Free Walking Tour Funchal: Cathedral, Monte and Market

Your Funchal Walking Tour: Palace, Cathedral, Garden, Market, Fort

1. 1

   Palácio de São Lourenço

   

   You begin at the oldest layer of Funchal's defences. The Palácio de São Lourenço is two things in one: a fortress, begun in the first half of the 16th century and finished under the Philippine dynasty, and a palace, whose state rooms on the main floor date from the last quarter of the 18th century, set around inner gardens. Together they count as the finest example of civil and military architecture on Madeira, and today the building is the official residence of the Representative of the Republic for the islands.

   The palace is currently closed, so this is a stop to read from outside. Look at the mass of the walls and the bastions: they tell you this was built by a town that had learned to fear the sea.

   That fear had a date. In 1566 French corsairs sacked Funchal, and a plan of the town from around 1570 shows where they are thought to have come in: by a tower on the northwest side of the fortress, which then enclosed the houses of the island's captain behind a rectangular wall, with a Manueline tower to the southeast.

   After the raid the new master of the royal works, Mateus Fernandes, enlarged the old bulwark. In 1572 the plan grew to three bastions, houses in the way were torn down, and a city wall with five gates was laid out, two facing the sea, one to the east and two to the west. By around 1580 a square bastion stood to the southwest and two pentagonal ones to the north, commanding the town.

   From here it is only 240 m, about 3 minutes, to the cathedral, the church that town was built to protect.

   Status

   Currently closed

   Website

   cultura.madeira.gov.pt ↗

   Location

   Palácio de São Lourenço on Google Maps ↗

2. 2

   Funchal Cathedral

   

   Funchal Cathedral, the Sé, was completed in 1514 and is one of the few buildings that survives almost unchanged from the first decades of Madeira's settlement. It is dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption and is the mother church of a diocese that covers the whole of Madeira. Entry is free, and even a short look inside is worth it for anyone curious about how the island looked when it was young.

   The church was a product of boom years. By the mid 15th century Funchal's population and trade had grown fast, and in 1486 the project was launched under the Duke of Viseu and Beja, the man who would become King Manuel I. The chosen ground was known as the Chão do Duque, the Duke's field, and had been used to experiment with growing sugarcane. The plan was ambitious: a great church, a town hall and a square.

   Then it stalled. Quarrels between Portugal and Spain over overseas territories and the sheer cost to the local population held it up, and there was a long debate about enlarging existing churches instead. In 1488 the town agreed on a new church on a lower site, already called the sé, a clear hint that Funchal wanted its own bishop. Back in the 1470s the Crown had blocked the Bishop of Tangier from adding Madeira to his diocese.

   Real progress came only after Manuel took the throne in 1495. By 1508 the walls stood, Funchal was raised to city status, and the Bishop of Tangier, D. João Lobo, blessed the church.

   Now comes the big leg: 3370 m and 81 minutes uphill to the Monte Palace Tropical Garden, high above the town.

   Local name

   Sé do Funchal

   Hours

   Mon–Fri 07:15–18:30, Sat 09:00–12:00 and 16:00–19:00, Sun 07:30–12:00 and 16:00–19:00

   Price

   Free

   Website

   catedraldofunchal.com ↗

   Location

   Funchal Cathedral on Google Maps ↗

3. 3

   Monte Palace Tropical Garden

   

   After the climb you arrive in Monte, above Funchal, at a garden of 70,000 m² that is as much an open-air collection as a botanical garden. Alongside the plants you find art, tile panels and minerals. Admission is charged, and it pays off if you enjoy gardens and want a long, slow break after the walk up; give it the time it deserves rather than rushing through.

   Among the plants, look for the tree ferns: more than 700 from South Africa, plus others from Australia, with azaleas, orchids, clivias, hydrangeas and olive trees around them. There is an oriental garden with Japanese elements and koi carp, and an aviary of budgerigars.

   The azulejos are the part people tend to remember. These painted tile panels show historic costumes and events, animals, plants and ornaments, and one series tells the history of Portugal ruler by ruler: each panel shows a monarch, the years of the reign and the people or events that marked it. In the upper part of the garden a museum displays modern sculpture from Zimbabwe and minerals, above all geodes.

   The estate has changed hands several times. In the 18th century the English consul Charles Murray bought the land. In 1897 it passed to Alfredo Guilherme Rodrigues, who built a luxurious house here that later became the Monte Palace Hotel. After his death a bank took it over and in 1987 sold it to the businessman José Berardo, who handed the garden to the foundation that runs it today.

   From here the route heads back down: 3380 m, 59 minutes to the Mercado dos Lavradores, passing the small Campo da Barca Garden on the way.

   Hours

   Garden daily 09:00–19:00 (April–September), 09:00–18:00 (October–March); museum 09:00–17:30 (last admission 17:00); closed 25 December

   Price

   18 EUR adults

   Website

   montepalacemadeira.com ↗

   Location

   Monte Palace Tropical Garden on Google Maps ↗

4. 4

   Mercado dos Lavradores

   

   The Mercado dos Lavradores, the farmers' market, is where Funchal still buys its fresh food: fruit, vegetables, flowers and fish. Entry is free, and even if you buy nothing, the hall itself is worth a walk through. It is a listed building in a mix of Art Deco and modernism, designed by the architect Edmundo Tavares in the spirit of the Estado Novo.

   The market belongs to a clean-up campaign. Fernão Ornelas, appointed mayor in 1935, set out to modernise the town with better water supply, a slaughterhouse, schools and, for the sake of hygiene, a proper market hall. He chose the square where farmers from the surrounding countryside had always held their market, and neighbouring houses were demolished to make room. Building began on 9 January 1939, and the hall opened on 25 November 1940 as the most modern market in Portugal.

   It mattered more than anyone had planned. The Second World War cut food imports to Madeira and wiped out tourism, while women evacuated from Gibraltar were housed in the town. Since its opening the hall has been Funchal's one major trading place for fresh produce, and after the war it became a sight for visitors too.

   You are at the western edge of the Zona Velha, the old town laid out in the 15th century and once home mainly to fishermen and craftsmen. The last leg is 590 m, 8 minutes, through that quarter, past the street food of Rua de Santa Maria and the Madeira Story Centre, to the Fortaleza de São Tiago.

   Hours

   Mon–Fri: 07:00–19:00 | Sat: 07:00–14:00 | Sun: Closed

   Price

   Free (market entry)

   Website

   mercados.cm-funchal.pt ↗

   Location

   Mercado dos Lavradores on Google Maps ↗

5. 5

   Fortaleza de São Tiago

   

   The walk ends where it began: with defences against the sea. The Fortaleza de São Tiago was built in 1614, when Madeira mattered a great deal in the Atlantic, on the orders of the Portuguese Crown to hold off pirates and the fleets of other European powers. Through the 17th and 18th centuries it helped guard Funchal against corsairs and privateers, especially in the wars between Portugal and Spain.

   You will spot it by its colour. The vivid yellow walls stand out from the rest of the old town, but they are not original: the colour was applied during the restoration of the 1990s. Underneath is classic 17th century Portuguese military building, thick stone walls and bastions meant to take cannon fire, with watchtowers and ramparts that once gave soldiers a clear view of the harbour and the coast, overlooking the Atlantic.

   The fort is currently closed, so you see it from outside. Inside are courtyards, battlements and a small chapel that served the garrison. After its restoration the fort became a cultural venue and, from 1994 until 2015, housed the Madeira Museum of Contemporary Art, which has since moved to Calheta.

   Standing here, think back to the Palácio de São Lourenço: two fortresses, roughly half a century apart, built for the same reason. If you want to return to the start, the GPS navigation leads you back.

   Status

   Currently closed

   Website

   visit.funchal.pt ↗

   Location

   Fortaleza de São Tiago on Google Maps ↗

Shorter Ways to Walk Funchal

The long climb to Monte is what shapes this route. If you have less time or less appetite for hills, split it.

Centre and old town, no climb

Stops: 1, 2, 4, 5

For a half day or a first afternoon in Funchal. The palace and the cathedral are 3 minutes apart, the market and the fort 8 minutes. The cathedral sits in the modern centre and the market at the western edge of the old town, so you link them with a short walk across town. Nothing here costs admission; the palace and the fort are seen from outside.

Monte garden and the walk down

Stops: 3, 4, 5

For garden lovers who want to skip the uphill leg. Reach Monte by the Funchal-Monte cable car, spend your time in the garden, then walk 59 minutes down to the market and 8 more to the fort: 67 minutes on foot. Only the garden charges admission.

The full route

Stops: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

For a full day with good legs: all five stops, 7.6 km and 2 h 31 min of walking, with the garden as the one paid visit.

How Long Does This Funchal Tour Take with the Climb to Monte?

The pure walking time is 2 h 31 min, and most of it sits in two legs: 81 minutes up from the cathedral to Monte and 59 minutes back down to the market. The rest is close together: 3 minutes from the palace to the cathedral, 8 minutes from the market to the fort.

Give the garden around 90 minutes, the cathedral a quarter of an hour, the market half an hour and each closed fortress a few minutes from outside, and the full walk comes to roughly five hours.

The centre and old town variant takes about an hour and a half at an easy pace. The Monte variant needs 67 minutes of walking plus the garden, so plan around three hours.

Before You Start Walking in Funchal

• Start: The Palácio de São Lourenço is the recommended start, but you can join the route at any stop.
• Finish: The walk ends at the Fortaleza de São Tiago in the old town. If you like, the GPS navigation leads you from there back to the start.
• Time of day: Set off in the morning: the climb to Monte and a proper garden visit take the middle of the day, and you still reach the market while it is busy with trade.
• Admission: Only the Monte Palace Tropical Garden charges admission. Funchal Cathedral and the market hall are free; the palace and the fort are currently closed.
• The climb: Monte lies above Funchal, and the walk up from the cathedral is the longest leg at 81 minutes. The cable car to Monte is the alternative if you want to save your legs.

Common Questions Before You Set Off