Stadsbezienswaardigheden Funchal Hop-On Hop-Off Bustour

Amaizing tour, nice views, great way to see the city in short time

This is a great way to see Funchal and the surrounding area. It also takes in the coastal village of Camero de Lobos. The commentary via headphones provides some interesting facts about the area. Well worth doing if it's your first visit to the area.

Very little commentary or information on the bus. Disappointed as I’m sure there is a lot to say about the city and island. We’ve used buses like this on many cities and this was very poor. I suggest the company add more information to the tour.

The issues were the headphones did not work in some of the sockets, moved seats and still nothing. Other passengers having same problem. Very bumpy ride away from the harbour area. Bus driver skills not the best so overall disappointing. For 26 euros each and cash only this should have been a lot better.

We have used the big red bus in many cities and always enjoyed the experience. But this was different. First was the cost, at 26Euros it was 7 Euros more expensive than its yellow competitor, so we expected it to be considerably better. It wasn’t. The plug in headphones only worked on certain base units. The spoken description started late so what little description there was came after the bus had passed the point being described and even then, the description was absolutely minimal. Every bus we’ve been on before has told us about the place, the people, the history and provided lots of information. Not this trip. Most buses tell you what stops are being approached and what attractions will be there, how long the bus will stop if it’s going to be there for any time and when the next bus will be along. None of those snippets of information on this trip. There were two random long duration stops and in between stops lots of strange music. This was by far the most disappointing big red open top bus tour we have ever been on. So much for paying the extra to get a quality experience.

Having had a good experience of these tours in other countries, we found this cery poor value for money. The pre-recorded commentary was sparse, with lots of music playing when they could have provided information, background and context. The commentary did not always match the progress of the bus, so we did not know what we were looking at. The frequency of buses to and from the gardens at Monte (one of the key attractions and truly spectacular) at 45 minute intervals is inadequate and we ended up returning on a local service bus which was vastly cheaper and more frequent. Tip: do some research before you visit, and use local buses to get around Funchal .

Very disappointing experience. The audio commentary was either crackly, impossible to understand, or not working at all, defeating the main purpose of a sightseeing tour. On our first day, the bus broke down and we were left waiting 40 minutes in the heat with no shade, causing us to miss planned activities. On the second day, the Blue Line bus did not follow the timetable shown in the app, meaning we missed it completely and couldn’t experience that route. Drivers also moved off before elderly passengers were seated. Poor value and far below usual expectations for City Sightseeing

We can't complain too much as we got our tickets for free in the end, in return for a tour of a Pestana hotel, but had I paid for them, I would have been very disappointed. The blue route, is essentially a drive up the hill through narrow streets unsuitable for buses. They pause at the top and then a drive down again, much of it via the same route we had gone up. We have done these who is in many cities around the world; this commentary was the least informative we have experienced, reflecting that actually on the blue route there isn't a great deal to talk about! We had to look up a few things, worthy of comment, but ignored. The red route was rather better, but still took in some fairly long stretches of fast raod with nothing said, but at least gave a sense of the city and its history.

Red Bus driver was a bad driver. The audio was minimal and didn’t give many details. Blue bus the audio kept cracking up and the volume won’t go up.

We have been to Madeira before and had done a private comprehensive tour. This visit was on a transatlantic cruise and Madeira was our first port after 8 days at sea. We definitely needed to get off the ship and the hop on and off bus was a good option for us. The bus was easy to find and provided a basic overview of the city. We did not get off the bus but did the entire red loop. We still had time to enjoy lunch and a drink in town before getting back to the ship. It’s just a basic tour but can provide a relaxing over view of the city which worked for us on this visit.