A Rainy Day in Madeira: What Is Open, When and What It Costs

Monday Closes the Museums

Quinta das Cruzes, the Atelier Vicente's photography museum, the Natural History Museum, Casa da Luz and MUDAS in Calheta all close on Mondays. What stays open is the Museu de Arte Sacra, which runs Monday to Friday 10:00-17:00, the guided visits at Universo de Memórias, the Bordado museum's weekday hours and the Museu de Imprensa in Câmara de Lobos. Add Monte Palace, which opens every day except Christmas Day, and a wet Monday still has a full day in it.

Sunday Closes Almost Everything Cultural

On a Sunday the regional museums are shut, the Bordado museum is shut, the Ribeira Brava ethnographic museum is shut and the Mercado dos Lavradores is closed too. Monte Palace, the cable car, the aquarium and science centre at Porto Moniz and both shopping centres open as normal, and the cathedral holds services. A wet Sunday is the day to go up the hill or across the island rather than around the museum quarter.

The table sorts the week into what opens and what does not, using the hours each venue publishes. It is the fastest way to know whether today's rain is a problem at all.

The Morning

Start at the Museu de Arte Sacra on Rua do Bispo, beside the cathedral, which opens at 10:00 on weekdays and holds the Flemish paintings Madeira's sugar merchants bought in the 15th and 16th centuries. Entry is $5.74 (€5). From there the Natural History Museum on Rua da Mouraria opens Tuesday to Saturday 10:00-18:00 at $5.32 (€4.63), and it takes cash only, which catches people out.

Two adults doing both pay our sum of $21.10 (€18.38).

The Afternoon

Casa da Luz, the museum in Funchal's decommissioned power station, opens 10:00-12:30 and 14:00-18:00 Tuesday to Saturday at $5.74 (€5), and its family ticket for two adults and one young person is $13.78 (€12). Quinta das Cruzes, up the hill on Calçada do Pico, opens 10:00-17:30 Tuesday to Saturday at $11.48 (€10), with a family package at $20.70 (€18). Next door at Calçada do Pico 2, Universo de Memórias runs guided visits on weekdays only, so weekend plans should skip it.

When the Rain Eases

The Mercado dos Lavradores is roofed and open Monday to Thursday 07:00-19:00, Friday until 20:00 and Saturday until 14:00, which makes it the natural gap-filler between two museums. It sits at the edge of the old town, so Funchal old town and the market cover the same few streets. For the whole city in the dry, our Funchal page routes the rest.

Blandy's Wine Lodge on Avenida Arriaga 28 prints four tiers, and the difference between them is time and what is in the glass rather than the building you see. The prices below are the operator's own.

H.M. Borges and the Others

H.M. Borges opens on weekdays, 09:00-12:30 and 14:00-17:30, and states that booking a visit or tasting is mandatory because places are limited, with full names given at booking. It publishes no prices on its visit page, so the figure is quoted when you book. The H.M. Borges winery tour with tasting is the listed way in at $23.00 as listed by the operator, an hour with two to six pours.

Other Funchal lodges publish neither hours nor tasting prices on their own sites, so nothing about them is printed here.

Tasting With a Guide

If the rain is set in for the whole day, a guided food and wine walk turns the weather into someone else's problem: the Funchal food and wine walking tour runs 3 hours 30 minutes with 11 tastings and 6 drinks in a group capped at 10, at $109.00 as listed. The longer Taste Funchal food, wine and culture tour runs 4 hours at $107.00 as listed and prints vegetarian and gluten-free options. Both cancel free up to 24 hours ahead.

The wine itself is explained on our Madeira wine page.

Four Zones, Four Forecasts

IPMA publishes Madeira's warnings by zone: Costa Norte, Regiões Montanhosas, Costa Sul and Porto Santo. The scale has four colours. Green means no adverse conditions are expected, yellow means a risk for weather-dependent activities, orange means dangerous conditions with a moderate to high risk, and red means extremely dangerous phenomena.

Warnings are issued per hazard, including strong wind, heavy rain, thunderstorms, heat, cold, persistent fog and rough seas. Check the zone you are driving to, not the one you slept in.

What We Will Not Print

No official source we read publishes a figure comparing rainfall on the north coast with the south. The regional climate observatory's own document does not carry a usable comparison, so this page gives none. What can be said plainly is that the mountains divide the island's weather, that the south coast around Funchal is the drier and sunnier side, and that a grey morning in Funchal is worth checking against the zone forecast before the day is written off.

The monthly figures that do exist, from the IPMA station in Funchal, are on our Madeira weather page, and the seasonal picture on best time to visit Madeira.

Where the Rain Is Part of the Point

On a wet day the north coast reads differently: the volcanic pools at Porto Moniz are seawater whatever the sky is doing, the aquarium and the science centre in the same village are indoors and open daily 10:00-18:00, and the laurel forest at Fanal is at its most striking in cloud. The road between them is the point of a wet day rather than a chore.

Refunds Only When IFCN Closes the Trail

Rescheduling or a refund is guaranteed only when IFCN or the competent authority officially closed or restricted the trail on the date you booked. Rain on its own is not a closure, and a cancellation on your side loses the fee. Requests go to [email protected] within 10 working days of the booking date.

The booking system itself is explained on our trail fees page.

The Official Advice for Walking in Rain

Visit Madeira's own notice to walkers is blunt: check the route's condition before you go, carry extra food and water, take a mobile phone, confirm you can finish before dark, tell someone where you are going and when you expect to return, and in heavy rain or strong wind do not continue, turn back. Under Article 11 of the regional trail law, users of walking trails are personally and exclusively responsible for any damage during their use. Wet levada ledges and loose ground are exactly where that clause bites.

What Still Works in Light Rain

Low levada paths through the laurel forest handle drizzle better than the peaks do, and the levada walks hub sorts them. The exposed ridge routes are the ones to drop: the Pico do Areeiro crossing is a different proposition in cloud, with no view to reward it. Safety detail, warnings and who to call sit on our Madeira safety and health page.

Five indoor options with a published child price, listed with the figures each operator prints. Full family pricing across the island is on our Madeira with kids page.

• Madeira Theme Park in Santana: adults $14.93 (€13), ages 6-14 $10.33 (€9), ages 4-5 $3.44 (€3), with a Village of Traditional Houses, a farm area and a pavilion for children.
• Ciência Viva in Porto Moniz: hands-on science, daily 10:00-18:00, adults $4.02 (€3.50), ages 5-14 $2.87 (€2.50), free under 5, closed 25 December.
• Madeira Aquarium in the São João Baptista fort, Porto Moniz: more than 90 native species in 12 tanks, daily 10:00-18:00, adults $8.04 (€7), ages 5-14 $4.59 (€4).
• Museu de História Natural do Funchal: free for children up to 10, adults $5.32 (€4.63), Tuesday to Saturday 10:00-18:00, cash only.
• Forum Madeira and MadeiraShopping: both have cinemas, and Forum Madeira's screens start at 12:30 Monday to Saturday and 10:45 on Sundays and holidays.

• The Madeira Story Centre's ticket price: the municipal listing confirms it is open daily 10:00-19:00 and that entry is paid, but prints no figure.
• The Fortaleza de São Tiago's hours and entry: two official listings disagree on both, so this page prints neither and suggests you check at the door in the old town.
• Hours and tasting prices for Funchal's other wine lodges: they are not on the lodges' own sites, so only Blandy's and H.M. Borges appear above.
• A north-versus-south rainfall figure for Madeira: not published by the regional climate observatory in a form a visitor can use.
• The Museu de Imprensa's entry price in Câmara de Lobos: the municipal page gives hours and an address but no ticket price.