Madeira · Things to do

The cable car from Rua Dom Carlos I on the seafront up to Largo das Babosas in Monte, running daily 08:45–17:45 except Christmas Day. €22 return and €16 one way; children under 7 free and 7–14 half price. One way up is the usual choice if you plan to come down another way.

Seven hectares of terraced garden above Funchal Bay at Monte, with a mineral and art museum, more than a thousand sculptures and heavy Japanese and Portuguese-tile planting. Directly by the cable car's upper station, so it pairs with the ride up.

Wicker sledges on wooden runners, pushed and steered by two carreiros in white with straw hats, running downhill from Monte towards Livramento. It is short, it is not a transport option — you still need a taxi or bus back — and it is the island's oldest tourist ritual.

The high ridge walk between the island's second and highest peaks, with tunnels, exposed stairways and no shade. Check the official trail pages for current access rules and closures before setting out — sections shut after storms — and carry a head torch for the tunnels.

Lava rock pools on the north-west coast at Sítio do Lugar, filled and flushed by the Atlantic, with a fenced and supervised bathing complex alongside the free open rocks. About 90 minutes from Funchal by road; swimming is cancelled outright when the swell is up.