Funchal

[TheDutchHouse]

Any insight into Funchal , Madeira ?
places to see , avoid ?
Any tips gratefully received 😊

Funchal and Madeira are lovely. It’s subtropical - so very green and pretty. Lots to see and do. The old town, harbour, botanic and monte palace gardens. Nowhere to avoid that I can think of. Taxis are cheap and there is a good bus service. Several companies have half and full day tours to different places on the island.
There’s plenty of choice when it comes to restaurants and bars. When are you going?

That’s helpful thank you. In March .

Beautiful island. For a first visit I’d recommend the hop on, hop off bus which covers a lot of tourist sites and has a commentary if you wish.

Still making up my mind. I'll let you know after my 5th visit.,........

Madeira is amazing but beware of high winds often closes the airport for sections of time Jet2 actually notifies you when you book
prepare accordingly and make sure you have supplies water etc as the shops in airport often run out when there’s a big delay as it’s pretty tiny
otherwise Madeira is beautiful, clean, friendly and classy. We love it

We went last March. It’s a beautiful island but was windy and we had a lot of rain. We’re early 50’s and felt quite young compared to other clientele. Lots of keen walkers. Would return.

This. It’s amazing but the last two times we have gone we never actually made it!

I won’t book it now with young kids or if we had to take annual leave. If your retired or freelance and footloose then go for it.

Ai overview explains a bit better:

Funchal Airport (FNC) rarely closes completely due to weather, but strong winds, especially crosswinds and gusts, frequently cause delays, diversions, and cancellations, particularly in winter (Nov-Feb) when it's wettest and windiest. Its unique location on a plateau with cliffs makes landings challenging, often requiring specific wind limits (around 20-25 knots for certain sectors/runways), leading to frequent weather-related disruptions, so check flight status.

also no compensation due for weather delays as it’s an ‘act of god’ so sometimes people delayed for days etc even if company covers you a new hotel and food etc missing work / children school etc agree with above poster it’s very risky.

It’s a bit more complex than AI.

Basically lots of times the flights are landing but UK flights often don’t make the cut. The issue is when you get there you can only have x fuel to allow you to land. But too little fuel and you can only circle x times before you have to divert; often back to mainland Spain.

Where you will often spend many hours trapped on a runway while they prioritise scheduled flights first. And then you either kicked off or they say they are flying back to U.K. to try again tomorrow.

You can see this just a week ago on sky scanner. No UK flights landed for an entire day but European short flights were landing. Not sure whether they are closer so just waiting for a better window before leaving.

It’s also worth looking at the track record of who from the U.K. is landing. It does differ between company. It also differs year to year (not sure if that’s pilots moving around or fuelling policies, or what. But it can be significant!). Last time we couldn’t land we were either easyJet or Ryan air. Can’t remember. But it was like 1 in 6 flights landing. But BA was getting most of the down with the odd miss. So we were kicking ourselves!

We went (with Jet2) a couple of years ago as our first AI family holiday and really liked it. One of the taxi drivers was saying it’s always been popular with older couples and walkers but during COVID it was one of the few “green” destinations for Europe and so a lot of families started coming - there was a huge amount of building work going on while we were there. No problems with flights in or out, we were there in August so perhaps calmer weather. The airport is right on the coastline so not for the faint hearted that’s for sure!

We have been twice and had no problem with the weather affecting flights. The second time we went it was May and the temperature was mid 20s and it was perfect.

We stayed in the old town where there are loads of restaurants.

The highlight was a boat trip to see dolphins and whales - just brilliant

We could see the harbour from our hotel, and my tip would be to check if there are any cruise liners in port. If there aren't any there won't be any queues for the cable car.

We also loved the gardens in Monte. They are much more interesting than the botanical gardens.

We hired a taxi for the day as neither of us wanted to drive and went all over the island. Do not miss the drive up to Pico do Arieiro either.

I love Madeira (and all the cats that live there).

Loved it - we went in early jJuly about 15 years ago and stayed outside Funchal

We went to many amazing gardens and the drive to and the view from Pico do Arieiro was wonderful. Had afternoon tea on the balcony at Reid's.

We just got back. Jet2 had cancelled all their flights out. We were with BA and were ok. Last time had a 5 hour delay. But love the island. Great restaurants and love being able to walk most places. Though I’m limited mobility so do sometimes need a cab. Agree about Monte gardens. Lots of families staying at our hotel.

@NewAgeNewMe - can I ask what the weather and temperature were like when you were there? I’m tempted to book a late deal!

It was ok not as nice as usual when we have been at that time of year. Rainy some days. Not cold though. One day was nice enough to sit out in bikini. I’d always take a waterproof though as when it rains heavily it rains! But we are back in May. We really love it.

We were on a flight with Jet2 that was unable to land.
We landed at the island of Porto Santo - along with c.10 other planes waiting to see if the weather improved.
We then flew to Fuerteventura, transported to various hotels, wined & dined extremely well, & flew to Funchal the next day.
So, don't let that small possibility put you off of going to a beautiful place.

The weather was perfect when we went in May.

Thank you , I was getting concerned as it’ll be my first flight alone .