Monte: the cable car, the toboggan and the garden, with the prices

What Monte is

A hillside parish above the city, with a white church, a big private garden and a cobbled road that wicker sledges run down. People come up for half a day and go back down for lunch.

Nothing here is one ticket. Three companies sell three prices, and you can take any one of them on its own.

Riding up

It starts in the old town and climbs to Monte in 15 minutes. The cable is 3,200 metres long and gains 560 metres of height. Thirty-nine cabins shift up to 800 people an hour.

A return is €22 and a single is €16. Under-7s ride free and children from 7 to 14 pay half. It runs from 08:45 to 17:45 every day except Christmas Day.

Buy a single if the plan is the toboggan down. That's €16 instead of €22, and you aren't coming back up.

Down on a wicker sledge

Two men in white, with straw hats and rubber-soled boots for brakes, push a wicker sledge down the road from Monte to Livramento. It's 2 km and takes about 10 minutes.

A sledge is €40 for two people, €30 for one and €60 for three. You buy on the spot, for the same day, and it runs Monday to Saturday from 09:00 to 18:00.

The run stops at Livramento, on the hillside above the city rather than in it. From there it's a taxi or a bus for the last stretch down, and nobody tells you that at the top.

Monte Palace garden

The entrance is right beside the cable car station. It's €18 for an adult, and children under 14 go in free with one.

The garden opens at 09:00 and closes at 19:00 from April to September, an hour earlier the rest of the year. The museum inside shuts at 17:30, before the garden does.

It takes longer than people plan for. Koi ponds, tiled panels, a Japanese section and a lot of steps. Leave two hours if you want to see it rather than walk through it.

A second cable car, to the botanical garden

Another line runs from Babosas, by the Monte church, down to the botanical garden. The trip takes 9 minutes.

It's €11 one way and €16 return on its own, or €24 return with entry to the botanical garden. Children from 7 to 14 pay €9 return and under-7s go free. The last boarding is at 16:50.

This is the one people miss, and it's the cheap way to put two gardens into one morning.

How to put the day together

The order that works: cable car up, church and garden, sledge down, then a bus or taxi home from Livramento.

If the cable car price puts you off, city buses 20, 21, 22 and 48 climb to Monte from Funchal. Walkers come the other way, down the old royal path from Ribeira das Cales, which is listed below with today's status.

Monte has its own weather station, and the reading at the top of this page comes from it. Funchal's sits by the sea, 550 m below, so the two numbers side by side tell you whether to carry a jacket up.

Tours that stop here, and for how long

The trips we've published that stop at Monte, longest stop first. The time is how long that trip stays here, not how long the day is.

Prices and ratings as of 21 September 2026. Ratings combine Viator and Tripadvisor. All tours from the Funchal cruise port → · All east Madeira day tours from Funchal → · All Funchal city tours: walking and tuk-tuk, plus the bus question → · All private tours of Madeira →

Marked routes in this municipality

Status from the IFCN table of classified routes, re-read at every build and again in your browser. All routes with today’s status.