Can You Do Madeira Without a Rental Car?

What worked without a car

Funchal makes a good base if you can accept that the bus schedule runs your day. I walked a lot in the center and only took the bus once the hills started eating up my time. A one-way ticket on the regional buses was about 2.50 to 3 euros, and I usually bought it on board. To get to Curral das Freiras, I took line 181, which used to be the 81. There are quite a few buses on weekdays, often about one an hour in the middle of the day, though the gaps are sometimes longer. I counted on about an hour from Funchal, depending on the route and traffic.

I took a bus toward Ribeiro Frio for a walk along a levada, one of the island's old irrigation channels. The line that used to be the 56 is now number 801 on the route between Funchal and Santana. Mine left around 8:10 a.m., and I was there about 40 minutes later. From there I walked PR11 Vereda dos Balcões, which follows the Levada da Serra do Faial for part of the way. The trail itself is just under a mile each way, so a little under 2 miles round trip. That kept the bus logistics simple, because I could come back to the same stop instead of chasing a connection on the other side of the mountains.

The south coast worked too. I took a bus west to Câmara de Lobos and then walked part of the way back along the ocean. The walk between Ponta da Cruz and Câmara de Lobos is about 1.4 miles, and starting from the Lido turns it into a longer but still easy half day on foot. Another day I took the bus toward Ponta do Sol. Lines 320 and 321 take the expressway between Funchal and Ponta do Sol, and I figured on about 50 minutes each way. I had lunch there, took pictures down by the water and caught the bus back before the afternoon buses thinned out.

And the cable car up to Monte actually worked as transportation, not just as a scenic ride. The ride takes about 15 minutes and saves you a serious climb from central Funchal. I rode up, wandered around Monte and walked back down at an easy pace. It was the kind of day when a rental car would have just sat in a parking lot.

What got complicated

The trouble started when I wanted to combine two things in one day. The buses work pretty well from Funchal out to one town and back, but getting from one town to another takes more planning. Miss a bus and the next one might be 60 or 90 minutes away. I learned fast to look up the bus back before heading out, not once my coffee was already on the table.

PR10 Levada do Furado was a good example. The trail runs about 7 miles from Ribeiro Frio to Portela and takes around five hours. It was in my notes, but having to change buses at the far end meant one delay could throw off the whole day. I did the shorter walk at Balcões instead. Same thing with combining Seixal and Porto Moniz. It worked on paper, but I didn't want to spend a big chunk of a March day riding buses and waiting for them.

Some things I just let go. An early morning at Pico do Arieiro didn't work with the bus schedule at the time, and a taxi would have eaten up a big part of what I saved by skipping the rental car. Without a car, you sometimes have to skip a place entirely, not just go at a different time.

The rainy day

One day the mountains had disappeared into the clouds before breakfast. I'd planned to head north but stayed in Funchal, and that turned out to be the right call. At 9:30 a.m. I walked through Mercado dos Lavradores, Funchal's main market, and ended up staying longer than planned at the fish hall and the fruit stands.

Then I wandered through the Zona Velha, the Old Town, had a long lunch at a small restaurant without a reservation and waited out two heavy downpours. In the afternoon I strolled along the harbor. Madeira without a car works a lot better when you can let the weather decide and don't feel like you have to get your money's worth out of a rental car.

Who it's not for

If you want to do several hikes that start and end in different places, catch sunrise up in the mountains or pull over at small viewpoints along the way, rent a car. The same goes if you're traveling with small kids or a lot of luggage, or if you need to be able to change plans quickly. The buses will get you to a lot of towns, but they won't give you the same freedom to move between them.

And if you only have four days on Madeira, I'd think about it differently too. With nine days, I could lose an hour waiting for a bus without the trip falling apart. When you're short on time, every long gap in the schedule ends up costing you more than the rental car would.

Good to know

• Always check the last bus back before you head out
• Plan on about 2.50 to 3 euros for a one-way regional bus ride
• Line 181 runs between Funchal and Curral das Freiras
• Line 801 is the new number for the old 56 to Santana via Ribeiro Frio
• Leave extra time when weather and roads throw off the schedule
• One town per day trip works better than several stops

So can you do Madeira without a rental car? With Funchal as my base and nine days to work with, I could. I saw towns along the coast, walked a levada, made it up into the mountains and never spent an evening circling for parking. But I also had to accept that a few places stayed in my notebook. On my last night, there was still a folded bus receipt in my jacket pocket, next to a damp slip of paper from the market on that rainy day.