Blandy's Wine Lodge: Tours, Tastings and Opening Hours

All four lodge tours are led by brand ambassadors, run in five languages, suit all levels of wine knowledge, and welcome visitors with children. The difference is depth: rooms seen, wines poured, and time spent. The table sets out the lodge's own figures so you can match tour to the time you have.

Our pick is the Premium Tour at $26.40 (€23). It costs $6.89 (€6) more than the Lodge Tour by our sum and adds the Blandy family museum and a third wine, and it is the only tour with English departures every day of the week. Book the Vintage Premium if you want to try a Vintage Madeira, but note it departs in English at 16:30 Monday to Friday only.

The Private Tour is a different budget altogether and needs prior booking on request.

The Premium Tour has the fullest timetable and is the only tour with daily English departures. The Lodge Tour has no Sunday English departure listed, and the Vintage Premium runs in English at one weekday time. Plan the rest of your day around this table.

You do not need a tour ticket to drink here. The lodge's tasting page says you can order throughout the day in the tasting rooms with no booking: wine by the glass, from the 3-year-old range up to the oldest bottle, a Bual 1920. Self-guided flights of 4 glasses cover horizontal selections of 3, 5 or 10-year-old wines poured driest to sweetest, vertical evolutions of Sercial, Verdelho, Bual, Malmsey or Tinta Negra, Blandy's versus Miles, Colheita single harvest wines, Vintage wines, and the Atlantis table wine.

The flight prices are not printed on the lodge's page, so nobody outside the bar can tell you what they cost. Madeira styles run Dry, Medium Dry, Medium Rich and Rich. The lodge's own serving advice: dry and medium dry at 12 °C, medium rich and rich at 16 °C, bottles stored upright.

Tutored Tastings

These sit between a flight and a tour. A brand ambassador leads them in the Vintage room, and prior booking is the rule. Prices are below.

For the styles and grape varieties behind the names, see our Madeira wine guide.

Blandy's own pages disagree about Sunday, so here is the conflict in plain terms. The lodge's contacts page says open Monday to Friday 10:00-18:30, Saturday 10:00-18:00, and Sunday 10:00-13:00 and 14:00-18:00, with public holidays open. Visit Madeira gives the same weekly hours.

The lodge's separate FAQ page still claims Monday to Friday 10:00-18:00, Saturday 10:00-13:00, and closure on Sundays and public holidays. We side with the contacts page and Visit Madeira for one simple reason: the lodge's own tour timetable lists five English Premium departures on Sunday. A closed building cannot run tours, so the FAQ hours are out of date.

Sunday has a lunch break, 13:00 to 14:00, and the Vintage Premium never runs on a Sunday in any case. For other weather-proof indoor options in the city, see our rainy day Madeira page.

Special Days

The contacts page lists special days for the period ahead: closed on 5 April 2026 and 27 June 2026, 10:00-13:00 on 20 June 2026 and 24 December, closed 25 and 26 December, 10:00-17:00 on 31 December, and 14:00-18:00 on 1 January 2027. Visit Madeira also notes closure on Easter Sunday and 25 and 26 December. If you are travelling at Christmas, re-check the lodge's contacts page close to your visit.

If the lodge leaves you wanting the vineyard end of the story, Blandy's runs a second set of tours at its Quinta de Santa Luzia vineyard above Funchal, in English, Tuesday to Saturday. The Vineyard Heritage tour costs $51.70 (€45), lasts 1 hour 30 minutes, takes a maximum of 10 people, and ends with a tasting of Blandy's 10-year-old Sercial, Verdelho, Bual and Malmsey with snacks. The Vineyard Collection Tour costs $74.60 (€65), lasts 1 hour 30 minutes, takes a maximum of 6 people, runs 11:30-13:00, and tastes a vertical of six Verdelho and Bual wines.

The meeting point for both is Quinta das Malvas, Rua da Levada de Santa Luzia 124 in Funchal, with buses 26 and 70 stopping outside. Free cancellation applies up to 48 hours before, and you can book either at the Wine Lodge reception. Both tours come with a 10% discount voucher for the wine shop.

One caution: the Heritage tour's clock times printed on the lodge's page are dated to 2025, so we do not repeat them here. Confirm current times when you book.

Blandy's is still a family firm, and that is unusual in the trade. John Blandy arrived on the island in early 1808, originally for his health, carrying a letter of introduction dated 23 December 1807 that his descendants found again in 2006. He founded his wine shipping business in 1811 with his brothers Thomas and George, and over nearly 20 years bought the small properties that became the Wine Lodge.

The Madeira Wine Association was founded in 1913, with Blandy's and Leacock joining between the wars and Miles and Cossart Gordon after the war. In 1989 the company formed a partnership with the Symington family of Port wine fame. Today Chris Blandy of the 7th generation runs the company, with Michael Blandy of the 6th before him, and the Blandy family is the only founding family of the Madeira Wine Association still owning and managing its original company.

The brands poured and sold at the lodge are Blandy's, Cossart Gordon, Miles and Atlantis, the table wine established in 1992 as the first still wine from Madeira. The award record since 2016 is five appearances in the 'Top 100 Wineries of the World' list from Wine & Spirits Magazine.

Children are genuinely catered for: the lodge says its tours suit visitors with children, under 6s join free and 6 to 17 year olds pay $9.64 (€8.40) on any tour. Book ahead, the lodge 'highly recommends' it, and note that email replies can take more than 48 hours, so the lodge suggests calling +351 291 228 978 or walking in to Avenida Arriaga 28.

Buying Bottles And Flying Home

Buying bottles is easier than flying home with them. Bottles bought at the lodge can be collected at the Portfolio shop at Madeira Airport, just after the main Duty Free shop, and carried on board. Portfolio opens daily 05:30-21:30.

Alternatively the lodge packs bottles for hold luggage. If your flight leaves early, our Madeira airport page covers the rest of the airport basics.

The Buildings And The Museum

The buildings themselves are part of the visit: Visit Madeira describes Baroque civil buildings including the oldest Madeira wine cellars, from the 17th and 18th centuries, and notes that the old Convent of São Francisco stood nearby until its demolition in the 19th century. The museum traces the journey from vineyard to bottle and the Sercial, Malvasia, Verdelho and Boal varieties.

1811 Bistro And Wine Bar

The lodge has its own restaurant, named 1811 after the founding year. It sits inside the lodge building at Rua de São Francisco 12, seats 26, and serves an express lunch and an à la carte dinner of Portuguese and French dishes, with a patio from 18:30. Hours are Monday to Friday 12:00-15:00 and 18:00-22:00, Saturday 18:00-22:00, Sunday closed.

Telephone +351 291 630 611. For more places to eat nearby, see where to eat in Madeira.

• The Premium and Vintage Premium tours are designed to be taken together, Premium first, without repeating information, according to the lodge's FAQ. Taking both is what the $67.70 (€59) Vintage Premium ticket already bundles. Blandy's FAQ
• The oldest bottle you can order by the glass is a Bual 1920, nearly as old as the lodge's own founding story. Blandy's tasting page
• The cellars are described by Visit Madeira as the oldest Madeira wine cellars, from the 17th and 18th centuries, older than the Blandy business itself. Visit Madeira
• More than 650 barrels and vats of wine age at the lodge by the traditional canteiro method. Blandy's tours page
• The lodge's own FAQ page still publishes Sunday opening hours that contradict its own tour timetable, which lists five English departures that day. Trust the contacts page. Blandy's contacts

The lodge works best late morning or mid afternoon. A workable central Funchal day: start at the Mercado dos Lavradores when it opens, walk west through the Old Town and the cathedral to Avenida Arriaga, take the 45-minute Premium Tour in English at 14:00 or 15:00 on a weekday, then finish in the Municipal Garden beside the lodge or with a glass in the tasting rooms. If you would rather taste without committing to a guide, skip the tour entirely and order a 4-glass flight, no booking needed.

For a second day in the city, our Madeira in 3 days plan slots the lodge into a broader Funchal morning.