Madeira without a carbuses, the Aerobus, cable cars and where you do need wheels

Fares and timetables read on 9 October 2026. Madeira’s buses are mid-renumbering (old and new line numbers appear side by side), so check the SIGA site or the stop before you rely on a time.

The short answer: Funchal and the south-east work without a car; the west, the north-west and the mountain trailheads mostly don’t. All buses on the island now sit in one network called SIGA, with one fare table: €2.05 on board inside a municipality and €2.65 for any longer trip [1][2]. The airport has its own express bus [4][5]. But the only fast direct bus from Funchal to Calheta runs once a day, and Porto Moniz gets two direct morning buses, one on each route round the island [6][8], and Rabaçal and Fanal have no regular public bus at all. Pico do Areeiro has a dedicated bus, but only twice a day [30]. If your trip is Funchal plus a few levadas, a tourist pass and a couple of tours will do. If you want the far west or sunrise at Areeiro, rent a car for those days.

The options at a glance

Route	Without a car	Time	Price (2026)	By car (model)
Airport → Funchal centre	Aerobus, line 500	about 24 min to Av. do Mar [5]	€6.70 on board, €5.55 on GIRO [2]	19 km, 19 min [20]
Airport → Funchal	Taxi	not verified	Check the current metered fare [10]
Funchal → Ponta do Sol	Rodoeste line 4 and others	about 1 h 05 on line 80 [6]	€2.65 [1]	24 km, 27 min [21]
Funchal → Calheta	Rodoeste line 80 (new 380); afternoons 115 and 142	about 1 h 25 on line 80 (10:00 daily); 2 h 10 to 2 h 25 on the 16:05 (daily) and 17:40 (weekdays) [6][32][33]	€2.65 [1]	33 km, 36 min [22]
Funchal → Porto Moniz	Line 139 (09:00) or 80 (10:00) out; back 16:00 or 17:00 (17:30 at weekends and on public holidays)	2 h 45 to 3 h 30 outbound; neither route runs on 25 December [6][8]	€2.65 [1]	49 km, 57 min [23]
Funchal → Machico	CAM Expresso and line 23 (new 701)	Expresso PDF: 16 Monday–Friday departure times from Funchal, excluding public holidays; Saturday services shown only towards Funchal [31]	€2.65 [1]	22 km, 23 min [24]
Funchal → Santana	CAM lines 801, 802, 850, 875 (old 56 and others)	1 h to 1 h 50; 9 a weekday, 4 on Saturdays, 3 on Sundays; some via Ribeiro Frio (PR11), about 40–50 min [34]	€2.65 [1]	40 km, 42 min [25]
Funchal → Monte	Town buses 20, 21, 22, or the cable car		bus €2.05; cable car €16 one way [1][11]
Funchal → Pico do Areeiro	Horários do Funchal service, 06:00 and 13:30 up, €3 [30]			18 km, 30 min [26]

The car column comes from a routing model with idealised speeds. Mountain roads to Areeiro, Fanal or Rabaçal take longer than the model says.

From the airport

The Aerobus (line 500), run by CAM (formerly SAM), leaves the airport every 30 to 60 minutes from 08:30 to 22:00, with a two-hour gap around midday at weekends, and reaches Avenida do Mar in about 24 minutes; back to the airport, the last bus leaves Praia Formosa at 21:00 every day, Sundays included, and there is no service on 25 December [5]. It costs €6.70 on board or €5.55 on a GIRO card [2], and a taxi from the arrivals rank runs on the meter with no fixed fare to Funchal [10]. Full weekday, Saturday and Sunday times, stops, taxis, late arrivals and Machico, Caniço or Calheta from the airport: Madeira airport to Funchal.

Buses: one network, three operators

Since July 2024 the island’s buses run as one network, SIGA, with three operators: Horários do Funchal for the city, CAM for the east and north-east, and SIGA Rodoeste for the west and north-west [3]. The fare table under Portaria 128/2026 applies to all of them [1].

Ticket	Inside one municipality	Anywhere on the island
On board	€2.05	€2.65
On board, child 6–12	€1.00	€1.30
Pre-loaded on GIRO card	€1.45	€2.00
Day pass	€4.95	€6.55
7-day pass	€23.50	€31.10

Source: 2026 fare table [1]. The GIRO card itself costs €0.50 [1]. A pre-loaded municipal trip gives 45 minutes of rides on the same operator; an island-wide trip gives 90 minutes on any operator [2].

The tourist pass (Regional Turístico) covers every operator, including the Aerobus: 1 day €13.75, 3 days €23.00, 7 days €36.00 [2]. Compare it with what you’ll actually ride: the 7-day island pass is €31.10 but excludes the Aerobus, so with even one Aerobus trip on a GIRO card (€5.55) it costs €36.65, more than the €36 tourist pass [1][2]. If you’ll take the Aerobus both ways, the tourist pass is the cheaper week.

Renumbering. SIGA’s timetable pages show current and new line numbers side by side, for example Rodoeste 80 becoming 380/381 and 139 becoming 340/341 [9]. We found no date for the switch. Look for both numbers at the stop.

West: Ponta do Sol, Calheta, Porto Moniz

This is the side where nomads base themselves (Ponta do Sol) and where a bus is least useful.

• Ponta do Sol: line 80 lists a direct journey from Funchal at 10:00 to Ponta do Sol at 11:05, including weekends and public holidays, except 25 December [6]. The older locality PDF additionally excludes line 80 on 26 December and 1 January; confirm those dates with SIGA rather than assuming the two documents agree [27]. Rodoeste also publishes a locality timetable created in February 2023, with direct services and options marked for a change in Ribeira Brava [27]. We have not verified the current combined frequency or the connections on both legs. Check SIGA for your date and exact stop before planning a commute; do not treat the old locality table as a guaranteed connection.
• Calheta: line 80 leaves Funchal at 10:00 every day and reaches Vila da Calheta at 11:25 [6]. Two slower buses also get there later in the day: a 16:05 from Funchal every day (line 115 on weekdays, line 142 at weekends; Vila da Calheta about 18:30) and line 142 at 17:40 on weekdays (about 19:50) [32][33].
• Porto Moniz: line 80 leaves Funchal at 10:00 and arrives at 13:05 on Monday–Friday excluding public holidays, or 12:45 on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. It returns at 16:00, reaching Funchal at 19:40 or 18:40 respectively [6]. Line 139 via São Vicente leaves Funchal at 09:00 and reaches Porto Moniz at 12:30 daily. The return leaves at 17:00 on Monday–Friday excluding public holidays (Funchal 19:15), or 17:30 on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays (Funchal 19:40) [8]. Both routes exclude 25 December. The 09:00 outward bus and the later return leave 4 h 30 in town on working weekdays, or 5 hours at weekends and on public holidays, before allowing for walks to the stop. These are two direct day-trip options, not a complete list of every service or connection; check the current timetable before travelling.

Planning the Porto Moniz day: Porto Moniz natural pools.

East: Machico, Caniçal, São Lourenço

CAM runs Funchal–Machico (line 23, new 701), an express on the fast road, and Caniçal towards the Baía d’Abra end of the São Lourenço peninsula (line 113, new 702) [29][35]. The Expresso timetable linked by SIGA on 11 October 2026 shows 16 weekday departure times from Funchal, 07:00–19:30. Two additional runs at 17:30 and 18:30 are marked for the school period and duplicate existing departure times. From Machico it lists 21 weekday departure times plus a school-period extra at the existing 07:05 time. Here weekdays means Monday–Friday excluding public holidays. Only four runs from Funchal and 14 from Machico go via the airport. On Saturdays the two Expresso runs go from Machico to Funchal only (07:45 and 08:30); the PDF has no Sunday or public-holiday table and excludes 25 December; the missing table does not establish that Machico has no buses on those days [31]. Its school-calendar notes are still for 2024, so they do not confirm which 2026 dates receive the PE extras; check SIGA for your travel date. We give no frequencies for line 113. The east is well connected compared with the west; Machico is 22 km from Funchal and sits next to the airport [24].

Cable cars and the Monte toboggan

• Funchal–Monte cable car: €16 one way, €22 return; children under 7 free, 7–14 half price; daily 8:45–17:45 except Christmas Day. The lower station is in the old town (Rua Dom Carlos I) [11].
• Monte–Botanical Garden cable car: €11 one way, €16 return; €19/€24 including garden entry; 9:00–17:00, about 9 minutes each way [12].
• Monte toboggan (carros de cesto): €30 for one, €40 for two, €60 for three; Monday–Saturday 9:00–18:00, tickets on the day only. It runs from Monte down to Livramento, not back to the seafront [13].

Monte also has town buses (lines 20, 21, 22) at the ordinary €2.05 fare [1]. Cable car up and bus down is the cheap combination.

Levadas and trailheads without a car

Since 2026 the classified PR trails managed by the IFCN cost €4.50 per person per trail, and every walker books a time slot online on the SIMplifica portal [14]. The full PR1 from Pico do Areeiro to Pico Ruivo costs €10.50; multi-trail passes cost €9 for one day, €22.50 for three, €52.50 for seven [14]. Madeira residents, children 12 and under, and people with a disability of 60% or more don’t pay but still book [14]. The €3 figure in many 2025 articles is out of date.

The access problem is getting to the start:

• Pico do Areeiro (PR1): a dedicated Horários do Funchal bus leaves the cable car terminus in Funchal at 06:00 and 13:30, returns from the summit at 12:15 and 19:00 (18:00 in winter time from 25 October 2026), €3 a trip, daily except 25 December [30] (found in round 2); about 30 minutes by car from Funchal on the routing model [26]. Taxi or tour. IFCN’s FAQ says PR1 reopened in full on 1 May 2026, one-way from the Pedra Rija viewpoint towards Pico Ruivo, with no transport back to Areeiro [14], but its status list on 9 October 2026 still showed part of PR1 closed [28]. Check the IFCN status before planning the through-walk; if you do it, you need a pick-up at the far end.
• Rabaçal (PR6 25 Fontes, PR6.1 Risco): no regular bus found. Once you reach the ER105 car park, Calheta council runs a minibus down the 2 km road to the trailhead, €5 one way and €8 return (council page, undated) [15].
• Fanal: no public transport found.
• Easier by bus: levadas that start near Funchal or Monte, and the São Lourenço peninsula (PR8) from the Caniçal line.

Which levadas suit children, and how long each takes, is in Madeira with kids. The walks themselves: Madeira levada walks.

When a car makes sense

Rent for the days you go west, north-west or up to Areeiro, not for the whole stay if you’re based in Funchal. There, parking is metered on weekdays 08:00–20:00 and Saturdays 08:00–14:00, from €0.56 to €1.89 an hour by zone (concessionaire’s page, undated) [16]. In Ponta do Sol or Calheta, where buses are thin, a car for the whole stay is the realistic choice for most families. Every hire contract signed from 1 June 2026 also carries a regional fee of €2 a day, at most €20; details in Madeira car hire.

On tolls (none on the VR1, on the regional government’s statement), deposits and the paid car parks at Pico do Areeiro, see Madeira car hire. Which days of a 5-, 7- or 10-day trip need a car: Madeira itinerary.

Porto Santo by ferry

The Lobo Marinho ferry from Funchal costs €58.90 return for a non-resident adult from October to March and €72.02 from April to September, plus a fuel surcharge; children 5–11 roughly half [17]. The “from €33.90” on the homepage is the resident price. In October 2026 the ferry is taking 3 h 15 min “due to technical reasons” and does not sail from 15 to 22 October [18][19]. Binter also flies the route; we found no official fare.

Full fares and the day-by-day exceptions: Madeira to Porto Santo.