Madeira in December: Weather, Sea Temperature, Crowds and Levada Booking

MADEIRA · DECEMBER · STATION 522 · FUNCHAL

Funchal in December averages a 69.8°F afternoon and a 59.9°F night, and the sea off the island peaks at 70.3°F on an average day. Those are T-shirt-at-lunch numbers for a month most American readers spend in a coat. The trade is light: on December 15 the sun sets at 6:04 pm, so a Madeira day in December runs a little over ten hours.

December 2026 is also the first December under the island’s new trail rules. Since January 1, 2026, every classified levada and vereda charges an access fee and requires an online booking, with entry times sold in 30-minute slots from sunrise to sunset. Add Christmas Day, when the Funchal cable car, the Monte Palace Tropical Garden and the airport bus all stop, and the calendar matters as much as the forecast.

On this page

• Madeira weather in DecemberHighs of 69.8°F and 8.6 rain days at Funchal
• Can you swim in Madeira in December?A 70.3°F sea, as a mean of daily maxima
• Crowds, prices and tourist taxEUR 2 a night in Funchal and the levada passes
• Things to do in Madeira in DecemberMonte Palace, Blandy’s, Cabo Girão and the Cachalote pools
• A two-day Madeira itineraryMonte, a wine lodge and a levada in two days
• December vs November and JanuaryHow the three months compare on rain and sea
• Is December a good time to visit Madeira?Who should go, and the month to pick instead

From the airport, the Aerobus runs through central Funchal to Praia Formosa on a line of 26 numbered stops, Avenida do Mar among them, and the full run takes 50 minutes. Buses leave the airport from 8:30 am to 10:00 pm. On December 25 there is no service at all. The regional timetable prints no fare, so call the operator on 291 201 151, and skip stop 9, Terminal SAM, marked disabled. Flight routes sit in our flights-from-the-US guide, and where to base yourself is in our Madeira guide.

Madeira weather in December: average highs, lows and rain days

Every figure here comes from IPMA, Portugal’s national weather service, and its 1991-2020 normals for station 522 in Funchal: a real thermometer 58 m (190 ft) up on the south coast, not a model grid cell. December there averages a high of 69.8°F, a low of 59.9°F and 3.73 inches of rain. The station speaks for Funchal, not the island. High ground is colder and far wetter, and the other end of a coast keeps its own weather, so a Funchal reading is no forecast for Pico do Areeiro.

Measurable rain, at least 1 mm (0.04 inch), falls on 8.6 days in an average December, a little more than one day in four. A proper soaking of 10 mm (0.39 inch) or more comes on 3.5 days, about one day in nine. IPMA counts from 1 mm, lower than the 0.10-inch line US tables use, so its wet-day tally runs higher than an American one and the two do not swap. A 1 mm day can be a single passing shower. The 3.5 heavy days are the ones to move a mountain walk around.

Afternoon and night sit 9.9°F apart at Funchal. Lunch outdoors in short sleeves is realistic, and dinner at 59.9°F calls for a sweater or light fleece. Add a rain shell for the wet days and a warmer layer for any trail that climbs: PR1 runs between 1,491 m and 1,857 m (about 4,890 to 6,090 ft), far above the station. Our Portugal packing list covers the rest of the bag.

On December 15 Madeira gets about 10 hours 04 minutes of daylight, with sunrise at 8:01 am and sunset at 6:04 pm local time (08:01 and 18:04 UTC, and Madeira keeps UTC in winter). The Funchal cable car closes at 5:45 pm, 19 minutes before sunset. Levada entry slots run from sunrise to sunset in 30-minute steps, so a mid-December day holds about 20 of them.

Can you swim in Madeira in December? Sea temperature and what it feels like

Open-Meteo’s marine data puts the sea surface off Madeira at 70.3°F in December, averaged over 2015-2024. That figure is a mean of daily maxima, the warmest reading of each day, so it sits a shade above a 24-hour average. A source that averages around the clock will print a slightly lower number for the same water. November runs 73.0°F on the same method and January 68.6°F.

Yes, you can swim. The water sits within half a degree of the 69.8°F afternoon high, so the time to go in is late morning or early afternoon, with a towel and a dry layer ready for the walk back. At Porto Moniz on the north coast, the EUR 3 serviced complex of natural volcanic pools has changing rooms, a children’s pool, a bar and a first-aid post, and keeps winter hours of 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.

We found no wind or swell series for December, so we give no wave figure and rate no beach for calm water. What we can say is that 3.5 days in an average December bring 10 mm of rain or more at Funchal. On an unsettled morning, ask the staff at the Porto Moniz complex about conditions before getting in, and keep the emergency number, 112, in your phone.

How busy is Madeira in December? Crowds and prices

We found no hotel-rate or occupancy series for Madeira, so we rank no month as cheap or expensive. The seasonal count we could read belongs to the cruise port. APRAM, the port authority, logged 113,210 cruise passengers and 41 ship calls in Funchal in January, against 4,071 passengers and 3 calls in July, on charts that plot 2025 and 2026 side by side (we give the more recent, higher series). Those counts stop at August, so we have no December figure, only a winter-heavy shape that repeats in both years.

A Funchal cable car e-ticket stays valid for 60 days after purchase, so it can be bought about eight and a half weeks before the flight. Levada slots are mandatory and sold only online through SIMplifica, the regional government portal, for solo walkers, groups and guided walkers alike. Blandy’s Wine Lodge advises booking its tours ahead and allows free cancellation up to 24 hours before. The Monte sledges cannot be booked at all: tickets are sold on site, for the same day, and the office can close early when the queue is long.

Stays in the municipality of Funchal carry the Taxa Municipal Turística: EUR 2 per person per night, capped at 7 consecutive nights, so EUR 14 per guest at most and EUR 28 for a couple on a ten-night stay. It applies to every paid overnight stay whatever the booking channel, and the count starts again after an interrupted stay. Children 12 and under are exempt on showing ID, as are people with a disability of 60 percent or more. Wider budget lines are in our Portugal trip-cost guide.

A single classified trail costs EUR 4.50 per person, or EUR 3 with a tour company that has a protocol with the IFCN. Walkers planning several routes can buy a day pass for two trails or more at EUR 9.00, three days at EUR 22.50 or seven days at EUR 52.50. The three-day pass costs the same as five single fees, and it lets a walker put two trails into the same dry day without paying twice. PR1 is excluded from the day pass and costs EUR 10.50 on its own for anyone over 12.

Things to do in Madeira in December

Near 70°F at the coast, December keeps both halves of a Madeira day in play: a levada in the morning on a booked slot, then a swim in a sea still at 70.3°F by its daily peak. The midday warmth also makes the gardens comfortable for a long walk, since the Funchal afternoon sits at 69.8°F rather than a summer glare.

The cable car from Funchal to Monte costs EUR 22 return or EUR 16 one way, free up to age 6 and half price from 7 to 14. At the top station sits the Monte Palace Tropical Garden: 70,000 square meters (about 17 acres) of exotic planting, tile panels and a sculpture museum, EUR 18 for adults and free for children up to 14 with an adult. The Monte wicker sledges, steered by two carreiros in white, cost EUR 30 for one, EUR 40 for two and EUR 60 for three. In town, the Botanical Garden Eng. Rui Vieira holds more than 2,000 exotic species, and Blandy’s on Avenida Arriaga runs a 45-minute Premium Tour at EUR 23 with three wines.

Winter hours apply. Monte Palace runs its October-to-March schedule, 9:00 am to 6:00 pm, and its museum closes at 5:00 pm. The sledges run Monday to Saturday, 9:00 am to 6:00 pm, never on Sundays, and no three-person ride goes in rain or on wet ground. The Cabo Girão skywalk, a glass platform on the sea cliff above Câmara de Lobos, closes at 7:00 pm from November to February, nearly an hour after dark, and charges EUR 3 by concordant third-party sources we could not confirm on an official page. On December 25 the cable car and Monte Palace both close.

The Cachalote pools next to the Porto Moniz complex are free and open at all hours, so a swim there costs nothing even after the complex locks at 5:00 pm. Children 12 and under also go free on the Cabo Girão skywalk, and a family with children under 15 pays only adult tickets at Monte Palace.

Madeira in December: a two-day itinerary

Day one, on a weekday. Catch the 8:45 am cable car up to Monte and be at Monte Palace for its 9:00 am opening, museum first since it shuts at 5:00 pm. Late morning, buy same-day sledge tickets for the ride down (EUR 40 for two), then lunch in Funchal. Take the 2:00 pm or 3:00 pm English Premium Tour at Blandy’s (EUR 23, 45 minutes, English departures Monday to Friday). By 5:30 pm, be on the Cabo Girão skywalk for the 6:04 pm sunset. It stays open until 7:00 pm.

Day two. Book a 9:00 am slot on SIMplifica for PR 6 Levada das 25 Fontes (EUR 4.50), listed open by Visit Madeira on September 8, 2026. Trail status changes with weather and works, so recheck the list the week you travel. We could not verify the rules for moving a booked slot, so read them before paying. If the morning turns wet, go to the Mercado dos Lavradores (7:00 am to 7:00 pm on weekdays, 7:00 am to 2:00 pm on Saturday), then the Botanical Garden or Blandy’s 30-minute tour. On a Sunday or public holiday, Lavradores is shut and the Mercado da Penteada opens 7:00 am to 1:00 pm. Dishes to look for are in our Portuguese food guide.

Madeira in December vs November and January

At Funchal the afternoon high slides from 73.0°F in November to 69.8°F in December and 68.0°F in January, and the night low from 62.6°F to 59.9°F to 57.7°F. December is the wettest of the three: 3.73 inches over 8.6 wet days, against 3.16 inches over 7.3 days in November and 2.64 inches over 6.2 days in January. On its daily-maximum measure the sea drops from 73.0°F to 70.3°F to 68.6°F. All three columns come from the same IPMA station and the same Open-Meteo method.

Moving four weeks earlier into November adds 3.2°F to the high and 2.7°F to the sea, with 1.3 fewer wet days, and it wins all five measures. Moving four weeks later into January removes 2.4 wet days and 1.09 inches of rain, but the high loses 1.8°F and the sea 1.7°F. Price is the unknown in either direction, since we found no room-rate series for any of the three months.

Is December a good time to visit Madeira?

Yes, for walkers, garden lovers and anyone who wants 69.8°F afternoons in winter and can book trail slots ahead. A beach-first trip is a weaker fit: the sea at 70.3°F is swimmable, yet 8.6 wet days and dark by 6:04 pm leave less beach time than the other two months give. Travelers arriving on December 25 should plan that day without the cable car, Monte Palace or the Aerobus.

If the climate decides it, pick November: a 73.0°F high, a 73.0°F sea and fewer wet days than December. If rain is the worry and cooler water is acceptable, January’s 6.2 wet days are the lowest of the three. The full-year picture for the mainland and islands sits in our Portugal best-time guide.

December gives a sea above 70°F at its daily peak in the month of the winter solstice, so a levada slot and a swim at Cachalote share about ten hours of light.

The last word

In December the booking that shapes the trip is the levada slot, and it is worth making before the flight. If that slot is PR1, the Pico do Areeiro to Pico Ruivo crossing (6.1 km one way, about 3 hours, rated Moderate), know that past the Pedra Rija viewpoint the path runs one way only toward Pico Ruivo: a late start cannot turn back, it has to finish. Short on daylight? The out-and-back to Pedra Rija costs EUR 4.50, free for children 12 and under, and returns along the same path to Pico do Areeiro.

Sources & data for this guide

• December, November and January normals, rain days, 1991-2020 · IPMA, station 522 Funchal, 58 m · checked Sep 24, 2026
• Sea surface, mean of daily maxima, 2015-2024 · Open-Meteo Marine API · checked Sep 24, 2026
• Daylight, sunrise and sunset on December 15 · sunrise-sunset.org · checked Sep 24, 2026
• Levada fees, passes, SIMplifica booking, trail status on Sep 8, 2026, PR1 measures and one-way rule · Visit Madeira (official) · checked Sep 8-10, 2026
• Cable car fares and hours · Teleférico do Funchal (official) · checked Sep 24, 2026
• Monte sledge prices and rules · Carreiros do Monte (official) · checked Sep 24, 2026
• Monte Palace prices and hours · garden’s official site, which says EUR 18 where several aggregators print EUR 12.50 · checked Sep 24, 2026
• Blandy’s tours · lodge’s official site, which says EUR 23 where several aggregators print EUR 18 · checked Sep 24, 2026
• Cabo Girão price and hours · concordant third-party sources only, we reached no official page · confirm on site · checked Sep 24, 2026
• Porto Moniz pools · Visit Madeira and concordant guides · checked Sep 24, 2026
• Tourist tax · Câmara Municipal do Funchal FAQ · checked Sep 24, 2026
• Aerobus route and hours · SIGA Madeira timetable, which prints no fare · checked Sep 24, 2026
• Cruise passengers and calls, January to August · APRAM charts for 2025 and 2026, read from bars by legend · checked Sep 24, 2026
• Market hours · Câmara Municipal do Funchal, Divisão de Mercados · checked Sep 24, 2026
• We found no hotel-rate, occupancy, wind or swell data for December, so we give none. Trail status and opening hours change · check operators when you book.

To plan your stay

• Things to Do in Madeira: Trail Fees, Cable Car Prices and Opening Hours
• Where to Stay in Madeira: Funchal, Monte, the North Coast and the Levada Trailheads
• Madeira Airport to Funchal: Aerobus Stops, Timetable, Taxi Cases and When to Leave
• Things to Know Before Going to Madeira: Trail Bookings, Mountain Driving and Late Dinners

Nearby places

• Lagos, Algarve: The Walled Town, the Beaches and Getting Around Without a Car
• Ponta da Piedade: Cliff Walkways, Grotto Boats and the Best Time of Day
• Sagres, Portugal: Wind, the Beaches on Both Sides and Cabo de São Vicente