Noite do Mercado, Market Night, is on Wednesday 23 December 2026, the night before Christmas Eve. Funchal does its last Christmas shopping at the Mercado dos Lavradores and turns it into a street party: stalls round the market pour poncha and licores, music groups play in the streets from the evening, and carols are sung late on in the Praça do Peixe, the fish market square. It is free and runs into the early hours of Thursday 24 December. Families come early; later it is a dense adult crowd.
- CostFree. Drinks at the street stalls are a couple of euros; take cash in small notes.
- Best timeEarly evening to see the market while you can still get through the door. In 2024 and 2025 the street music started at 19:00, the carols at 23:00, and the stage in front of the market ran until 04:00.
- Getting thereWalk, and sleep somewhere you can walk back to. The streets round the market closed to cars from 15:00 in 2024 and 2025, and taxis cannot get near it late on.
- With childrenFamilies are out in the early part of the evening and it is their night too. Later it is a dense adult crowd holding drinks, with no room for a pushchair.
- If it rainsNobody goes home. The market hall is roofed, the streets are not, and the singing carries on under umbrellas.
Stay close enough to walk home
What people ask us about Noite do Mercado
When is Noite do Mercado in 2026?
On Wednesday 23 December 2026, from the evening into the early hours of Thursday 24 December. It is always the 23rd, so in 2027 it falls on Thursday 23 December. The Câmara publishes the night’s programme a week or so before: on 16 December in 2024.
What time should I arrive?
Early in the evening if you want to see the market working, before the aisles fill and stop moving. For the carols and the street crowd, which is what most people mean by this night, be near the Praça do Peixe before 23:00, when the Confraria dos Cantares started singing in 2024 and 2025.
What do people drink?
Poncha, mixed in front of you from aguardente, honey and lemon, and licores by the small cup. It is served in plastic on the street, it goes down like a soft drink and it is not one.
Is it safe?
Yes. It is a family night that turns into a late one, and the Câmara put 152 security staff on it in 2024. It is also the tightest crowd of the year in the city, so keep your phone where you can feel it and agree where to meet if you are separated.
Can I get home afterwards?
Not easily by car or taxi: in 2025 the streets round the market stayed closed until the morning. Book a stay in the old town or the centre and walk, which is the single thing that turns this night from an ordeal into an easy one.
Sources
Dates from Visit Madeira’s Christmas and New Year page and the Câmara Municipal do Funchal’s Christmas and New Year page. Checked .
