When staying in Funchal, check out the market, 16th-century cathedral, gardens, and the Old Blandy Wine Lodge, but it is worth seeing more of the island. The inland is lush and beautiful, and is easy to get around either by bus, rental car, or one of the yellow taxis. The hilltop town of Monte includes a church where Karl I, last of the Hapsburg emperors, is buried. But the real attractions here are the world-famous street toboggans, whose skilled drivers whisk you through the streets and down three miles of steep, winding roads fo.

The tourist office in Funchal has a list of levada walks (narrow irrigation canals which flow horizontally around the hills of the island, alongside which are narrow paths), including the particularly scenic ones from the village of Ribeiro Frio. Most can be reached by bus.

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