment on board buses. SIGA's own FAQ is explicit: on-board tickets are cash only. Tourists expecting to tap a card at the front of the bus are the single most common fare mistake we hear about.

No official walking-minute map between the five areas. No official source states how long it takes to walk between the Old Town, the centre, the Lido, Monte and São Martinho. The only officially timed link anywhere in the transport system is the cable car at 18 minutes to Monte. Everything else is your own estimate.