Parque Ecológico do Funchal
Funchal
- Outdoors
- From 5
- Children free
- Just turn up
A large municipal nature park twelve kilometres above Funchal, with a reception centre, a native-plant nursery and a network of easy forest tracks.
This is a walking-and-picnic park with no play equipment, so it suits children old enough to enjoy an hour on a gravel track - the short walk to Pico Alto is the usual family option. Two wildfires, in 2010 and 2016, burned most of the original planting, and the replanting with native species is still visible on the ground. Do not count on the Casa do Burro as a staffed visitor centre; current sources treat it as a place name on the trail signs.
Worth knowing: There is no city bus to either gate, so this one needs a car, proper shoes for gravel and your own water.
Opening hours
- Mon
- 08:30-19:00
- Tue
- 08:30-19:00
- Wed
- 08:30-19:00
- Thu
- 08:30-19:00
- Fri
- 08:30-19:00
- Sat
- 08:30-19:00
- Sun
- 08:30-19:00
Prices
Free.
Season
Open every day, all year; the gates close only for bad weather.
Getting there
Prices and opening times change without notice, and on this island they change often. Everything here carries the date it was checked in our research notes; if a place has moved or closed, tell us and we will fix it.
