The Fisherman's Quarter

It starts at the Mercado dos Lavradores, walks east through the old town to the fort and the beach, then comes back along the water, past the cable car station, and finishes at the marina among the sea-front cafés.

Same city, different subject. Doors of Funchal is the town the merchants and the Jesuits built. This one is the sea that paid for it: the market, the fishermen's chapel, the fort raised forty-eight years too late, the pebble beach the boats launched from. They cross the same few streets and share no stories.

English, all of it, one voice throughout. Tap play on this page and the opening of the tour plays for free, enough to know whether you want an afternoon of it. The map above shows the whole route before you pay.

3.1 km, cobbled for most of it, with one flight of steps down to the beach and back up. There is a gentle climb up to the church and an easy flat stretch along the seafront to finish.

The walking is about fifty minutes and the audio about the same, but the seven stops are places people go inside: the market, the fort, the chapel. Two and a half hours is the honest middle. Take longer if the day is good.

Praia da Barreirinha is a pebble beach with a lido beside it, and the tour has no clock in it. Bring a towel if the sea looks right, and pick the tour back up whenever you are dry.

They charge at the door and set their own hours, and the tour does not include them. Every stop is written to work from the street, so nothing is lost if you walk past instead of in.

No. Download it on wifi beforehand and it runs on GPS alone, with no signal and no Portuguese SIM.

Yes. The market where it starts is about twenty-five minutes on foot from the cruise terminal, or five in a taxi, and the walk ends at the marina, which is on your way back to the ship. Allow four hours door to door and you can still sit down for lunch on Rua de Santa Maria.

Showers pass quickly here and the route has no shortage of cover; the steps to the beach are the one place to take slowly when wet. Evenings are the best time for it, as the restaurants come out. Children do well on this one, as a fort, a beach and a market are three things they want to see anyway, though the audio is written for adults.