Madeira before you book: the practical facts we checked

Madeira Airport (FNC), Aeroporto Internacional da Madeira Cristiano Ronaldo, is at Santa Cruz, on the south-east coast about 20 minutes' drive from central Funchal. There are no fixed airport fares: taxis, yellow with a blue stripe, run on the meter under the regional taxi convention, updated in 2026. From 06:00 to 21:00 on weekdays the flag fall is €4.00, covering the first kilometre, then €0.10 every 69 metres, about €1.45 a km; at night and all day at weekends and on holidays, €4.80 and €0.10 every 58 metres, about €1.72 a km. Luggage that has to go in the boot, or a pet, adds €1.50. On that meter, by day, central Funchal comes to about €30, the Lido to about €35, Caniço de Baixo to about €20, Santana to about €35 and Ponta do Sol to about €60: our estimates from the distance rate and the routed distance, before luggage and the time the meter adds in slow traffic, €0.10 every 30 seconds by day.

The Aerobus, run by CAM, leaves from outside arrivals between 08:30 and 22:00, every half hour in the morning and hourly after midday on weekdays, and reaches Avenida do Mar in 24 minutes, Avenida do Infante in 32, the Lido in 38 and Praia Formosa in 50; there is no service on 25 December. A ticket costs €6.70 on board, or €5.55 loaded on a GIRO card, which costs €0.50. Avis, Sixt, Rodavante and Europcar are among the hire firms with airport offices. Drive times below are routed from the Aeroporto bus stop at the arrivals kerb, since no taxi rank is mapped, with the roads clear.

Outside Funchal, mostly yes. The VR1 expressway runs along the south coast from the airport through Funchal towards Ribeira Brava; the VE3 climbs from it to Ponta do Sol, and the VE1 crosses from the east to the north coast for Santana. The trailheads at Pico do Arieiro, Rabaçal and Caldeirão Verde, and the natural pools at Porto Moniz, need a car from any of the ten.

Three operators share one ticket system: Horários do Funchal in the city, CAM in the east, including the Aerobus, and SIGA Rodoeste in the west. Within one municipality a single costs €2.05 on board or €1.45 loaded on a GIRO card; across municipalities, €2.65 or €2.00. The Regional Tourist ticket covers every operator's lines and the Aerobus: €13.75 for a day, €23 for three, €36 for seven. Line 555, formerly 155, runs from Ponta da Oliveira at Caniço de Baixo into Funchal, line 801 serves Santana and lines 320 to 323 Ponta do Sol.

On foot, Funchal is level along the front and steep behind it. From the Sé, the Mercado dos Lavradores is 9 minutes and the cable car station in the Zona Velha 10; the Lido hotels are 33 minutes along the front. Casa Velha do Palheiro, about 485 metres above the Sé, is 71 minutes down on foot and 115 back up.

Every classified trail run by IFCN, the regional forestry institute, needs a timed slot booked online on the SIMplifica portal, even for those who pay nothing.

Yes, in all four councils of the ten. Funchal has charged €2 per guest per night since 1 October 2024, for up to seven nights, from age 13, paid at the hotel; the council has voted to raise it to €4 from 2027. Santa Cruz, for Sentido Galomar at Caniço de Baixo, Santana, for Quinta do Furão, and Ponta do Sol, since 1 September 2024, charge the same €2 for up to seven nights from age 13, and Santa Cruz is reviewing its rate.

Madeira sets its own IVA rates, below the mainland's: the reduced rate, which applies to hotel stays, has been 4% since 1 October 2024, with 12% and 22% above it. Quoted room rates include IVA; the tourist tax is usually added at the hotel, and at Reid's Palace it is in the booking total.

What goes on top is the board and the extras. Nine of the ten include breakfast in the rates shown here; Sentido Galomar's lowest rate is room only, with breakfast in many rates. Half board is sold at The Cliff Bay, Barceló, Hotel Madeira, VidaMar, Galomar, Quinta do Furão and the Estalagem. Barceló's half board adds about €65 a night for two, Quinta do Furão's €45 a person and the Estalagem's €35 an adult. Spas and parking cost extra at several: the Savoy Palace spa is €50 a day for guests aged 16 and over, and VidaMar's thalasso pool €25 an entry.

IPMA's 1991 to 2020 normals for Funchal give an average high of 20.0°C (68°F) in January and 26.8°C (80°F) in August, and an average low of 14.3°C (58°F) in January. Rain falls on about 53 days a year, 574 mm in all; December is the wettest month, with 95 mm on 8.6 days, and July and August have under 2 mm each. The south coast is the drier side: in 2024 the regional statistics office, from IPMA's stations, found the least rain at Funchal's Lido, 296 mm. The north is wetter and greener: Santana had 129 days of rain that year, the most of any station in the islands, and the highest average humidity, 83%. The mountains are wettest: Chão do Arieiro had 1,874 mm.

Prices follow the northern winter and the island's festivals. In 2027 the peaks are Christmas and New Year, with the festivities running from 1 December 2026 to 10 January 2027 and the New Year's Eve fireworks over Funchal Bay; carnival, from 3 to 14 February; the February half-terms, 15 to 19 February in Surrey; Easter, on 28 March; the Flower Festival, from 29 April to 30 May, with its parades on 2 and 16 May; and the Atlantic Festival, from 4 to 27 June, with fireworks on Saturdays. At the seven hotels whose own rates could be read across the year, the cheapest dates fell between November and March at all seven; after Christmas and New Year, the dearest were the Flower Festival weeks or high summer.

Portugal uses the euro, and cards are accepted in most places in Madeira, though buses take cash on board or a GIRO card. Visitors who live outside the EU can claim back IVA on purchases in shops that offer tax-free shopping, by asking for the tax-free document at the till.

Tipping is a matter of choice rather than a rule: leaving a little extra for good service in a restaurant, or rounding up a taxi fare, is up to you.

Madeira is inside the EU's customs, VAT and excise area, unlike the Canary Islands, so there is no duty-free shopping on flights to mainland Portugal or the rest of the EU, and no limit on what you carry for your own use, though the EU sets guide levels of 800 cigarettes, 10 litres of spirits, 20 litres of fortified wine, 90 litres of wine and 110 litres of beer. Flying home to Great Britain, the allowance is 42 litres of beer and cider, 18 litres of wine, and 4 litres of spirits or 9 litres of drinks up to 22%, a category that includes fortified wine such as Madeira, plus 200 cigarettes, 50 cigars or 250 g of tobacco, and other goods worth up to £390. There is no alcohol or tobacco allowance under 17.

Madeira is part of Portugal and of the Schengen area, so British citizens need no visa for a short visit: up to 90 days in any 180, counted across the whole Schengen area. The passport must have been issued less than 10 years before the day you arrive and be valid for at least three months after the day you plan to leave the Schengen area.

Passport stamps have given way to the EU's Entry/Exit System, which registers non-EU visitors at the border: passport details, a photograph of the face and, for those who need no visa, four fingerprints, though children under 12 are not fingerprinted. It began on 12 October 2025, came in border by border, and has been fully operational at every external crossing since 10 April 2026. It costs nothing and needs nothing done in advance, but the checks take longer, so allow extra time at the airport on the way home, where flights to the UK go through passport control. The record lasts three years.

ETIAS, the EU's travel authorisation for visitors who need no visa, is not yet in operation, and the EU says it will announce the start date several months ahead. When it begins it will cost €20, with under-18s and over-70s applying free, last up to three years or until the passport expires, and be applied for only on the official ETIAS website or app.

Walking has a price and a timetable. IFCN began charging €3 on seven trails at the end of October 2024 and on every classified trail it manages in January 2025; for 2026 the fee for visitors rose to €4.50 a trail, set by a regional order of 10 December 2025 amended on 13 February 2026, and every walk needs a timed slot booked on SIMplifica. PR1, the ridge path from Pico do Arieiro, closed in August 2024 for works; in October 2026 it was open only to the Pedra Rija viewpoint, with the full route to Pico Ruivo priced at €10.50 for when it opens.

Getting about costs more. New taxi rates in 2026 raised the flag fall in Funchal from €3 to €4, and bus fares rose on 1 April 2026, with the Aerobus at €6.70 on board.

The tourist taxes are rising. Funchal's, €2 since 1 October 2024, is set to double: the council has voted to raise it to €4 from 2027, and in October 2026 Santa Cruz began revising its own. Among the ten, The Cliff Bay's restaurant Il Gallo d'Oro is closed for renovation, with no reopening date published, and Barceló Funchal Oldtown, opened in 2023, is the newest. At the border, the Entry/Exit System began on 12 October 2025 and has run in full since 10 April 2026.