Renting a car in Funchal/Madeira?

[MalibuCA]

:( Has anyone rented a car in Funchal to explore the villages and beautiful scenic outlying areas in Madeira? I know that there is a Hertz office in Funchal, which makes it very easy to get the car. How dangerous are the roads? Is it like the Hana Highway in Maui (which we survived numerous times), or worse? Is it worth having a car to go beyond the city limits of Funchal and explore? How much driving time should we allow to go from Funchal into Western Madeira and back to Funchal? We don't want to miss our ship! We were hoping to spend some time in the morning wandering through Funchal and visiting the open market, and then, take the car on the open roads. Our ship is in port from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Any recommendations?

[giblert]

Sorry for the really late response - I realize you're probably long gone but ... we rented a car and spent the day driving around the island. We pre-arranged everything via the net and the car met our boat as we disembarked. The car and rental person were literally at the bottom of the gang plank. We gave him our details over the hood of the car and then he toss us the keys. We spent the day mostly driving and loved it. We had a standard shift so if you aren't very comfortable with that, I'd check and make sure you can get an automatic. The hills are brutally steep so it's intense driving. The freeways were easy - one slow lane, one fast lane. We kinda wanted a middle lane but we did well anyways. The rental was cheap. We drove the car back to the boat, again, right at the bottom of the gang plank. We left the keys in the ashtray and were told to NOT lock the door. The rental agency sent somebody to pick up the car later. It was the best decision we made on our entire cruise. If anybody wants specifics (rental agency name, price, etc), please just drop us a line.

Marie

 

:( Has anyone rented a car in Funchal to explore the villages and beautiful scenic outlying areas in Madeira? I know that there is a Hertz office in Funchal, which makes it very easy to get the car. How dangerous are the roads? Is it like the Hana Highway in Maui (which we survived numerous times), or worse? Is it worth having a car to go beyond the city limits of Funchal and explore? How much driving time should we allow to go from Funchal into Western Madeira and back to Funchal? We don't want to miss our ship! We were hoping to spend some time in the morning wandering through Funchal and visiting the open market, and then, take the car on the open roads. Our ship is in port from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Any recommendations?

[MalibuCA]

Thanks for your reply. We haven't left yet -- not until October, but I like to plan ahead. Could you please email me the name and contact information for the rental agency that you used? My email is shelleyville@aol.com. Please identify that this is for the Funchal car rental in the subject line so that I don't think that its spam. Thanks so much!

 

Shelley

[zaandam_2]

the outlying roads are very steep, with only a hint of gaurdrails. if you have any fear of heights, i wouldn't advise driving.

 

our CC roll call used this private tour agency, it was very reasonable:

 

http://www.lido-tours.com/

 

i can't recommend them highly enough. i believe the price was 29 euros per person for a full day tour.

[MalibuCA]

Thanks for the advice. How did you know I'm terrified of heights?! I was okay on the Hana Highway in Maui. Is it really worse than that?

[zaandam_2]

Thanks for the advice. How did you know I'm terrified of heights?! I was okay on the Hana Highway in Maui. Is it really worse than that?

 

i haven't been on the road in hawaii so i can't compare. i climbed 14,000 foot high mountains when i lived in colorado so i have no fear of heights. the mountain roads outside of funchal had me edging towards the center of the bus, however.

 

the 2nd highest sea cliff in the world is there - 3,000 feet straight down. it is quite a view.

 

there's a link in my signature to photos of madeira.

[lovely12no]

Hello Marie. I read your comment about your experience with a rental agency in Madeira and wondered if you could be so kind as to share with us the name of the car rental agency as well. I found one car agency, but sure would like to do a cost comparison. My email is lovely12no@mac.com. We are opting for rental cars on some of our european stops and would like to do the same in Madeira.

 

Thanks so much Marie!....it's so helpful to learn through other people's experiences.

 

Susan

[lovely12no]

Hello Marie. I read your comment about your experience with a rental agency in Madeira and wondered if you could be so kind as to share with us the name of the car rental agency as well. I found one car agency, but sure would like to do a cost comparison. My email is lovely12no@mac.com. We are opting for rental cars on some of our european stops and would like to do the same in Madeira.

 

Thanks so much Marie!....it's so helpful to learn through other people's experiences.

 

Susan

[mho]

You can easily spend a whole day in Funchal wondering through the streets. There is also a cable car in town which takes you up to the village where the sledges start from and where there are wonderful gardens to see.

[Hlitner]

We have rented cars in Funchal on 3 ocassions and absolutely love driving around this picturesque island. Those who stay in Funchal (a very nice city) unfortunately miss most of the natural beauty that can found all over the island. It actually took us two very long port days to explore the entire island (1 day for the west and 1 day for the east) as its larger then many would think. There are several rental car companies within easy walking distance of the port and there is even one company that has an office right in the new shopping complex at the port. We tend to use a local company called Ilha Verde (they have good prices and an office about 2 blocks from the port).

 

Hank