Monte Toboggan Ride, Madeira

The sledges are hand-made from wicker and wood. Two drivers, the carreiros, dressed in white with straw hats, push the basket from behind and steer it down a paved public road. They brake with thick rubber-soled boots.

The route is 2 km from Monte to Livramento and takes about 10 minutes, with views over Funchal and the sea on the way down.

Priced Per Basket, Not Per Person

This is the detail most people miss. The fare attaches to the basket, so a solo rider pays the full $34.40 (€30) while two or three people sharing pay $45.90 (€40) or $68.90 (€60) total. Our sums make that $23.00 (€20) per person for two, and the same $23.00 (€20) per person for three.

If your group is three, note that the three-person basket is not run in rain or on wet ground, so on a damp day you may be split across two baskets.

What You Get For The Money

Ten minutes on a sledge sounds short for the fare. What you are buying is a piece of working history. The association says its origins go back to the 19th century, when baskets were rapid transport between Monte and the city, and it describes more than 100 years serving tourism.

Visit Madeira records that the sledges were created as public transport for the people of Monte parish, at about 500 m altitude, to reach Funchal quickly. The dates below sketch the history, and is it worth it weighs the cost.

The departure point is Caminho do Monte, Entrada 151, Porta 4, 9050-288 Monte, Funchal, GPS 32.67561, -16.90254, beside the steps of Monte Church. Most visitors ride up from Funchal on the cable car, which runs daily from 08:45 to 17:45 with last boarding at 17:45, and the trip takes 18 minutes. One way costs $18.37 (€16) and a return $25.30 (€22).

Buy one way only. A return ticket is wasted money if you come down by toboggan. If you start at the Botanical Garden instead, its own cable car, one way $12.63 (€11), also arrives at Largo das Babosas.

Buses also serve the hill, bus 22 serves Babosas, and Monte Palace lists buses 20, 21, 22 and 48 to Monte.

Choosing Your Way Up

The table sums up the published options. There is no published bus fare for the routes listed, so no price is shown where none is stated.

The arrival point is Caminho do Monte nº82/84, 9050-288 Livramento, Funchal, GPS 32.66435, -16.90452. That is a separate address partway down the hill. It is not central Funchal and it is not the cable car station.

The ride solves only the middle of your journey. The operator publishes no shuttle, no fare and no route information from Livramento, so the way back is your problem to arrange before you hand over the basket fare.

Your Options From Livramento

Three realistic options exist, and the operator states none of them, so treat all prices and times below as unknown until you are standing there. First, a taxi, which will take you the rest of the way down, no fare is published. Second, a bus, no route number is published for the arrival point itself, so check locally on the day.

Third, walking down to Funchal on foot, no official distance or time is given for this.

The Option That Solves The Return

If you do not want to think about any of this, the Funchal Monte toboggan and Old Town tour by tuk-tuk includes hotel pickup and drop-off by tuk-tuk and the toboggan ride, at $46.00. It is the one listing on this page that closes the loop from your hotel door back to your hotel door.

The toboggan runs Monday to Saturday, 09:00-18:00. There is no online booking and no advance sale of any kind. Tickets are bought on site, for the same day only, which means you cannot reserve a morning slot from your sofa.

Two things can end the day early. The association may close when the number of people already waiting with tickets is high, and it may close for bad weather. Three-person baskets are not run in rain or on wet ground, so a damp day can mean splitting your group across two baskets or not riding at all.

For wet-weather alternatives in Funchal, see our page on a rainy day in Madeira.

Closure Days

The table lists the published running pattern and closure days. Good Friday falls on a different date each year, so it is listed as the board states it.

The association says it may close early when many ticket holders are already waiting, so a later arrival carries more risk than an early one (our reading of that rule). The plans below range from a quick up-and-down to a full half day on the hill.

Judge it against the whole outing, not the 10 minutes. A solo rider paying $34.40 (€30) for a short ride down a road may feel the fare is steep. Two or three people sharing pay $23.00 (€20) each (our sum), which is far easier to justify for a ride that began as everyday transport for the people of Monte.

The honest answer is that it is worth it for most people as part of a Monte day, and weakest value for a solo traveller who only rides down and immediately faces the unmanaged problem of getting back from Livramento.

Our sums below use the published one-way cable car fare of $18.37 (€16) per adult, since a return is wasted when you descend by basket. Children aged 7 to 14 ride the cable car at half price and children up to 6 ride free, which would reduce a family total below the figure shown.

• The baskets were once genuine public transport, built so residents of Monte parish could get down to Funchal fast (Visit Madeira).
• The carreiros brake with their boots, thick rubber soles doing the work of brakes (Visit Madeira).
• The three-person basket disappears in rain or on wet ground, so a damp day can split your group (Carreiros do Monte).
• The rank can close early simply because enough ticket holders are already waiting (Carreiros do Monte).
• Nobody publishes how the sledges get back up the hill. The operator's own pages say nothing about it, so we will not guess either (Carreiros do Monte).

A simple order: the cable car up in the morning, Monte Church and the gardens, then the toboggan down to Livramento before lunch. From Livramento a taxi covers the last stretch into the city, where the afternoon belongs to Funchal Old Town, the Mercado dos Lavradores and the rest of Funchal. If the ride is your only Monte goal, go early, since the rank can close once enough ticket holders are waiting.

If Monte deserves more, our Madeira in 3 days and 7 day itinerary pages show where it slots into a longer stay.