I am due to go in 5 weeks and am interested in how you pay for public transport. Is there a day/week ticket you can get so you don’t have to pay for individual journeys? Great news about them all merging into one operator, I assume this will make it slightly easier to move around

We used public buses frequently on our recent holiday but mainly in/around Funchal and to nearby locations. They are excellent value, run frequently to many places and are very smart - but they can be very crowded.too. OK for going from A to B and back again but not necessarily best for linking together different destinations in one trip.

You do end up spending quite a lot of time waiting at bus stops and bus stations - which can ‘eat’ into your day!

Don’t ignore taxis either - they can be surprisingly good value and we found most drivers to be very helpful, pleasant and good to chat with.

We also wanted to go at our own pace and stayed away from the tour companies. We just did 2 separate tours with “Madeira Travel Taxi Nuno Gomes” for our family of 6. Nuno and his co-worker Marco each spent a full day with us providing west and east side tours. It was very reasonable and I Would highly recommend. He is very flexible and will work with you to make sure you have the most amazing day. He started by sharing an initial itinerary and then we modified to fit our interests. He is a wealth of knowledge and not only took us safely to points of interest but shared so much of the history of the area. We never felt rushed. At one point I asked how we were doing on time with all we had left to see and he said not to worry that he had allocated the full day to us and if we went over, it was all good. We did end up going a little over and made sure to tip him generously for the service he provided. 2 of our best days on the island!! Would highly recommend him!

Nuno Gomes + 351-917-462-001