← Funchal Marathon·Day trip

Câmara de Lobos and Cabo Girão: Day Trip

A working fishing harbour where Churchill set up his easel in 1950, and a glass platform on the edge of a sea cliff above it, with almost no walking needed.

DurationDay trip
TransitHorários do Funchal bus or taxi, about 20 minutes from central Funchal
DepartsFunchal

After the Funchal Marathon: Câmara de Lobos and Cabo Girão

The Route: Funchal → Câmara de Lobos → Cabo Girão → Funchal Logistics: Horários do Funchal bus or taxi to Câmara de Lobos, about 20 minutes. Taxi or tour bus up to Cabo Girão, about 15 minutes more. Marathon Month: January Duration: Day trip

Funchal ──(20 mins bus/taxi)──> Câmara de Lobos ──(15 mins taxi)──> Cabo Girão
   ▲                                                                   │
   └──────────────────────(30 mins taxi/bus)───────────────────────────┘

The Funchal Marathon spends 30 km running up and down the Estrada Monumental toward the west of the city. Keep going west for a few more kilometres and you reach Câmara de Lobos, a fishing town built around a small harbour, and above it the cliff at Cabo Girão. It is the easiest half-day out of Funchal and asks almost nothing of your legs.

January in Câmara de Lobos is the same mild winter as Funchal, usually mid-teens to about 20°C, with passing showers. The clifftop at Cabo Girão is exposed and can be cloudy or windy, so check the weather before you go up; on a clear day the view is the whole point.

Horários do Funchal, the city bus company, runs several lines from central Funchal to Câmara de Lobos, taking about 20 minutes. Check the line and timetable at the company's kiosks on the waterfront. A taxi takes about 15 minutes and is worth it for two or three people. Hop-on hop-off tour buses also combine the town and the cliff in one ticket.

Câmara de Lobos

The town takes its name from the monk seals, lobos marinhos, that the first Portuguese settlers found in the bay. Brightly painted fishing boats are pulled up on the stones, and men still play cards by the harbour wall. Winston Churchill came here on holiday in January 1950 and painted the harbour; a small viewpoint marks the spot above the bay.

The harbour front is flat and paved, and the whole centre can be walked in half an hour. The streets behind it climb steeply, so stay by the water. The fishing fleet here lands espada, the black scabbardfish, and cafés on the harbour serve it at lunch. Poncha, the island's rum, honey and lemon drink, is said to have originated here; have one after lunch, not in place of it.

Cabo Girão

The cliff at Cabo Girão rises almost 600 m straight out of the sea, one of the highest sea cliffs in Europe. A glass-floored platform, the skywalk, projects from the top. You look down through it at terraced fields and the ocean far below. The car park is next to the viewpoint, so there is almost no walking. There is a small charge for the skywalk; check the current price on arrival.

Getting back

Taxis wait at Cabo Girão and in Câmara de Lobos. Buses back to Funchal run through the afternoon from the stop by the harbour. The ride back along the coast road passes the marathon course.