The Funchal Cable Car’s Thrilling New Upgrade
Funchal’s cable car is back after three months of work, and five of its new cabins have a glass floor. A first in Portugal, and a very different way to cross the city.
Back After Three Months of Work
The Teleferico do Funchal has officially reopened after a three-month modernisation project, connecting the centre of the city to the hills of Monte. The line is fully electric, which keeps cars off a road that does not need any more of them, and it carries on the legacy of the old twentieth-century Monte train.
The route: 3.2 km, roughly 15 to 18 minutes of travel. The fleet: 44 modern cabins, handling up to 900 passengers an hour. The highlight: five glass-floor cabins, the first of their kind.
A Transparent Floor, and Funchal Underneath It
For the first time in Portugal, you can cross the city with nothing but glass between you and the rooftops. The orange tiles give way to steep slopes of native vegetation, and the Atlantic fills the horizon behind all of it.
There are only five of these cabins in a fleet of 44, so it is worth asking at the station rather than assuming you will get one.
Arriving at Monte
The ride is only the first half of the day. At the top you step out into Monte, where the Monte Palace Tropical Garden, the Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Monte and a run of cafes serving warm chestnut bread and honey cake are all within a short walk of the station.
For the best version of this day, ride the glass-floor cabin up to the gardens at Monte, then take the wicker toboggan back down the hill.
Olá Madeira
Every metre of the climb shows the same thing: a city that stops where the mountain starts, and does not argue with it.
