Funchal, Portugal

Funchal, Madeira
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2010-03-02_Funchal_01.jpg
Author: Hansueli Krapf


Funchal is the largest city and capital of Madeira. It is located on the southern coast of the island of Madeira, which is located in the North Atlantic Ocean, some 400 km to the north of Tenerife, the Canary Islands.


Nossa Senhora do Monte Church, Funchal
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monte_-_Igreja.jpg
Author: Luke H. Gordon


The urban area of Funchal includes the municipality and surrounding civil parishes. The city comprises ten civil parishes. It has a population of around 150,000 people, making it the most populous city of the country outside mainland Portugal.

Funchal was established by João Gonçalves Zarco in 1424. With the success of its position as a maritime port, it soon became the biggest town on the island. It attracted many merchant families. However it was vulnerable to pirate attack, the most severe of which was by the French corsairs under the command of Bertrand de Montluc in 1566.

Since the 19th century Funchal has diversified its economy towards tourism. The visit of several famous visitors such as Winston Churchill helped it towards becoming a center for health tourism.


Madeira Botanical Gardens
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2010-03-05_13_27_45_Portugal-Nossa_Senhora_do_Monte.jpg
Author: Hansueli Krapf


The warmest months in Funchal are August and September, when average high temperature reaches above 26°C (78.8°F). The coldest months are January until March, with average low dropping to 13°C (55.4°F). November to January are the wettest months, with total precipitation of at least 99.9 mm (3.93 in) for each month.

Going to Funchal

Funchal Airport (FNC) is now the main gateway to the island. There are daily flights from major cities in Portugal such as Lisbon and Porto. A flight from Lisbon takes about 1 1/2 hours to reach Funchal.


Igreja do Colégio, Funchal
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Igreja_do_Col%C3%A9gio_-_Interior.jpg
Author: Mark Woodbury

Sights in Funchal

Civil Parishes of Funchal

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Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

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