Madiera without a car

We had a car last time we visited Madeira, so I don't know much about busses and guides. First time we took a HOHO bus and visited the viewing platform west of funchal - and walked back along the beach :-)

I do know that there are many busses and the staff in the bus office we visited was very friendly and helpful.

Around the bottom of the cable car there are several tour companies, which can help you with levada walks.

You can use public buses to get to some destinations, including Curral das Freiras. Madeira's terrain is such that just about any trip out of Funchal is likely to be very scenic.

There used to be a company (don't remember the name) regularly offering levada walks. You can do them by yourself, but having transportation to the starting point would be very convenient. Some of the walks have sections that would be uncomfortable for someone who has a problem with heights. If that applies to anyone in your travel party, ask questions of the tour company or the local tourist office.

I spent a week in Madeira in October without a car and had no trouble getting around. It is easy to book various tours on arrival, as well as to use the local bus system. A couple of things that I did that I enjoyed:

1) I took a guided levada walk with Madeira Explorers. I took a very easy walk (Paradise Valley). The company picked me up at my hotel and we drove to the starting point. We had a nice guided walk on a very flat trail with a break about halfway through at a local bar; this allowed time to use the restroom, buy a coffee or snack, etc. They offer a variety of walks at various levels.

https://www.madeira-levada-walks.com

2) I took a jeep tour (Sky Walk and Porto Moniz Volcanic Lava Pools) with True Spirit. I booked this the day before on tripadvisor and paid less than the price listed on their website. I really enjoyed this. There were 8 people on this tour and our guide was really good. We stopped in Porto Moniz for just over an hour. Two of us went swimming. The others explored the town.
https://adventuremadeira.com/en/full-day-tours/skywalk-porto-moniz-volcanic-lava-pools

3) I went whale watching on a catamaran. We saw a number of sperm whales the day I went out. I just booked an afternoon trip on the same day by walking down to the port in Funchal. There are a number of companies there with ticket booths. I booked through this company:
https://www.seaborncatamaran.com/

4) I bought a weekly bus ticket for the Funchal bus. My hotel was a bit outside of the Funchal town center (I stayed at Pestana Casino Studios) and while I frequently walked from my hotel, it was convenient to have the pass for just hopping on and off. I took the bus one day to a stop near the Camara de Lobos (about a 20 minute walk from bus stop) and had lunch in this lovely fisherman’s village. I bought my weekly pass at a machine near the cable car start in Funchal. Note that there are different bus lines for parts of the island outside of the Funchal area that require different tickets.

5) I used the cable car to get to the Monte Palace gardens as well as to the Madeira Botanical Gardens. The Monte Palace Gardens are amazing. The Botanical Garden is also good, but may not be as interesting if you are not a garden lover. I’d suggest avoiding the Monte Palace Garden if there is a large cruise ship in port. This was the case the day I originally planned to go. I showed up at the cable car on a Sunday morning and there was a humongous cruise ship in port and an outrageously long line to get on the cable car. I decided to go whale watching that day instead. I went back the next day and waited only about 10 minutes for the cable car.
https://www.gardendestinations.com/top-gardens-to-visit-in-funchal-madeira/

6) Restaurants - I mostly went to restaurants around my hotel. A lot of the restaurants had very similar menus and I didn’t have any meals that I thought were particularly noteworthy. For a change, I had Italian food one night at Portaliano and Indian food twice at Taj Mahal Indian Restaurant. I enjoyed both, but neither of these is a restaurant that I’d go out of my way to eat at. There was a very nice bakery across the street from my hotel (A Confeiteria on Avenida do Infante) which was a nice place to get a salad, sandwich, pastry, or coffee.

7) If you need to do laundry during your trip, Judita’s Laundrette did a great job. I used the bus to get there. I dropped off my laundry in the morning and picked it up in the afternoon.

8) I enjoyed the tour and tasting at Blandy’s Wine Lodge; the tour explained the history of Madeira wine.

Thank you that is helpful

Restaurants. We are not foodies, but choose restaurants for the ambience. We loved to eat at some of the restaurants in the harbour and at the promenade along the water front; watching the ships on the water and the people on the front.

We were on Madeira for a week in November. We had an automatic rental car for about 50usd per day. Main roads are easy to navigate and traffic thins out of Funchal. Not sure why you wouldn’t want the freedom of a car. Most tours are very expensive with lots of time wasted picking up and dropping off. The Levada walks are amazing but keep an eye out for when cruise ships are in town as things can get hectic at the main sights…use a cruise port guide to id the bad days!! Drive to porto Moniz for great swimming and the Fanal forest for a great foggy walk. You will really enjoy Madeira, it is a beautiful place!!

Drive to porto Moniz for great swimming and the Fanal forest for a great foggy walk.

I just wanted to add that the jeep tour I took (mentioned above) included both swimming at Porto Moniz and a walk through the very foggy Fanal Forest (which was quite cool).

Back in 2018 we did some walks on Madeira with Dr. Julie Statham and Flora Travel, www.portugalwalks.com

We really enjoyed walking along the levadas! We figured out how to take the local bus a couple of times, really easy, especially with the help of the Sunflower Walking Guide to Madeira (an excellent UK series.) We hired a wonderfully nice taxi driver (and his very comfortable car) for a drive around the island one day (can't find his info now, maybe from one of Rick's books?) He showed us all the sights and took us to lunch at a restaurant owned by a family member (incredible food!) The day was stress-free and very affordable.