Monte (Funchal)

High above Funchal, where the city’s roofs give way to gardens and eucalyptus, the parish of Monte has been Madeira’s summer refuge and pilgrimage destination for two centuries. A cable car carries visitors up from the old town, and the hilltop gathers a pilgrimage church, a tropical garden and the island’s most famous ride — the wicker toboggans that run down the steep streets to the city below.

A church for the patron of Madeira

The church of Nossa Senhora do Monte honours Our Lady of the Mount, patron of the Madeira archipelago, and pilgrims have climbed here for generations. It is also the resting place of a European emperor: Charles I of Austria, the last Habsburg ruler, died in exile on Madeira in 1922, and his tomb in the church draws pilgrims of its own. Beside it spreads the Monte Palace Tropical Garden, and below the church the carreiros wait with their Funchal-bound sledges.

What to see

• The church of Nossa Senhora do Monte and the tomb of Emperor Charles I
• The Monte Palace Tropical Garden
• The wicker toboggans and their carreiros in white trousers and straw hats
• The cable car ride up from the old town
• The views over Funchal and the bay

Practical information

Monte rises on the hillside above Funchal, and the cable car from the city’s old town lands a short walk from the church. The streets are steep on the way down — comfortable shoes matter more than here than the ride up — and the toboggan run ends in Livramento, below the parish.

Image credit: Toboggan Downhill. Monte, Funchal by Ввласенко — CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.