Getting to Madeira: flights, airports and why there is no ferry

Madeira lies about 805 kilometres southwest of mainland Portugal and 520 kilometres west of Morocco, which settles most of the questions people have about getting there. You fly. One airport takes scheduled passenger flights, there is no ferry from the mainland, and nothing else will get you there unless you happen to be arriving on a cruise ship.

So the planning is simpler than it looks. What you have to decide is which airport you leave from, whether to fly direct or route through Lisbon, and how to cover the last stretch from the runway to wherever you are sleeping.

Cristiano Ronaldo Madeira International Airport, code FNC, sits at Santa Cruz on the south coast, east of Funchal and about 20 minutes away by road. It has a single runway, 05/23, and it handled 5,653,000 passengers in 2025, up 12 per cent on the year before. The resident population of the whole region is around 251,000, so the airport moves more than twenty times the island's population through its doors every year, in waves that follow the European holiday schedule rather than a steady daily rhythm.

The runway is 2,781 metres long, which sounds unremarkable until you see how they got it. The original strip was too short and boxed in by hills and sea, so the extension finished in September 2000 was built out over the water on a platform carried by 180 columns, each about 70 metres tall. Aircraft now land on what is effectively a bridge. The apron sits 58 metres above sea level.

The region's second airport is on Porto Santo, at Vila Baleira, code PXO. It handles the hop between the islands and a few seasonal services, and it is not a way into Madeira itself.

Search for a ferry from mainland Portugal to Madeira and you will turn up timetables, old booking pages and forum threads full of people who remember taking one. They did, and then it stopped.

Naviera Armas ran a weekly Portimão to Funchal crossing from 2008, a passage of roughly 24 hours. It ended in 2013 after a dispute over harbour fees at Funchal. The route came back for one summer in 2018, July to September only, using the Volcán de Tijarafe, and was cancelled again after 2019. Since then there has been no scheduled passenger ferry between Madeira and mainland Europe, and none between Madeira and the Canaries.

The idea resurfaces periodically, so treat any page offering a mainland crossing with suspicion until it shows you an operator, a timetable and a booking that completes. The practical consequence is about cars: if you want one on the island, you rent it here. There is no way to drive yours onto a boat and bring it with you.

The one ferry that does run is domestic. The Lobo Marinho, operated by Porto Santo Line, sails Funchal to Porto Santo, normally in a little over two hours, with tourist class fares starting around 33.90 euros one way and day return packages from about 72 euros. The operator is currently posting a longer crossing of 3 hours 15 minutes for technical reasons, so check the sailing time before you plan a day trip around it. Our guide to sailing from Madeira to Porto Santo covers that crossing in full. The alternative is Binter, which flies Funchal to Porto Santo in a scheduled 25 minutes, about 14 times a week, with the first departure around 07:30 and the last around 20:30.

The direct network is wide for an island this size. Ryanair has a base at the airport and TAP Air Portugal treats it as a focus city, with easyJet, Jet2, British Airways, Iberia and Wizz Air also serving it alongside the German holiday carriers.

From Germany, direct flights leave Frankfurt, Munich, Düsseldorf and Cologne/Bonn, flown by Condor, Eurowings, TUI fly and the Lufthansa group between them. Düsseldorf to Funchal is about 2,813 kilometres and takes roughly 4 hours 15 minutes, and Frankfurt runs about the same. Those numbers are worth having when you weigh a direct flight against a cheaper connection, because the choice is one four hour sector against two shorter ones plus a transfer, into an airport that is sensitive to weather.

From Portugal, Lisbon to Funchal is 964 kilometres and takes 1 hour 45 to 1 hour 50, flown by TAP, easyJet and Ryanair, with Porto also served direct. If your home airport has no Madeira flight, Lisbon is the natural connection, and the onward leg runs often enough that a missed connection costs you an afternoon rather than a day.

Check the frequency for the month you are actually travelling rather than the month you are booking in. Holiday routes to Madeira thin out and thicken with the season, and a direct flight that exists from your airport in one month may not exist in another. If you do connect, leave yourself more than the minimum in Lisbon, for the reason in the next section.

The approach here is demanding and the airport has a reputation for wind. Flights do divert, usually to Porto Santo, Las Palmas or Tenerife, often enough that anyone booking a tight schedule should know before they book rather than at the gate. This is not a reason to avoid the island. It is a reason not to book a connecting flight out of Lisbon two hours after your Madeira flight is due to land, and a reason to think twice about arriving on the morning of something you cannot miss.

We went through what causes it, and what your rights are when it happens, in why flights divert at Madeira airport.

The airport sits on the expressway, so the last leg is quick whichever way you do it.

• The Aerobus, route 500 and 500R, runs from outside the terminal into Funchal. It costs 6.70 euros on board, or 5.55 euros bought in advance on a GIRO card, and reaches Avenida do Mar in about 24 minutes, continuing to the Lido hotel area and its terminus at Praia Formosa in about 50. The first departure from the airport is 08:30 and the last is around 22:00.
• The regular SAM lines, among them 113, 20, 53, 78 and 208, also pass the airport and cost about 3 euros. They stop everywhere, take up to 50 minutes, and have no luggage racks.
• A metered taxi to central Funchal is around 30 euros for a drive of about 20 minutes, plus roughly 1.50 euros a bag. The rank is immediately outside arrivals.
• Car rental desks are at the airport. The drive to Funchal is expressway the whole way, which is the easy part; the demanding driving starts when you turn off it.

Our guide to the airport bus and public transport into Funchal has the timetable detail.

One thing to settle before you book the flight rather than after: the last bus leaves the airport at about 22:00, and plenty of flights from northern Europe land later than that. If yours does, you are in a taxi or a pre-booked transfer, and it is cheaper to know that now.

Santa Cruz, around the airport, is a working town rather than a resort, and almost nobody bases a holiday there. Most visitors head west to Funchal and the hotel district around Lido, which puts restaurants, the market and the cable car within walking distance.

The hills immediately above Funchal are the quieter alternative, and they work well if you are picking up a car at the airport anyway. You are ten minutes from town, above the traffic and the evening noise, and already pointed uphill for Monte and the levada trailheads in the morning.

If that suits your trip: our partner apartments at Madeira with Views sit in the hills above Funchal, with the city and the bay below and their own parking.

If you would rather compare areas properly before you book the flights, our guide to where to stay in Madeira sorts them by the kind of trip you are taking.

Madeira is an autonomous region of Portugal and an outermost region of the European Union, inside the EU and inside the Schengen area. There is no separate Madeira visa and no separate entry procedure.

Citizens of the EU and EEA countries and Switzerland travel freely. Nationals of countries with visa free access to Schengen, among them the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, can visit for up to 90 days in any 180 day period. Everyone else needs a Schengen visa, applied for through the Portuguese consular network exactly as for a trip to Lisbon.

A flight from Lisbon or Porto to Funchal is a domestic Portuguese flight, so there is no passport control on that leg. If you are connecting from outside Schengen, you clear immigration at your first Schengen airport and not on arrival in Madeira.

Is there a ferry to Madeira from mainland Portugal? No. The Portimão to Funchal crossing ran weekly from 2008, ended in 2013 over harbour fees, returned for the summer of 2018 and was cancelled again after 2019. There is currently no scheduled passenger ferry between Madeira and mainland Europe. The only ferry running is Funchal to Porto Santo.

How long is the flight to Madeira? About 1 hour 45 minutes from Lisbon, which is 964 kilometres away, and roughly 4 hours 15 minutes from Düsseldorf or Frankfurt. The island itself lies 805 kilometres southwest of the Portuguese mainland.

How do I get from Madeira airport to Funchal? The Aerobus, route 500, costs 6.70 euros on board and reaches the centre in about 24 minutes. Regular SAM buses cost about 3 euros and take up to 50 minutes. A metered taxi is around 30 euros for a 20 minute drive. The last Aerobus leaves the airport at about 22:00.

Do I need a visa for Madeira? Whatever you need for mainland Portugal. Madeira is in the EU and the Schengen area, so EU, EEA and Swiss citizens travel freely, visa exempt nationals get 90 days in any 180, and everyone else applies for a Schengen visa through a Portuguese consulate.

• Madeira Airport on Wikipedia for the IATA and ICAO codes, the single runway 05/23 and its 2,781 metre length, the September 2000 extension on 180 columns about 70 metres tall, the 58 metre elevation, the airlines serving the airport and the 5,653,000 passengers carried in 2025.
• Transport in Madeira on Wikipedia for the Portimão to Funchal ferry history, the roughly 24 hour crossing, the 2018 seasonal revival with the Volcán de Tijarafe, and the two airports of the region.
• Madeira on Wikipedia for the 805 kilometres to the mainland and 520 kilometres to Morocco, the 2021 census population of 251,060, and the region's status as an autonomous region of Portugal and an outermost region of the EU.
• Porto Santo Line for the Lobo Marinho, the tourist class fare from 33.90 euros, the day cruise packages from about 72 euros and the currently posted 3 hour 15 minute crossing time.
• Madeira Bus, airport to Funchal for the Aerobus route 500 and 500R, the 6.70 euro on board and 5.55 euro GIRO fares, the 24 minute run to Avenida do Mar, the 50 minute run to Praia Formosa and the 08:30 and 22:00 first and last departures.
• Marvellous Madeira, airport to Funchal for the SAM lines serving the airport, the roughly 3 euro fare and the metered taxi at around 30 euros plus 1.50 euros a bag.
• FlightConnections for the Lisbon to Funchal distance of 964 kilometres and the 1 hour 45 to 1 hour 50 flight time, the Düsseldorf distance and flight time, and the Binter service to Porto Santo at a scheduled 25 minutes and about 14 flights a week.
• Madeira Airport, passports and visas for Madeira's position inside the EU and the Schengen area and the entry rules that follow from it.