This guide is about Funchal. Visit Madeira, the regional tourism board, splits it into two kinds: the streets of the city centre for regional products, and several large shopping centres with shops, restaurants, hypermarkets and cinemas. It names three of those centres: MadeiraShopping, Fórum Madeira and Plaza Madeira.
Every opening hour, shop name and bus line below comes from the official page linked next to it, read on 31 October 2026. Shops in a mall change. Check the mall's own list before you make a trip for one brand.
Forum Madeira
Where: Estrada Monumental 390, São Martinho, Funchal (Forum Madeira, how to get there).
Size: the centre describes itself as 56 shops on three floors, six restaurants, a terrace with room for 450 people, and a car park with 800 spaces. Its homepage adds three charging points for electric cars, a supermarket and a cinema.
Opening hours
From Forum Madeira's hours page:
| Part of the centre | Hours |
|---|---|
| Shopping centre | Every day, 08:00–23:00 |
| Shops | Every day, 10:00–23:00 |
| Restaurants | Every day, 10:00–23:00 |
| Pingo Doce supermarket | Every day, 08:00–23:00 |
| Cinemas | Monday to Saturday 12:30–00:00; Sundays and public holidays 10:45–00:00 |
The centre is closed on 1 January and 25 December.
Which shops Forum Madeira has
This is the centre's own shop directory, grouped by the categories the centre uses (shops and restaurants):
- Fashion: Aldo, Bershka, C&A, C&A Kids, Calzedonia, H&M, Intimissimi, Lefties, Massimo Dutti, Mayoral, Paco Martínez, Parfois, Pull&Bear, Punt Roma, Salsa, Stradivarius, Tiffosi, Women’Secret, Zara
- Sport: JD Sport, Oysho, Sport Zone
- Health and beauty: 1920 Barber Shop, KIKO Milano, Opticalia, Perfumes & Companhia, Pluricosmética, Primor, Rituals
- Jewellery and watches: Atlantis, Boutique dos Relógios, Swarovski, Tous
- Home: Zara Home
- Technology: CeX, La Casa de las Carcasas, iServices
- Leisure: Cinema NOS, Flying Tiger
- Services: Bertrand, Bioforma, Jornal & Companhia, Mister Minit, TopAtlântico, iServices; also In Vogue Gomes Cabeleireiros
- Supermarket: Pingo Doce
- Food: Açaí Natura, H3, KFC, Lucky Café, Lyfe, McDonald’s, Pingo Doce Comida Fresca, Storia del caffè, Tomatino, Uaucacau
Getting there
- Bus: Forum Madeira lists the Horários do Funchal lines 01 Ponta da Laranjeira, 02 Ponta da Cruz and 04 Amparo (how to get there). Since 9 March 2026 Horários do Funchal numbers them 001, 002 and 004, and it also runs line 083 Forum Madeira/São Martinho (Horários do Funchal line conversion, PDF). Times are on the Horários do Funchal timetables page.
- Car: the centre's directions are to take the VR1 towards Funchal, leave at the Funchal/Câmara de Lobos exit and then São Martinho/Hospital, and follow São Martinho/Estrada Monumental to the Lido/Hotel Zone/Estrada Monumental exits (how to get there).
- Parking: 800 spaces in the centre's own car park. Forum Madeira's pages read on 31 October did not state a parking price, so none is given here.
The services page lists free Wi-Fi, a baby-changing room, pushchairs, a first-aid post, an information desk, a car wash and cash machines (Multibanco). The centre calls itself dog friendly.
MadeiraShopping
MadeiraShopping is one of the shopping centres Visit Madeira names in Funchal. Sonae Sierra, which lists the centre in its portfolio, gives it more than 90 shops, more than 1,000 parking spaces and 26,800 m² of lettable area.
Bus: two Horários do Funchal lines run via the centre: 108 Santa Quitéria (via Madeira Shopping) and 050 Viana/Lombo da Quinta (via Madeira Shopping) (line conversion, PDF). Check the times on the timetables page.
Shops and hours: MadeiraShopping’s own website did not let our reader in on 31 October 2026 (it answered with a bot check). We don't copy a shop list or opening hours from anywhere else, so neither is printed here. Look them up on madeirashopping.pt before you go.
Plaza Madeira
Visit Madeira also names Plaza Madeira as a shopping centre in Funchal. We could not open an official page for it on 31 October 2026, so we give no hours or shop list.
Rua Dr. Fernão de Ornelas and the streets around the Cathedral
Visit Madeira calls Rua Dr. Fernão de Ornelas one of the most iconic places to shop in Funchal. The street is named after the mayor who prepared the city for tourism in the first half of the 20th century. Historic shops and young, new businesses sit side by side on it, and it is one of the busiest streets on the island.
For regional products such as Madeira embroidery, honey cake (bolo de mel) or personalised Madeira souvenirs, the same page points you to the pedestrian streets around the Cathedral.
Mercado dos Lavradores
Funchal’s farmers’ market is one of two markets on the city’s municipal markets site, which lists:
- Hours: Monday to Friday 07:00–19:00, Saturday 07:00–14:00, closed on Sundays and public holidays.
- What is inside: 122 spaces, selling regional products, handicrafts, sweets, fish, fruit and vegetables.
Visit Madeira’s market page prints Friday until 20:00. The hours above are the city's own. The same page gives the address as Largo dos Lavradores. It says the market opened on 24 November 1940 and was designed by Edmundo Tavares. Its façade, main door and fish hall are decorated with large tile panels from 1940, made by the Fábrica Battistini and painted with regional themes by João Rodrigues.
The city's market site lists Noite do Mercado on 23 December among the market's events. Our Christmas in Funchal guide has the details.
Mercado da Penteada, the other municipal market, has 25 shops. The same municipal site gives its hours as Monday to Thursday 07:00–20:00, Friday 07:00–21:00, Saturday 07:00–19:00, and Sundays and public holidays 07:00–13:00.
Souvenirs worth carrying home
Madeira embroidery (Bordado da Madeira)
Visit Madeira’s embroidery page says the work is done by hand on linen, natural silk, organdie and cotton. It puts the trade at about a dozen companies and around 1,000 embroiderers. Each authentic piece is certified with the guarantee seal of the Madeira Wine, Embroidery and Handicrafts Institute (IVBAM). Look for that seal.
The same page lists two places to buy it:
- IVBAM’s Handicraft Shop, Rua dos Ferreiros 152 and Rua 5 de Outubro 78, Funchal
- Bordal, Rua Dr. Fernão de Ornelas 77, Funchal
Madeira wine
Visit Madeira's Madeira wine page names Sercial, Verdelho, Bual and Malvasia as the noble four, running from dry to sweet, with Terrantez and Tinta Negra also in common use. Its list of places to buy wine:
- Blandy’s Wine Lodge, Av. Arriaga 48, Funchal
- H. M. Borges, Rua 31 de Janeiro 83, Funchal
- J. Faria & Filhos, Travessa do Tanque 85/87, Funchal
- Justino’s Madeira Wines, Parque Industrial da Cancela, Caniço
- Quinta do Barbusano
- IVBAM’s Handicraft Shop (see above)
At Blandy’s Wine Lodge, the shops page says the tasting rooms, the Cofre souvenir shop and the wine shop are open to the public with no reservation needed. If you buy a bottle in the Frasqueira or Max Römer rooms, you can collect it at the Portfólio shop after security at Madeira Airport, so it does not have to go in your luggage. Ask the staff which wines this works for.
Next to the lodge's entrance on Avenida Arriaga is the lodge's wine shop, A Loja do Vinho, with more than 500 wines from Madeira, mainland Portugal and abroad. Its hours: Monday to Friday 10:00–18:30, Saturday 10:00–18:00, Sunday 10:00–13:00 and 14:00–18:00, and open on public holidays. Special December hours: 24 December 10:00–14:00, closed 25 and 26 December, 31 December 10:00–17:00.
Wicker from Camacha
Madeira wicker comes from Camacha, an inland parish in the municipality of Santa Cruz, where the craft started in 1850, according to Visit Madeira's wicker page. It is used for handbags, boxes, baskets and furniture, and for the basket sledges of Monte. The same page warns that few artisans still do the work and the large workshops have closed. Some artisans still make pieces to order from home.
Bolo de mel
Visit Madeira's page on broas and bolo de mel describes bolo de mel as a sugarcane-honey cake that keeps for months, and broas de mel as small honey biscuits. Both are sold in local pastry shops.
Quick planning notes
- Sunday: the Mercado dos Lavradores is closed. Forum Madeira is open every day except 1 January and 25 December.
- Late shopping: Forum Madeira's shops stay open until 23:00 every day.
- Without a car: use the Horários do Funchal lines above. Our guide to whether you need a car covers getting around without one.
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Written with AI assistance from official and cited sources. Report an error: hello@madeirajournal.com.
