MADEIRA · FEBRUARY · 32.6° N
Madeira sells itself as the island with no winter, and February is where that claim gets measured. The official thermometer in Funchal calls the month at 67.8°F by day and 57.0°F at night: a shirt-and-fleece month, not a swimsuit month, with the sea sitting at 67.2°F for anyone brave enough to test it.
One thing changed this year, and it changes February more than the weather does. Since January 1, 2026, every classified walking trail on the island charges an access fee of EUR 4.50 per person and requires a booking made online in advance. The levada that used to be a spontaneous morning is now a 30-minute time slot you hold before breakfast.
THE MONTH AT A GLANCE · MADEIRA · FEBRUARY
February gives the south coast a 67.8°F day and 11 hours of usable light, and takes away free walking: every classified trail now costs EUR 4.50 and has to be booked online.
AVG HIGH 67.8°F · SEA 67.2°F · 5.5 WET DAYS · TRAIL FEE EUR 4.50 SINCE JAN 1, 2026
Go for: walking weather at 67.8°F, a coast that runs its full winter timetable (cable car 08:45 to 17:45, gardens from 09:00), and daylight that still holds at six in the evening.
Think twice before: building the trip around swimming, since 67.2°F is a mean of daily maxima, or around one single walk, since 2.1 days in an average February log 0.39 inch of rain or more.
Normals: IPMA station 522 Funchal · Sea: Open-Meteo Marine · Trails: Visit Madeira · full sources at the end
On this page
- Madeira weather in FebruaryHighs of 67.8°F and 5.5 wet days
- Can you swim in February?The sea at 67.2°F, and the small print
- What a February day costsEUR 2 city tax, EUR 4.50 per trail
- Things to do in Madeira in FebruaryCable car, Monte gardens, the open PR trails
- A two-day February itineraryTwo days inside 11 hours of light
- February vs January and MarchJanuary has warmer water, March less rain
- Is February a good time to visit?Who it suits, who should shift four weeks
The decision sits between three months that barely differ on the thermometer: January averages 68.0°F by day, February 67.8°F, March 69.1°F. The sea is what moves, sliding from 68.6°F in January to 66.9°F in March, and so does the rain count. For the wider calendar, see Portugal month by month, and for the neighbors in detail, January and March.
Madeira weather in February: average highs, lows and rain days
| Measure | February | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Average high | 67.8°F (19.9°C) | IPMA station 522, Funchal, 1991–2020 |
| Average low | 57.0°F (13.9°C) | IPMA station 522, Funchal, 1991–2020 |
| Precipitation | 2.85 in | IPMA station 522, Funchal, 1991–2020 |
| Days with 0.04 in (1 mm) or more | 5.5 | IPMA threshold, not the US 0.10 in line |
| Days with 0.39 in (10 mm) or more | 2.1 | IPMA threshold, 1991–2020 |
| Sea surface | 67.2°F (19.6°C) | Open-Meteo Marine, mean of daily maxima 2015–2024 |
| Daylight on Feb 15 | 11h 04m | Sunrise 7:49, sunset 18:53, island time |
Those normals come from IPMA, Portugal’s national weather service, and specifically from station 522 in Funchal at 58 meters: a real thermometer on the south coast, not a model grid cell averaged over the ocean. Which also fixes their limits. Carry a 67.8°F reading up to Pico do Areeiro and it stops being true, because high ground is colder and far wetter, and the north coast keeps weather of its own.
An average February logs 5.5 days with at least 0.04 inch (1 mm) of rain, and 2.1 of those reach 0.39 inch (10 mm) or more. Both counts use IPMA’s thresholds rather than the 0.10-inch line American tables use, so they do not sit next to a NOAA column. Practically: five days with rain somewhere in them, two wet enough to cancel a walk, out of a month total of 2.85 inches. February collects more rain than January or March in fewer, fatter installments.
Day to night, the gap is under 11 degrees at sea level, so one wardrobe covers the whole day in Funchal. What it does not cover is altitude and the heavy-rain days, neither of which announce themselves at breakfast. A light waterproof, one warm layer for the 7:49 start, and shoes that grip wet basalt are the February additions to our Portugal packing list.
Light on February 15 runs from 7:49 to 18:53, island time, which gives 11 hours 04 minutes. That is the real budget for a walking day: breakfast in daylight, a levada finished with room to spare, and the last of the light on the Funchal seafront around six.
Can you swim in Madeira in February? Sea temperature at 67.2°F
Open-Meteo’s marine series puts the water off Madeira at 67.2°F in February, averaged across 2015 to 2024. Read the small print before packing: that figure is the mean of daily maxima, the warmest reading each day, so it sits a shade above a true 24-hour average. Take 67.2°F as the friendly end of the range, not the number you meet at 8 a.m.
At that temperature, swimming is a decision rather than a pleasure. The first minute stings, ten or fifteen minutes are fine while you keep moving, and the chill arrives properly once you stop. Anyone used to Gulf water in winter will find it cold, anyone used to Northern California will not. February water is still warmer than March’s 66.9°F, since the ocean lags the calendar by a good month.
On wind and swell we have nothing to offer: no February wave or wind series for Madeira sits in our sources, and inventing one would be worse than the gap. The rain record does carry one usable signal, though. Those 2.1 days above 0.39 inch tend to come with the weather systems that also move the sea, so plan swimming as an opportunistic hour rather than a fixed appointment, and ask locally on the morning itself.
How busy is Madeira in February? Trail slots, the EUR 2 tax and what a day costs
Straight cards on the table: we hold no monthly occupancy or hotel-rate series for Madeira, and a figure invented from feel would be worth less than the admission. What can be priced is the fixed floor of a February day, and that floor moved this year: EUR 4.50 per person per classified trail, EUR 22 for the cable car return, EUR 18 for the Monte Palace garden, EUR 2 per night in city tax.
The reservation that shapes the month is not a hotel room. Booking a PR-numbered levada or vereda is mandatory and online only, through SIMplifica, the regional government’s digital portal, and it applies to individuals, groups and anyone walking with a tourism company. Entry runs in 30-minute slots from sunrise to sunset, so a mid-February day holds roughly 22 of them against a summer day’s much longer list. Lock the slot the day your dates are firm.
Funchal’s Taxa Municipal Turística adds EUR 2 per person per night, capped at seven consecutive nights, so EUR 14 per guest at most. It applies to every paid overnight stay in the municipality whatever the booking channel, and the count restarts after an interrupted stay. Children of 12 and under go free with ID, as do guests with a disability of 60 percent or more and residents of the region on proof of tax address. For other municipalities on the island, we carry no figure.
One line item genuinely changes February, and it costs EUR 4.50. Buying a second trail slot on a different day means the two heavy-rain days in the month cannot take your only walk with them. Booking through a tourism company that holds a protocol with the IFCN drops the fee to EUR 3 instead, and residents pay nothing at all.
Things to do in Madeira in February
February is the month when the winter timetables and the daylight line up neatly. The cable car’s last run is 17:45 and the Monte Palace garden closes at 18:00 under its October-to-March hours, both of them before the 18:53 sunset, so a full Monte day still ends in the light. Five classified trails were open on September 8, 2026, including PR1 Vereda do Areeiro, PR 1.2 Vereda do Pico Ruivo, PR 6 Levada das 25 Fontes and PR 6.1 Levada do Risco.
The prices and hours, plainly. Teleférico do Funchal: EUR 22 return, EUR 16 one way, 08:45 to 17:45 every day except Christmas, with under-7s free and ages 7 to 14 at half fare, and an e-ticket that stays valid 60 days. Monte Palace Tropical Garden at Caminho das Babosas, by the top station: EUR 18 for adults, 70,000 square meters of planting, open 09:00 to 18:00 from October to March, its sculpture museum shutting at 17:00. The carros de cesto: EUR 30 for one rider, EUR 40 for two, EUR 60 for three, Monday to Saturday 09:00 to 18:00, same-day tickets on site and no booking possible.
Free in February is a short list, and shorter than it was in 2025. Children up to 14 enter the Monte Palace garden free with an adult, school groups pay nothing, under-7s ride the cable car free. The Botanical Garden Eng. Rui Vieira on Caminho do Meio at Bom Sucesso holds over 2,000 exotic species, though its own tariff is not in our sources, so check it on the gate. The walking itself is no longer free anywhere on the classified network.
Madeira in February: a two-day itinerary and 11 hours of daylight
Day one, Funchal and Monte. Light arrives at 7:49, so breakfast is unhurried. Take the 08:45 cable car up (EUR 22 return), be at the Monte Palace garden gate when it opens at 09:00, and give the sculpture museum an hour before its 17:00 cutoff stops mattering. Sledge down toward Livramento if the cobbles are dry, EUR 40 for two, then ride back up and take a car down before the 17:45 last run. Sunset at 18:53 leaves the seafront in usable light.
Day two, the levada you booked. Your SIMplifica slot decides the hour, and PR 6 Levada das 25 Fontes with PR 6.1 Levada do Risco is the pairing that repays a single EUR 4.50 entry best. Check the status trail by trail the night before, since PR 1.3 Vereda da Encumeada and PR 4 Levada do Barreiro were both restricted on September 8, 2026. If rain sets in, no three-person sledge runs on wet ground, so switch to the Monte museum before 17:00 and the Botanical Garden, and move the walk to your second slot.
Madeira in February vs January and March: sea, rain and highs
| Measure | January | February | March |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average high | 68.0°F | 67.8°F | 69.1°F |
| Average low | 57.7°F | 57.0°F | 57.7°F |
| Precipitation | 2.64 in | 2.85 in | 2.45 in |
| Days with 0.04 in (1 mm) or more | 6.2 | 5.5 | 5.8 |
| Sea surface | 68.6°F | 67.2°F | 66.9°F |
All three columns come from the same IPMA station and the same 1991–2020 period, which makes the comparison unusually clean. Across the winter the daytime air moves by 1.3 degrees and the night by 0.7, so temperature is not the variable. Rain is: February carries the heaviest total at 2.85 inches while logging the fewest wet days of the three, and March is the driest month of the trio at 2.45 inches. The sea runs the other way, cooling steadily from January’s 68.6°F to March’s 66.9°F.
Shift four weeks back to January and you gain 1.4 degrees of water, the warmest of the three, and accept 6.2 wet days instead of 5.5. Shift four weeks forward to March and you gain 1.3 degrees of daytime air, the driest total of the winter and a longer day for booking trail slots, while giving up the last of the swimmable sea. February sits between them as the month with the best walking air and the least reliable sky.
Is February a good time to visit Madeira?
Yes, for walkers. A 67.8°F afternoon is close to ideal on a levada, the classified network was mostly open when we last checked it, and the island’s winter timetables run in full rather than at half strength. No, for swimmers and for anyone who needs a guaranteed dry week: 2.1 days of heavy rain in a 28-day month is a real probability, not a footnote.
If the answer lands on no, take March rather than January. It is the driest of the three at 2.45 inches, it runs 69.1°F by day, and the extra daylight widens the 30-minute booking slots that now govern every trail. The cost is water at 66.9°F, which nobody was swimming in anyway.
What February alone offers: the warmest sea of any month you would actually walk in, 67.2°F, with the air still cool enough that a five-hour levada does not need a second shirt.
The last word
Book the trail slot first and the hotel second, because a February room is easier to find than a morning on PR 6. And keep one classified path in reserve for the day the cable car queue looks wrong: PR 3.1 Caminho Real do Monte, open on our last check, walks you down from Monte on foot for the same EUR 4.50 and the same online booking. Two days on the island, roughly EUR 60 of fixed entries, and 11 hours of light to spend them in.
Sources & data for this guide
- February, January and March normals (highs, lows, precipitation, rain days) · IPMA, climate normals 1991–2020, station 522 Funchal, altitude 58.0 m · checked Sep 9, 2026
- Scope caveat: the normals are a south-coast, 58 m reading and do not describe high ground or the north coast · IPMA station metadata · checked Sep 9, 2026
- Sea surface 67.2°F, given as the mean of daily maxima 2015–2024 · Open-Meteo Marine API · checked Sep 9, 2026
- Daylight 11h 04m, sunrise 7:49 and sunset 18:53 on February 15 · sunrise-sunset.org, converted to island time · checked Sep 9, 2026
- Trail access fee EUR 4.50 (EUR 3 with an IFCN-protocol company), mandatory SIMplifica booking, 30-minute slots from sunrise to sunset, open and restricted PR list · Visit Madeira, official regional tourist board, Hiking / Access Conditions · checked Sep 9, 2026
- Cable car EUR 22 return, EUR 16 one way, 08:45 to 17:45, e-ticket valid 60 days · Teleférico do Funchal, official site · checked Sep 9, 2026
- Wicker sledges EUR 30 / 40 / 60, Monday to Saturday 09:00 to 18:00, on-site same-day tickets, no three-person ride in rain · Carreiros do Monte, official price page · checked Sep 9, 2026
- Monte Palace Tropical Garden EUR 18 adults, October–March hours 09:00 to 18:00, museum closing 17:00 · Monte Palace Tropical Garden, official site (several aggregators still list EUR 12.50, which the garden’s own page contradicts) · checked Sep 9, 2026
- Taxa Municipal Turística EUR 2 per person per night, capped at 7 nights, exemptions · Câmara Municipal do Funchal, official FAQ · checked Sep 9, 2026
- No monthly occupancy or hotel-rate series for Madeira sits in our data, and no February event dates are verified in our sources, so neither is quoted here. Trail status, hours and tariffs change · check operators when you book.