Being far removed from the Portuguese mainland, the vast majority of visitors to Madeira arrive by plane. However, some also arrive by cruise ship.
Flying to Madeira
From Portugal: easyJet, TAP Air Portugal, and Ryanair are the top carriers that fly from Lisbon and Porto to Madeira.
From Europe: Madeira is well-connected to many destinations across Europe (see table below).
From the USA: If you’ll be coming from outside Europe, it’s likely you’ll have to make a stopover somewhere (for instance in Lisbon). There is only one direct flight to Madeira from outside Europe: an infrequent New York JFK to Madeira flight run by Azores Airlines. Try searching for this flight directly on the Azores Airlines website, as due to its limited schedule it doesn’t easily show up on search engines.
From the UK: There are regular direct flights from London, Bristol, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast, Leeds, Liverpool, and Newcastle upon Tyne. Jet2 and easyJet have the most routes, plus a few from British Airways and Ryanair.
Madeira has an airport on the main island as well as a small airport on the smaller island of Porto Santo. The latter only has very few flights, so Madeira Airport International Cristiano Ronaldo (airport code: FNC) is likely your best bet.
Tip: Madeira’s airport is known for having one of the more challenging landing approaches in Europe. While it’s safe to fly to Madeira, flights are sometimes delayed or canceled due to adverse weather conditions, or in rare cases may be rerouted to Porto Santo. We suggest having travel insurance with coverage for delay or cancellation — just in case!
How to find cheap flights to Madeira
The best way is to use flight search engines such as Google Flights, Skyscanner, Kiwi, or Momondo.
We suggest playing with the dates to find the most attractive flight schedules and prices.
However, avoid booking through flight search engines or third-party agents like Kiwi. If you have a customer service issue, it just creates unnecessary headaches to have an intermediate to deal with, so it’s best to book directly with the airlines.
It’s possible that a stopover in Lisbon or Porto will find you better or cheaper flight options. You can try searching separately for a return to the Portuguese mainland and onward travel to Madeira.
Flight routes to Madeira
The following destinations have regularly scheduled flights to Madeira. Some of these are seasonal (e.g. summer only).
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Austrian Airlines | Vienna |
| Azores Airlines | New York–JFK, Ponta Delgada |
| Binter Canarias | Gran Canaria, Porto Santo, Tenerife–North, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Marrakesh, Tenerife–South |
| British Airways | London–Heathrow |
| Condor | DĂĽsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig/Halle, Munich |
| easyJet | Basel/Mulhouse, Berlin, Bristol, Lisbon, London–Gatwick, Lyon, Manchester, Milan–Malpensa, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Porto |
| Edelweiss Air | ZĂĽrich |
| Eurowings | DĂĽsseldorf, Cologne/Bonn, Hamburg, Prague, Stuttgart |
| Eurowings Discover | Frankfurt, Munich |
| Finnair | Helsinki |
| Iberia | Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Málaga, Santiago de Compostela, Valencia |
| Jet2.com | Belfast–International, Birmingham, Bristol, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds/Bradford, Liverpool, London–Stansted, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne |
| Lufthansa | Frankfurt, Munich |
| Luxair | Luxembourg |
| Norwegian Air Shuttle | Oslo, Copenhagen |
| Ryanair | Beauvais, Bergamo, Charleroi, Dublin, Lisbon, London–Stansted, Manchester, Marseille, Nuremberg, Porto |
| Scandinavian Airlines | Stockholm–Arlanda |
| Smartwings | Brno, Prague |
| Sundair | Berlin |
| Swiss International Air Lines | Geneva |
| TAP Air Portugal | Lisbon, Porto |
| Transavia | Amsterdam, Lyon, Nantes, Paris–Orly, Porto |
| TUI Airways | Birmingham, Manchester |
| TUI fly Belgium | Brussels |
| TUI fly Deutschland | DĂĽsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hannover, Munich, Stuttgart |
| TUI fly Netherlands | Amsterdam |
| Wizz Air | Budapest, Katowice, Rome–Fiumicino, Vienna, Warsaw–Chopin |
Ferries or cruises to Madeira
Cruise ships regularly make port in Funchal, normally staying for under a day. You can see the cruise ship schedule here. If you arrive by cruise ship, you’ll want to check out this 1-day Madeira itinerary.
There are limited options to get to Madeira by ferry. Currently, there is no regularly scheduled ferry and your only option is to board as a passenger on a cargo ship. We will refer you to this blog which has extensive information.
In years past, ferries have traveled between Lisbon and Madeira, or between Madeira and Tenerife. When these ferries are running, they only go during the summer high season.