La Vie

Funchal


This 21st-century mall is the best shopping centre between Lisbon and New York. In addition to the big-name shops, it also has a pharmacy, a large supermarket, cash machines and mobile-phone dealerships.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Funchal attractions

1. Madeira Film Experience

0.13 MILES

This undervisited attraction ambitiously promises 'the island's history in 30 minutes' and, it must be said, doesn't disappoint. With a soundtrack in…

2. Jardim Municipal

0.14 MILES

Verdant old park in the city centre, created on the site of the Convent of San Francisco, with tens of exotic labelled trees, twittering birds, basalt…

3. Parque de Santa Catarina

0.16 MILES

This large sloping park contains a well-equipped children's playground, a cafe and Madeira's first chapel. It's a lovely picnic spot amid exotic greenery.

4. Museu de História Natural

0.18 MILES

This old-fashioned museum, housed (in classic Funchal fashion) in a surplus palace, has an ageing aquarium on the ground floor, and stuffed local fauna,…

5. Blandy's

0.19 MILES

Housed in the Adegas de São Francisco, the former Franciscan monastery, Blandy's brings together the British-Madeiran wine companies that were given…

6. Casa-Museu Frederico de Freitas

0.22 MILES

Built by the counts of Calçada in the 17th century, this tasteful mansion was purchased by a local lawyer, Frederico de Freitas, in the 1940s. An avid…

7. Museu CR7

0.23 MILES

If after a few days in Funchal, the fact has escaped your attention, now you know: the world's greatest footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo was born and grew up…

8. Convento de Santa Clara

0.24 MILES

The highlight of this 15th-century convent, once the island's richest, is one of the island's most attractive churches, with floor to ceiling azulejos…