Do-It-Yourself Funchal

[trubey]

Please help by sharing your information with other Cruise Critics. Funchal sounds like a perfect place to explore the city center and maybe take an out-of-town excursion.

 

I’ve looked at a number of shore excursion packages and made some lists of what might be seen. Any recommendations on seeing these places on your own? or others?

 

Some important considerations could be:

Distance from the port to the city center

Distance from port to out-of-town locations

Local bus, taxi, or car rental services

Admission Fees

Open/Closed days of the week

Suitablity for those with limited mobility

Suggestions for shopping and dining

 

City Center:

• embroidery factory
  
• Cable car
  
• wine lodge
  

Out-of-Town:

• Pico dos Barcelos
  
• Pico do Serrado
  
• Monte
  
• Camara de Lobos
  
• Cabo Girão
  
• Santo da Sierra and Machico
  

[Leejnd4]

Also interested in comments/experiences on that basket sledge ride. That sounds like an E-ticket!

 

LeeAnne

[wesp]

Here are some replies to my earlier posts on this same subject.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=80966

AND

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=82653

 

Wesley

[Bev]

Hi

DH and family members and I sailed on the Spring Galaxy Transatlantic. Here’s the information I gathered for our stop in Funchal, Madeira:

 

Bendix Tours Madeira

Rua Velha da Ajuda, 10 B - Edif. Colinas do Lido

9004-559 Funchal / Madeira

Direct Telef.: + 351 291 700352

Fax: +351 291 764159

 

http://www.bendixtours.com/ig/index.htm

 

I dealt with: Rita Bendix

Manager Groups Incoming Madeira

rita.bendix@bendixtours.com

Mobil: +351 91 991 8849

 

 

I initially contacted 5 companies and received replies from 3 of them; messages for 1 were returned undeliverable. The other wrote to tell me a virus had ruined his system and he’d get back to me in a few days but he never did; he is also only able to offer taxi services for 4 persons. Per person prices offered by the other companies ranged from 30 Euros for full day tours and 20 Euros for half-day tours. Celebrity offers some full day tours at $98/125 and some half-day tours at $45 – 69 per person.

 

I was pleased with the responses and pricing offered by Bendix Tours and decided to work with them. Their tour descriptions are similar to those found in the Celebrity Shore Excursion guide or on the Celebrity web site:

 

Full Day Island Tour

From Funchal to Câmara de Lobos, Pico da Torre, then to Ribeira brava, Canhas and Paul da Serra plateau, Porto Moniz (stop for lunch – not included), São Vicente along Madeira’s most romantic regions with several waterfalls. On return to Funchal, stop in Cabo Girão- 2nd highest sea cliff in the world.

 

Full Day in Madeira’s Mountains

"Pico do Arieiro" ( 1810 m), with fantastic views over the whole island. Ribeiro Frio, Faial with stop for lunch. (not included), Porto da Cruz, the oldest town of Madeira – Machico, to Pico do Facho and Ponta de São Lourenço and Caniçal a former whale station village.

 

Half Day Câmara De Lobos /Botanical Garden /Market

From the harbour to Câmara de Lobos, to Pico da Torre, then visit to the Botanical Garden and visit is to the market place “Mercado dos Lavradores“ in Funchal, with it’s fish, vegetables, fruit and flowershop

 

Half Day Eira do Serrado and Monte

Viewpoint of Pico dos Barcelos (350m), to Eira do Serrado (1094m) panoramic view over the Nun`s Valley "Curral das Freiras", taste famous "Ginja" cherry liquor and Madeira honey cake. Visit Monte, church of "Nossa Senhora do Monte" and possibility to descend to Livramento in traditional toboggans.

 

Half Day Madeira handy crafts and flowers

Visit to a small village Camacha, the island’s wicker work centre. Stop in the Botanical Garden, visit the embroidery factory “Patricio e Gouveia” to see famous hand made Madeira Embroideries.

 

Bendix Tours offers the full day tours at 135 Euros (approx. US$170) and the half-day tours at 71 Euros (approx. US$90) for the minibus which seats 8, or 17E (US$21.50) and 9E (US$11.50) per person respectively with an English speaking driver/guide – the minibus would be waiting at the Funchal harbour and return us there. Lunch and entrance fees are extra.

 

We arranged for a half day tour - to Eira do Serrado and Monte. Eira do Serrado and the Curral de Freiras (Valley of the Nuns) is where nuns fled with gold, silver and other riches to keep them from pirates in days of old. You would not believe how deep this valley is - it's just incredible. The roads to get there are really narrow with just enough room for two vehicles to pass. But the views are spectacular!!! Then we went to Monte and indulged ourselves in a 10 minute toboggan ride down the streets - it was a lot of fun!

 

Bev

[Leejnd4]

Thanks, Bev! That's great info. I checked out the Bendix website (by the way, your link didn't work, but if I deleted the stuff at the end and just put in http://www.bendixtours.com I got to the main page). Did you get the list of tours by email? I was hoping to find it on their website, but couldn't.

 

This is a rich and quite varied island, so I'm having a great deal of difficulty deciding what we should do.

 

I'm glad to hear that the toboggan ride was fun -- that I will definitely do!

 

LeeAnne

[Leejnd4]

FYI, I've been trying to figure out how to get from the airport to our hotel. I've been told that there are usually taxis there, but our flight gets in at almost midnight, so it's not clear if there will be any at that time of night.

 

I found a website that offers pre-booked taxi service -- http://www.madeirataxis.com. They will meet you at the airport and take you to your hotel for 25 Eu. That is the same price that any taxi you find there will charge, but this way you are assured that yours will be waiting for you. You can even spend an additional 5 Eu to upgrade to a limo! (I think that's what we're going to do. It's only 14 miles from the airport to town, but at midnight, after traveling all the way from CA, methinks we'll appreciate the few minutes of luxury.)

 

This link also has island tours that seem to be very reasonably priced. The half-day tours are 50 Eu, full day tours are 90 Eu, per person in your own private taxi. I'm still waiting to find out what the price is of our ship's available tours prior to boarding (we're on Radisson Voyager in May and they won't release the prices till March), so if they are less, we may go with them.

 

LeeAnne

[trubey]

Can anyone tell me if we can walk from the pier to the town? Will we really miss anything if we don't take a tour? What are the alternatives? susana.