Madeira: To Drive or Not To Drive?

[syesmar]

Hi,

 

I need advice for our day in Madeira. We will be in port at Funchal from 8am-11pm in December.

 

We are interested in beautiful scenery and nature.

 

We had planned to rent a car, but some have advised me to do a taxi tour or bus tour or go to certain sites by public transportation. But we really like the freedom of being on our own schedule and renting a car.

 

For those who have driven in Madeira, would you recommend it? What are things to look out for? Are there one-way streets to watch out for? How is the signage (i.e., is it easy to get lost?)?

 

Would greatly appreciate hearing from those who have done this and your honest opinion of driving there!

 

THANKS SO MUCH!:)

[LondonTowner]

Madeira is very hilly with winding mountainous roads, so the person doing the driving would miss out on the stunning scenery as they would be concentrating on the roads.

 

I had seen most of Madeira before we went on a cruise as I had worked there many years ago.

 

We booked a tour from our ship with Madeira Happy Tours and we're pleased with them.

[aquilegia]

I've driven in Madeira and I certainly wouldn't describe it as a relaxing experience for the driver. The roads are narrow, winding and steep and they also often have drainage gullies at the edge of the road which you certainly don't want your wheel to drop into. We rented a car the first time we went there on a land vacation but decided against it on subsequent visits.

[hkto]

For one day stay take a tour and let someone else do the driving. Full day tours in Funchal are very affordable (22-25€ pp). Try to book West or North Island tour if possible. East is not that picturesque mainly dry landscape. For description see http://www.madeirahappytours.com/

[Thejuggler]

On our first visit we had a car for four days, but it was over Christmas when roads were quiet. However I really enjoyed it. The island has some excellent motorways, lots of tunnels, including some of the longest on Portuguese territory.

 

Once off these the roads are twisty, but I never had a problem. Just take your time and whenever possible let locals pass. The worst place to get out of was Funchal as we were staying in the backstreets. You could see the motorway, but getting to it was like going through a labyrinth!

[syesmar]

Hi,

 

Thanks so much for the advice and recommendations!

 

We are leaning towards renting a car in part because motion sickness is an issue for the driver (when a passenger, but not while driving).

 

Thejuggler, you had mentioned getting out of Funchal could be challenging and I have read that elsewhere. Wondering if there's a good resource with accurate directions on how best to leave the city from the port? I've heard GPS can have some inaccuracies so I'm a bit hesitant about being overly reliant on that once there.

 

THANKS AGAIN!:)

[Thejuggler]

From the port its quite easy. Exit the port and go straight ahead from the roundabout into the tunnel, follow the aiport signs and you will reach the motorway.

[syesmar]

Hi,

 

We just returned this past Sunday from our Canary Islands Adventure aboard HAL’s ms Rotterdam. It was a fantastic cruise! We had the best time. I wanted to report back on how things went in Madeira.

 

We did rent a car. I did a lot of research on various companies and was pleased with the policies of Rent a Car Futuro (http://futurorent.com/). They were excellent to do business with and we were very pleased with them. (Their fuel policy is that you fill the car back to the level it was when you pick up the car. They initially charged us 20 Euros for fuel but refunded it because we returned the car with more than it had when we left). They do not pick up from the port, but are not far away, just up the (steep) hill on the left from the port and then crossing over near the Carlton hotel to Avenida do Infante. (A free shuttle actually dropped passengers off in town on a street that would become this road. I wouldn’t think it would take that long to walk there from that point).

 

As others have mentioned driving in Funchal itself is not what we would call “fun”! Once we were out of Funchal, it was indeed “fun”---if you don't mind steep, windy roads---but getting out of town was challenging. I took multiple options of printouts from Google Maps, but still had issues getting out of Funchal because of the lack of road signs. I was actually making things more complicated than they were. If I had been thinking clearer, I would have just gotten back on Avenida do Infante (going right from the rental agency), then taking the very first left and then going into the tunnel at the roundabout (as the previous poster had directed from the cruise port) and we would have been on the highway. But it all worked out and eventually we made our way out of town.

 

(A few words of advice: if you rent a car that does not have enough gas for your day, gas up at the first station you see. Once you get to remote areas, you may not see a station for a while. Print off Maps/Directions in advance. If you want to go to a town, pick a site in that town with a specific address so that you know how to get from A to B, as the main motorway has several exits for the various towns and this will help you know where to go and how to get on and off the motorway. As far as Funchal goes, the most difficult part of driving there was getting out of town and drivers in the city are more aggressive than in other areas . . . it’s easy to miss where to get on the motorway if you’re not familiar with the city. Print off Maps/Directions with various options and then re-confirm with your rental agency the best way to get out of town.)

 

We ended up at Pico dos Barcelos first, and thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful view! Then we went through Monte on our way to Pico do Arieiro. It was absolutely spectacular! Beyond words. We drove through Ribeiro Frio to Santana and then to Ponta de Sao Lourenco and spent a good bit of time there. Our ship didn’t sail away until 11pm, so we were fortunate enough to go back out and visit Funchal at night after returning the car and dinner. The Christmas lights were up and it was such a nice way to end this perfect day. The city was alive, it was great to stroll the streets and it was so special to see it lit up for the holidays (and the view of the lights from the ship was great)!

 

What a day! It was simply wonderful! I kept saying “wow” at the gorgeous scenery. Madeira is beyond beautiful and we would go back again in a heartbeat! Would gladly spend more time there.:)

 

Happy Travels!

Edited December 24, 2015 by syesmar