Funchal is less a sight than the island’s operating system. Around 105,000 of Madeira’s roughly 251,000 residents live here, the airport is 25 minutes away by car, and both expressways — the VR1 heading east and the VE1 heading west — start at this bay. First-time visitors base themselves in Funchal and drive out radially: Câmara de Lobos in a quarter of an hour, Ponta do Sol in 35 minutes, Porto Moniz in 70.
The city itself is a slope. From the harbour at sea level up to Monte is about 560 metres of altitude across three kilometres as the crow flies. That is why the cable car is not a fairground ride but the fastest way up — 15 minutes, while a car grinds through hairpins and one-way streets.
Below sit the Zona Velha with its painted doors and the Mercado dos Lavradores; above lies Monte with its tropical garden and the wicker toboggans. In between: the quinta gardens, the Sé cathedral begun in 1493, and roughly half the restaurants on the island.
In practice: multi-storey car parks are the only realistic option downtown, the promenade is expensive, and two streets inland the bill halves.
