Achadas da Cruz Cable Car, Madeira

The Full Official Fare List

The council lists six fare types. The farmer card applies to farmers from Calhau das Achadas da Cruz, which tells you something about who this lift was built for. The municipal card is a local resident product.

Here is the whole list as published by the council. The council prints the municipal card only as a round trip and the farmer card as a single figure, so the empty cells are gaps in the council's own list, not prices we left out.

Return Or Single: Our Sum

Our sum: two single tickets cost $6.89 (€6), while the return costs $5.74 (€5). The return saves you $1.15 (€1). There is no reason to buy singles unless you plan to walk one way on the Vereda do Calhau or Vereda da Ladeira, or ride down only and hike back up.

No free child category and no family ticket is published on the official page.

No Official Hours Exist

The council page gives the address, the phone number and the fares. It gives no hours. The Visit Madeira page says open every day and no more.

Secondary sites quote times such as morning and afternoon blocks, but no official page confirms them, so we print none. Treat any timetable you find on a blog or aggregator as unverified.

• Published officially: open every day, no times.
• Not published: opening time, closing time, last ride, lunch break, closures for wind or maintenance.
• Phone the ticket office before you drive: +351 291 852 951.
• Address: Caminho do Teleférico, 9270-014 Achadas da Cruz, Porto Moniz.

Why The Last Ride Back Up Matters

The cable car goes down a cliff. The other way out of Fajã da Quebrada Nova is a steep walking path. If you miss the last cabin back up, you either climb the path or you are stuck at the bottom until the lift runs again.

Because the closing time is not published, the phone call is not a formality. Ask when the last ride up leaves, then plan your time on the beach and the farmland around that answer.

Farmland First, Beach Second

The Porto Moniz council says the fajã has always had high agricultural productivity, and that this is one reason the cable car was installed. Visit Madeira describes the lift as an essential aid for farmers and their produce. So the bottom station sits in working farmland, not in a resort.

Cultivated plots and farmers at work are part of the scene. Visit Madeira also mentions a small pebble beach, listed by the council as Calhau das Achadas da Cruz, in a small fajã. From the top, the lift and the coast give views over the north coast, which Visit Madeira highlights.

Know Before You Go Down

No services are described on the official pages. No café, no toilets, no shop, no lifeguard and no timetables for anything at the bottom are published by the council or Visit Madeira. Bring your own water and food, take your rubbish back up with you, and do not walk through the cultivated plots.

There is a Cable Car viewpoint next to the top station on the council's viewpoint list, so the clifftop itself is worth a pause even if you do not ride.

Two Paths, No Published Figures

Neither official page publishes a distance, a duration or a difficulty grade for either path. We print none. What is clear from the geography is that these are cliff paths, so they climb and fall steeply between the village and the shore.

A common plan is to take the cable car down and walk up, or walk down and ride up. Check with the ticket office on +351 291 852 951 about path conditions before you commit to the walking leg.

Safety On Cliff Paths

Madeiran walking advice applies here. Wear proper footwear with grip, the paths can be slick after rain. Carry water, there is nothing described at the bottom.

Start early enough to finish in daylight. If you feel the path is beyond you, ride both ways for $5.74 (€5) and enjoy the beach without the climb.

By Car, Bus Or Tour

Most visitors arrive by car. No drive time from Funchal or any other starting point is published in the facts we use, so we do not print one. For the wider picture of buses and driving, see getting around Madeira and car hire in Madeira.

No bus line serving Achadas da Cruz itself is published in our sources, so check locally if you plan to arrive by public transport. The full-day tours below cover Porto Moniz from Funchal, but none names the cable car as a stop.

• By car: see car hire in Madeira.
• By bus: no line to Achadas da Cruz is stated in our sources, see getting around Madeira.
• By tour: the Skywalk, Porto Moniz, Seixal and Fanal 4WD tour, the Enchanted Terraces, Porto do Moniz and Fanal 4WD tour and the Porto Moniz, Seixal and volcanic pools jeep tour are full-day circuits from Funchal. None guarantees a cable car stop.
• Parking at the top station: not described on any official page we use.

Read these before you decide how long to stay and whether to combine the ride with a walk.

• The lift exists mainly for farmers. The council says Fajã da Quebrada Nova has always had high agricultural productivity, and that this is one reason the cable car was installed [Porto Moniz council].
• Visit Madeira calls it an essential aid for farmers and their produce, so expect produce and working plots in the cabins and on the paths [Visit Madeira].
• A farmer card from Calhau das Achadas da Cruz costs just $0.57 (€0.50) return, the cheapest fare on the whole list [Porto Moniz council].
• The same shore is reachable on foot by the Vereda do Calhau and the Vereda da Ladeira, but no official page publishes a distance or duration for either path [Visit Madeira and council].
• The council lists a Cable Car viewpoint next to the station, so the clifftop view costs nothing even if you skip the ride [Porto Moniz council, viewpoints].

Three Routings Compared

Our estimates below assume you are already at the top station. Add your own travel time to Achadas da Cruz, since no official drive time is published.

Fitting It Around The North-West

Because the ride is short, the cable car is a stop, not a destination. Pair it with the Porto Moniz natural pools or the Fanal forest. Check the last ride up by phone before you set off on a long bottom leg.

A typical north-west day from Funchal runs the coast road via São Vicente and Seixal to Porto Moniz, with the volcanic pools as the midday anchor. Achadas da Cruz sits just west of Porto Moniz, so the cable car slots in before or after the pools. The ride and a short stop take under an hour, and a longer fajã visit takes half a morning. Remember to call ahead about the last ride up, because the region has little else between you and a steep walk.

If you have no car, the jeep tours cover much of the same ground. The Madeira Skywalk, Porto Moniz, Seixal and Fanal 4WD tour and the Enchanted Terraces, Porto do Moniz and Fanal 4WD tour run full days from Funchal with hotel pickup, and the Porto Moniz, Seixal and volcanic pools jeep tour is an eight-hour circuit of the west coast. None of the listings guarantees a stop at the cable car, so self-driving is the surest way to include it. For more ideas, browse things to do in Madeira and our day trips.