Funchal, Madeira Port Reviews

We really liked Funchal. It was very pretty. We did take an excursion and were not impressed with the guide.

Visited: Dec 13, 2018

Read full cruise review

The best thing to do is the "basket ride"...lots of fun!

Visited: Apr 09, 2015

Read full cruise review

We visited Funchal once before on a gray, damp day and it wasn't much fun. The day we spent in Funchal this time was perfect, sunny and breezy. We ordered the Hop-on, Hop-off bus through Orbitz - which was less than half the price of the same thing offered through NCL. Wonderful 90-minute drive around the island up to some of the highest elevations and through the cute towns and down to the beaches. Headsets are provided so you can listen to explanations of the island, it's history, etc. Gee, I wonder why NCL charges double for the same thing?

Visited: Nov 05, 2017

Read full cruise review

Over night stay and loved the town lit up at night/

Visited: Oct 03, 2017

Read full cruise review

We don’t do organised excursions. Prefer to do our own thing. Madeira is lovely and everything easily accessible from the Port.

Visited: Oct 27, 2017

Read full cruise review

What annoys me is that just as the Christmas lights are turned on and it's not even dark it's time to get back on board, why can't we stay another hour and a half and enjoy the lights?

Take the cable car up to top and take the toboggan ride down. OK it only goes a little way down but the walk back was great to soak up the vernacular. Comfy shoes recommend.

Visited: Jan 03, 2020

Read full cruise review

We took the cable car up the mountain and the sled down. Wonderful. Advice: don’t use the cruise bus, dropped us off a mile from the center, we still had to get a taxi.

Absolutely beautiful place to visit! The cable car and Toboggan are a fab way to experience it's beauty and culture, not to forget a stop in the wine cellar to sample the Maderian wine 🙂

We took the yellow hop-on-hop-off bus to the cable car (for which the queue was only about 5 minutes), fabulous views from the top, took some photos of the toboggans then back down & hopped back on the bus to Câmara De Lobos. That was a super pretty fishing village where we had lunch & soaked in the views & sunshine. The piped commentary on the bus was a bit sparse, otherwise highly recommended, and I noted a lot of the busses are designed to take wheelchairs too. 😀 The P&O supplied shuttle bus to town was ok but steep steps to get on & off it (I guess we could have waited for a more accessible bus if we really needed it).