City Centre (Sé)

A look around

What you’ll be living next to. Swipe through.

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Where it sits

The circle is City Centre and roughly a 10-minute walk around it.

How far is everything?

From the middle of this area to the city's headline sights — pick your own on the city page and these become your list.

• Mercado dos Lavradores2 min walk189 m
• The Monte cable car9 min walk749 m
• The old town & its painted doors9 min walk757 m
• The Monte toboggan ride25 min walk2.1 km
• Monte Palace Tropical Garden28 min walk2.3 km
• Hotel Zone (Lido) (beach)9 min taxi2.9 km
• The Lido promenade & ocean pools9 min taxi2.9 km
• A levada walk27 min taxi9.1 km
• Pico do Arieiro30 min taxi9.9 km

On your doorstep

What you’re living next to if you stay here.

• 7.Cabo Girão skywalk — One of the highest sea cliffs in Europe, plunging nearly 600m straight to the ocean — with a glass-floored viewing platform cantilevered over the drop for a genuine stomach-lurch and a spectacular view along the coast to Funchal. Short, free and thrilling; a quick stop west of the city.
• 8.Madeira wine tasting — The island's famous fortified wine — from dry Sercial to rich, sweet Malmsey, uniquely 'cooked' by heat and improbably long-lived — is best sampled at a historic lodge like Blandy's in the centre, on a tour through the cobwebbed old casks. A warming, characterful hour and a taste of Madeira's history.
• 12.Funchal Cathedral (Sé) — The island's fine early-16th-century cathedral in the heart of the city, its plain stone exterior giving way to a spectacular carved and gilded cedar ceiling of Moorish-inspired design (mudéjar). A cool, calm, historic stop amid the shopping streets; small and free to enter.
• 13.Espetada & bolo do caco — Madeira on a plate — espetada, chunks of beef skewered on a bay-laurel stick and grilled over wood, served with bolo do caco, a warm flatbread slathered in garlic butter. Hearty, smoky and delicious; eat it at a bustling old-town or Câmara de Lobos restaurant, with a glass of the local wine.