Madeira · Backpacking
ON A BUDGET
Madeira is a walking island — levada trails, cheap buses and Funchal beds well below Canary summer rates.
Funchal's Zona Velha
Hostels sit in the old town around Rua de Santa Maria, near the cable car and the market. São Martinho is cheaper but a bus ride out.
What a day costs
Dorm €18–30, a prato do dia €10–14, city bus rides under €2. Around €40–70 a day, roughly $45–80.
Getting around cheap
Horários do Funchal covers the city; SAM, Rodoeste and EACL buses reach the trailheads, though Sunday timetables thin out. Trail transfers run €15–25.
Free by day
The levada walks cost nothing — Balcões is the easy one — and so do the Funchal seafront promenade and the aisles of the Mercado dos Lavradores.
Rua de Santa Maria
The old town's painted-door bar street, and where hostel groups form for the next day's levada walk or the Pico do Arieiro sunrise.