The Funchal Cable Car and the Monte Toboggan, Explained

Two rides, one hill, and a gap in the middle

Funchal’s most photographed morning is built around two separate machines that most visitors assume are one continuous loop: up by cable car, down by wicker basket, back to the hotel. That is not how it works. The cable car and the toboggan share a hill and a destination — Monte — but they are two independent activities with two different endpoints, and the gap between them is exactly where first-timers get caught out.

Get the shape of the day right and it is one of the best mornings on the island: unhurried, scenic, and over well before the heat sets in. Get it wrong and you end up standing in Livramento wondering why the toboggan basket has stopped and everyone is climbing out.

The cable car: Funchal to Monte in 15 minutes

The Funchal cable car opened in 2000, running from a lower station in the old town up to Monte, a district on the hillside above the city. The ride covers about 560m of vertical climb and takes roughly 15 minutes, gliding over rooftops, gardens and steep ravines with Funchal Bay opening up behind you.

It is a straightforward gondola system: enclosed cabins, no walking required, and a queue that builds through mid-morning as cruise passengers and coach groups arrive. Early in the day the wait is short; by late morning it can stretch well past half an hour in high season. Tickets are typically sold as single or return journeys from the lower station, and a return fare covers most visitors, since the usual plan is to ride up, spend time at Monte, and either ride the cable car back down or come down a different way — more on that below.

There is no fixed timetable to plan around; cabins run continuously during opening hours, so the only real scheduling decision is what time of day to arrive. For the full picture of how this fits with Madeira’s other cable cars — there are several smaller service lifts around the island, covered separately — see our guide to the island’s cable cars.

The toboggan: a basket, two men, and 170 years of history

The Monte toboggan is one of the oldest tourist activities on the island, and it is not a ride built for tourism at all — it started as one. The carreiros do Monte have been running wicker baskets down this hillside since 1850, when it was a genuine, faster way for residents of Monte to reach the lower town than walking the winding roads.

The basket itself — the carro de cesto — is a two-seater sledge made of wicker on wooden runners, and it is steered and braked by two men dressed in white, wearing straw boaters, who run alongside and behind it. They control the speed with the soles of their rubber-soled boots against the cobbled road, leaning into corners and using ropes to check the pace on the steeper stretches. It is not fast by any modern standard, but the sensation of a basket sliding on stone, with two men jogging to keep pace, is unlike anything else on the island — and it is exactly why the ride has survived as an attraction long after it stopped being a practical way to get anywhere.

The trap: the toboggan does not go back to Funchal

This is the single most important fact on this page, and it is the one most easily glossed over in a rushed itinerary: the toboggan run ends at Livramento, roughly halfway down the hill, not in Funchal.

The full descent covers about 2km and takes only a few minutes, gliding from Monte down to the Livramento district. From there, the basket ride is over. It was never built to reach the seafront — the gradient, the traffic, and the modern road layout below Livramento make that impossible on wicker runners. Visitors who expect to step out of the basket back in the old town, near where the cable car started, are consistently caught off guard.

What you actually need from Livramento is a taxi or a bus back into central Funchal. Taxis wait at the Livramento drop-off point specifically for this reason, and drivers are used to the short hop back to town; agree a price before getting in if it is not metered. Bus routes also serve Livramento, though they run to a timetable rather than on demand. Budget an extra 15-20 minutes and a small additional cost for this leg — it is a normal, expected part of the toboggan experience, not a failure of planning, but it does need to be in the plan.

Do not treat the toboggan as your transport back down from Monte if your goal is to end up in Funchal’s old town or at the cruise port. For that, ride the cable car back down instead, or arrange a taxi directly from Monte.

Putting the two together: how the morning actually works

Most visitors combine the cable car and the toboggan in one of two shapes:

Route	What happens	Best for
Cable car up, cable car down	Ride to Monte, spend time there, ride back to the old town	Anyone who wants a simple, self-contained loop with no extra transfers
Cable car up, toboggan down to Livramento, taxi/bus to Funchal	Ride up, spend time at Monte, take the toboggan as a novelty descent, then transfer	Visitors who want both experiences and don’t mind one extra leg
Taxi or tuk-tuk up, toboggan down	Skip the cable car queue entirely, ride the toboggan once	Time-pressed visitors, or anyone doing a guided tour that already includes transport

There is no rule that says you must do both. Plenty of visitors ride the cable car both ways and skip the basket altogether; others taxi up specifically for the toboggan and never queue for the cable car at all. Treat them as two separate line items on the day’s plan, not one package that automatically includes the other.

What to actually do at Monte itself

Once you are at the top, Monte deserves more time than the cable car queue usually allows for. The Nossa Senhora do Monte church, with its wide staircase and its connection to the exiled Austrian emperor Charles I, and the Monte Palace Tropical Garden, with its koh-fish ponds, azulejo tiles and volcanic-rock grottoes, are both a short walk from the cable car’s upper station. This page is deliberately focused on the two rides rather than on Monte’s own sights — for those, our guide comparing Monte Palace against the Botanical Garden and our family-friendly Madeira guide cover the church, the gardens and how to plan time around them.

Photographers should note that the cable car’s descent, timed for late afternoon light over the bay, is one of the better vantage points in Funchal for a wide shot of the harbour and the old town rooftops together.

Booking the ride: independent tickets versus a guided tour

Both the cable car and the toboggan can be bought as standalone tickets at their respective stations, with no need to book ahead outside the busiest weeks of the year. That works well for anyone building their own day and happy to queue.

The alternative is a guided tour that bundles transport, the cable car, the toboggan, and often a stop somewhere else on the hillside into one booking, which removes the Livramento transfer problem entirely because the guide arranges it. A few options worth knowing about:

For a single operator handling every leg — the climb, the ride, and a skywalk stop — the Funchal private cable car, toboggan and skywalk tour keeps the whole morning as one booking with no transfers to organise yourself.

For a more theatrical take on the same route, complete with door-to-door pickup, the Emperor’s Last Ride toboggan tour with VIP pickup leans into the history of the run and handles transport at both ends.

If you would rather explore Funchal’s old town by tuk-tuk before or after the toboggan, the Monte toboggan and old town guided tuk-tuk tour pairs the basket ride with a wider look at the old town’s painted doors and viewpoints, avoiding the need to separately arrange the Livramento leg.

Any of these solves the “how do I get back from Livramento” question by building the answer into the booking — worth the extra cost for visitors who would rather not think about taxi logistics on their one morning at Monte.

Practical notes for the day

Queues at the lower cable car station build through the late morning as cruise groups and coach tours arrive; riding before 10am or after 3pm avoids the worst of it. The upper station and the toboggan starting point sit close together at Monte, so there is minimal walking between the two if you plan to do both.

Wear closed shoes with grip — the cobbled toboggan run is smooth from 170 years of wicker runners, and the pavements around Monte are steep. The toboggan is an outdoor, weather-exposed activity; light rain does not usually stop it, but the carreiros may pause the run in genuinely poor conditions. The cable car itself can suspend service in strong wind, which happens occasionally rather than often — if it does, Monte is still reachable by taxi, tuk-tuk or bus, and the toboggan operates independently of the cable car’s schedule.

Neither ride requires advance booking for the standalone ticket options, but arriving early is the more reliable way to avoid a long wait than trying to guess a quiet time slot.

The Monte toboggan and cable car: FAQ

Does the toboggan take you all the way back to Funchal?

No. The carreiros push the basket downhill from Monte to Livramento, roughly 2km, in a few minutes. From Livramento you need a taxi or a bus to reach central Funchal — the toboggan run itself stops there.

How long does the cable car ride take, and what does it cost?

The Funchal-Monte cable car takes about 15 minutes each way and climbs around 560m. A return ticket is the most common option, since most visitors ride up, look around Monte, and either ride back down or take the toboggan partway down instead.

Can I do the toboggan without the cable car, or the other way round?

Yes. Some visitors take a taxi or bus up to Monte, ride the toboggan down to Livramento, and never touch the cable car at all. Others ride the cable car both ways and skip the toboggan entirely. They are two separate, independently bookable experiences.

Is the wicker toboggan safe?

It has run since 1850 and is a well-practised, low-speed activity on a fixed route, guided by two carreiros who control the basket’s speed with their boots. It is not a thrill ride — the appeal is the novelty and the history, not the speed.

What should I see at Monte itself?

The main draws are the Nossa Senhora do Monte church, where Emperor Charles I of Austria is buried, and the Monte Palace Tropical Garden. Neither is covered in depth here — see our guides to Monte’s gardens and to Madeira with kids for those.

Is the cable car or the toboggan better for young children?

The cable car is the calmer option and suits most ages. The toboggan is generally fine for children old enough to sit still in the basket, but check current age and height guidance with the operator on the day, since policies can change.

What happens if it’s windy or the cable car is closed?

The Funchal cable car does occasionally suspend service in strong wind. If that happens, Monte is still reachable by taxi, tuk-tuk or bus, and the toboggan run itself is unaffected by cable car closures.