Things to do in Funchal

Landmark · 600 m above Funchal

The hillside village above the city, reached by a cable car from the old town, with the Monte Palace gardens and the Empress Sisi connection.

Local tip: Take the cable car up and walk down through the Babosas valley rather than paying for the wicker toboggan, which is a two-minute tourist ride ending nowhere useful. The gardens are worth an entire afternoon and are far quieter than the church terrace.

Food · Zona Velha, Funchal

The 1940s farmers' market — a fish hall of scabbardfish and tuna, flower sellers in traditional dress, and a fruit gallery upstairs.

Local tip: The upstairs fruit stalls run an aggressive tasting-then-pricing routine aimed at cruise passengers; agree the price per kilo before you accept anything. The ground-floor fish hall and the vegetable aisles are where residents actually shop, and the black scabbardfish is worth learning to cook.

Nightlife · Funchal old town

A restored street of painted doors, bars and restaurants running from the market down toward the fort and the sea.

Local tip: The 'Painted Doors' project turned a derelict lane into the busiest street in Funchal. It is genuinely good and thoroughly discovered — the smaller streets one block inland are where you will find a poncha bar with locals in it.

Nature · The central massif, 45 minutes from Funchal

The high traverse between the island's second and highest peaks, along a knife-edge ridge above the cloud line with tunnels cut through the rock.

Local tip: One of the great walks in Europe and genuinely exposed — take a head torch for the tunnels, check the trail is open with the forestry service, and start before dawn so you are on the ridge when the sun comes up through the cloud sea. Book the Arieiro car park slot in advance in high season.

Neighborhood · 10 minutes west of Funchal

A working fishing harbour of coloured boats below one of the highest sea cliffs in Europe, with a glass skywalk at the top.

Local tip: This is where the scabbardfish boats come in and where poncha was invented. Go for lunch on the harbour rather than for the skywalk, which is a five-minute photograph, and drink the poncha where the fishermen do rather than where the coaches stop.

Nature · São Jorge, north coast

A levada path into the UNESCO-listed laurel forest — the largest surviving fragment of a woodland type that covered southern Europe before the ice ages.

Local tip: Most visitors do the crowded Levada das 25 Fontes. The Levada do Rei is a similar length, ends at a spring in deep laurel forest, and on a weekday you may not pass anyone. The forest is the reason the island has water at all, and walking in it explains the whole levada system better than any museum.