MADEIRA · NOVEMBER · 32.6° N
November is the month Madeira stops being warm and settles into mild. At Funchal, the official 1991-2020 normals put the average high at 73.0°F and the average low at 62.6°F, with 3.16 inches of rain over roughly seven wet days. The sea is still sitting at 73.0°F. What the month takes away is light: 10 hours 31 minutes on the 15th, the sun gone by 6:07 p.m.
It also arrives with the biggest change the island has made in years. Since January 1, 2026, every classified PR trail on Madeira charges an access fee and requires a booking made online, in a 30-minute slot between sunrise and sunset. A November day holds fewer of those slots than a June day, and that one line of admin shapes a November trip here as much as the forecast does.
THE MONTH AT A GLANCE · MADEIRA · NOVEMBER
November keeps Madeira swimmable at 73.0°F and walkable at 73.0°F by day, with 7.3 wet days, 10h 31m of light on the 15th, and a levada booking you now make before you fly.
AVG HIGH 73.0°F · AVG LOW 62.6°F · 7.3 RAIN DAYS · SEA 73.0°F · TRAIL BOOKING MANDATORY
Go for: climbing weather in the low 70s, a sea still warm enough to swim in without ceremony, and the whole Monte set running: cable car 08:45 to 17:45, tropical garden to 18:00.
Think twice before: counting on the Monte wicker sledges. They run Monday to Saturday, are sold on site for the same day only, and no three-person ride goes out on wet ground.
Normals: IPMA station 522, Funchal · Sea: Open-Meteo Marine · Trail access: Visit Madeira · full sources at the end
On this page
- Madeira weather in NovemberHighs of 73.0°F and 7.3 rain days
- Can you swim in Madeira in November?The sea at 73.0°F
- Crowds, the Funchal tourist tax and trail slots€2 a night, capped at seven
- Things to do in Madeira in NovemberLevada fees, cable car, Monte gardens
- A two-day plan for short November daysHour by hour to a 6:07 p.m. sunset
- November vs October and DecemberThree months on air, rain and sea
- Is November a good time to visit Madeira?Yes for walkers, no for a beach week
The neighboring months have pages of their own: October runs 4.4°F warmer by day, December adds rain days and takes light. The full-year view for the country sits in our best-time verdict, and layers for a 73/63 day are in the packing guide.
Madeira weather in November: 73.0°F days, 7.3 rain days
| Measure | November normal | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Average high | 73.0°F (22.8°C) | IPMA 1991-2020 |
| Average low | 62.6°F (17.0°C) | IPMA 1991-2020 |
| Precipitation | 3.16 in | IPMA 1991-2020 |
| Days ≥ 0.04 in (1 mm) | 7.3 | IPMA 1991-2020 |
| Days ≥ 0.39 in (10 mm) | 2.3 | IPMA 1991-2020 |
| Sea surface | 73.0°F | Open-Meteo Marine, 2015-2024 |
| Daylight, Nov 15 | 10h 31m · 7:36 a.m. to 6:07 p.m. | sunrise-sunset.org |
Those figures come from a thermometer, not a model grid. IPMA, Portugal’s national weather service, keeps station 522 at Funchal, 58 m above the sea on the south coast, and its 1991-2020 normals give November a 73.0°F average high, a 62.6°F average low and 3.16 inches of rain. Where the instrument stands matters as much as the numbers: 58 m of south coast is not the high ground, which runs colder and far wetter, and the north side keeps weather of its own.
Rain falls on 7.3 days in an average November, counted on IPMA’s threshold of 1 mm (0.04 inch) or more. American tables usually start counting at 0.10 inch, so the two totals are not interchangeable and a straight comparison with a US city will mislead you. Of those days, 2.3 deliver 0.39 inch or more. Those are the ones that end a walk. The rest tend to be twenty wet minutes on the ridge and dry pavement in Funchal by lunch.
Ten degrees separate the average high from the average low, a gentle spread at sea level. Altitude widens it fast. A rain shell you can actually walk in, one warm mid-layer for the ridge, and shoes with grip cover the month, since a levada path holds water long after the shower has moved on. Swimwear still earns its place in the bag, which is not true of much of Europe in the second week of November.
On November 15 the sun rises at 7:36 a.m. and sets at 6:07 p.m. in Madeira’s own time, giving 10 hours 31 minutes of daylight. Trail entry slots are 30 minutes wide and run from sunrise to sunset, so the last legal start of the day comes earlier than an evening walker expects. Put the long walk in the morning and keep the afternoon for something with a roof, a road or a swim.
Can you swim in Madeira in November? The sea at 73.0°F
Sea surface off Madeira averages 73.0°F in November in the Open-Meteo Marine record for 2015-2024. One caveat travels with the number: it is the mean of daily maxima, so it reads a shade warmer than a 24-hour mean would. Take it as the afternoon water rather than the 7 a.m. water, and knock a little off for an early swim.
At 73.0°F you swim without a wetsuit and without a debate. It is roughly an unheated pool in a warm climate: a small shock at the ankles, forgotten by the second minute, cool enough that a long float ends with a towel and a coffee rather than another lap. Children give up sooner than adults do. Snorkeling for twenty minutes is comfortable. Anyone planning a full hour in the water will be happier in a shorty.
On wind and swell, our sources for this month hold nothing, so no number for either appears here. Treat the sea as a decision made on the morning, not a booking made in August. The one dated constraint we can point to sits on land: no three-person wicker sledge leaves Monte on wet ground, which tells you how much a November shower rearranges a day.
How busy is Madeira in November? Crowds, the €2 city tax and trail slots
We hold no monthly hotel-rate series for Madeira, and we will not estimate one to fill the gap. Two costs here are documented, dated and unmoved by the season: Funchal’s tourist tax, and the levada access fee that started on January 1, 2026. Both are fixed amounts per person, and both are easier to budget than a nightly rate you have not yet been quoted.
Booking ahead in November is less about beds than about slots. Every classified PR trail now needs a reservation made online through SIMplifica, the regional government’s digital services portal, and the rule catches individuals, groups and anyone walking with a tourism company alike. Slots are 30 minutes wide, sunrise to sunset. With 10h 31m of daylight on the 15th, the day’s supply is finite, and the famous starts go first. Book the walk before you book the car.
Funchal charges a Taxa Municipal Turistica of €2 per person per night on every paid overnight stay in the municipality, whatever the booking channel, capped at seven consecutive nights: €14 per guest at most. Children of 12 and under are exempt on production of an ID, as are visitors with a disability of 60 percent or more and residents of the Autonomous Region on proof of tax address. One clause catches island-hoppers: an interrupted stay starts the count again.
If one line in a November budget repays itself, it is mobility. Cloud parks on the ridge above Funchal for hours at a time, and the answer is a car with grip and the willingness to drive to the other coast or around to the west. The trail fee is not the variable, at €4.50 a head, dropping to €3 with a tourism company holding an IFCN protocol. Rental logic for the country sits in our car guide.
Things to do in Madeira in November: trail fees, cable car and Monte gardens
Mild climbing weather and swimmable water rarely overlap in Europe this late in the year. Madeira’s do. The trails are the reason to use them: PR 1 Vereda do Areeiro, PR 1.2 Vereda do Pico Ruivo, PR 6 Levada das 25 Fontes, PR 6.1 Levada do Risco and PR 3.1 Caminho Real do Monte were all open when we checked on September 8, 2026, while PR 1.3 Vereda da Encumeada and PR 4 Levada do Barreiro were restricted. Status is published trail by trail and moves with weather and works, so read it the week you go.
From Funchal, the cable car to Monte runs 08:45 to 17:45 every day of the year except Christmas Day: €22 return, €16 one way, free up to age 6 and half price from 7 to 14, with an e-ticket valid 60 days after purchase. At the top station, Monte Palace Tropical Garden on Caminho das Babosas asks €18 for adults and admits children up to 14 free with an adult. November falls under its winter timetable, 09:00 to 18:00 rather than the summer 19:00, and the sculpture museum inside shuts at 17:00.
Free things are thin on the ground this month, and it is fair to say so plainly. Watching the carreiros load a sledge at the top of the Monte run costs nothing, and the sledges themselves are €30 for one rider, €40 for two and €60 for three, Monday to Saturday, 09:00 to 18:00, sold on site for the same day only. Swimming is free at 73.0°F. For the Botanical Garden Eng. Rui Vieira on Caminho do Meio at Bom Sucesso, with its 2,000-plus exotic species, we carry the address and the collection but no admission figure, so ask at the gate.
Madeira in November: 2-day itinerary and 10h 31m of daylight
Day one is deliberately morning-heavy. Book a 30-minute slot on PR 6 Levada das 25 Fontes for about 8:30 and be walking by 9, when the air is still nearer the night’s 62.6°F than the day’s 73.0°F. Back at the car by 1. Spend the early afternoon at sea level, since the water reads warmest then. Ride the cable car up by 15:30 at the latest, because the last cars leave at 17:45 and the garden closes at 18:00. Sunset is 6:07 p.m., so dinner starts in the dark.
Day two goes higher: PR 1 Vereda do Areeiro toward Pico Ruivo, again on an early slot, warm layer in the pack. If cloud has settled on the ridge, swap the whole day. Cable car at 08:45, the tile panels and the sculpture museum before the 17:00 cut, then the sledges, remembering that no three-person ride goes out on wet ground and nothing runs on Sunday. In an average November, 2.3 days bring 0.39 inch or more, so decide the swap before you need it.
Madeira in November vs October and December: air, rain and sea temperature
| Measure | October | November | December |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average high | 77.4°F | 73.0°F | 69.8°F |
| Average low | 66.6°F | 62.6°F | 59.9°F |
| Precipitation | 3.59 in | 3.16 in | 3.73 in |
| Days ≥ 0.04 in (1 mm) | 7.0 | 7.3 | 8.6 |
| Sea surface | 75.6°F | 73.0°F | 70.3°F |
November sits in the middle of a gentle slide, all three columns from the same IPMA station and the same 1991-2020 record. Days give up 4.4°F on October and another 3.2°F to December. The sea tracks along behind: 75.6°F, then 73.0°F, then 70.3°F, each on the same mean-of-daily-maxima basis. Rainfall breaks the pattern. November’s 3.16 inches is the smallest total of the three, under October’s 3.59 and December’s 3.73, even though it spreads across 7.3 days against October’s 7.0.
Move four weeks earlier and you buy warmer water and more afternoon, at the cost of a wetter monthly total. Move four weeks later and December hands you 8.6 wet days, a 70.3°F sea and less daylight than November’s 10h 31m, which shortens the list of trail slots again. Each case is argued on its own page, October and December.
Is November a good time to visit Madeira?
Yes, if you came to walk. A 73.0°F coastal high means the climb toward Pico Ruivo is a walk rather than a test, and the sea is still warm enough to end the day in. No, if the trip depends on dry days: 7.3 of them arrive wet in an average month, and cloud on the ridge is a routine event rather than bad luck. No, too, for anyone who wants summer water.
When the answer is no, October is the month to prefer. On the same record it gives 77.4°F days, a 75.6°F sea and 7.0 wet days rather than 7.3, plus more daylight, and daylight is now the scarce resource on this island: every classified trail start is a booked slot between sunrise and sunset.
What November has to itself is the overlap: a 73.0°F sea you can still swim in and a mountain you can climb through the middle of the day without paying for it.
The last word
Decide the walks before the flights. The booking portal, not the forecast, is what caps a November week here: 30-minute slots between a 7:36 a.m. sunrise and a 6:07 p.m. sunset, €4.50 a head, and a trail status published one PR number at a time. Then hold one wet afternoon back for Monte, where the €18 garden and the €22 cable car work in any weather and the wicker sledges do not.
Sources & data for this guide
- November normals, rain-day counts and thresholds · IPMA, station 522 Funchal (58 m), 1991-2020 climate normals · checked Sep 9, 2026
- Sea surface 73.0°F, mean of daily maxima 2015-2024 · Open-Meteo Marine API · checked Sep 9, 2026
- Daylight of 10h 31m, sunrise 07:36 and sunset 18:07 on Nov 15 · sunrise-sunset.org · checked Sep 9, 2026
- Trail access fee (€4.50 / €3), mandatory SIMplifica booking, 30-minute slots and open/restricted trail list · Visit Madeira (official), Hiking, Access Conditions · checked Sep 9, 2026
- Cable car fares, 08:45-17:45 hours and 60-day e-ticket · Teleferico do Funchal (official) · checked Sep 9, 2026
- Sledge prices, Monday-to-Saturday hours and the same-day, on-site rule · Carreiros do Monte (official) · checked Sep 9, 2026
- Monte Palace €18 and the October-to-March 09:00-18:00 timetable · Monte Palace Tropical Garden (official) · checked Sep 9, 2026 · several aggregators still list €12.50, the garden’s own site says €18
- Taxa Municipal Turistica, €2 per person per night capped at seven nights, with exemptions · Camara Municipal do Funchal, official FAQ · checked Sep 9, 2026
- We hold no monthly hotel-rate series and no wave or wind record for Madeira, so this guide prices neither. Hours, fees and trail status change · check the operators and the trail list when you book.