A page that quotes a trail fee or a bus fare without being able to say where it came from is not worth trusting. Funchal Tours takes each kind of fact from the body that holds it wherever that body publishes it: the forest service for its trails, the bus company for its fares, the regional statistics office for its figures, and a garden, a museum or a wine lodge for its own hours and prices. Pages list their sources at the foot, and the data sheets name the source of each row.
Which body answers which question
Safety and entry. Readers in the United States are pointed first to the US State Department, and readers in the United Kingdom to the UK Foreign Office; the pages on safety and entry cite both, and where they differ, both are given. The border rules for arrivals from outside the Schengen area come from the European Commission.
Trails and nature. Trail fees, bookings and closures come from the IFCN, the forest service, and its notices; the laurel forest's world heritage listing from UNESCO.
Getting around. City bus fares come from the Horários do Funchal tariff, and airport facts from Madeira Airport. Road distances and drive times are routed over OpenStreetMap, and bus routes and stops come from the operators' published timetables.
Beaches and the sea. Bathing waters come from the APA, Blue Flags from the ABAAE list, and the city's bathing complexes from Frente MarFunchal.
Events, weather and statistics. Events and sights come from Visit Madeira, the regional tourism board; climate normals and sea temperatures from IPMA, the meteorological institute, as published by DREM, the regional statistics office, which also gives the tourism figures; Madeira wine and poncha rules from IVBAM.
Places and listings. Coordinates, population and area come from Wikidata, named and not linked; the restaurants, museums, viewpoints and places to stay counted near each area come from the site's own listing database, built from public map listings and the booking partners' catalogues, with ratings and review counts as those listings publish them.
- Travel advice
- US State Department and UK Foreign Office, side by side
- Trails
- IFCN · Fees, bookings, closures
- Buses
- Horários do Funchal · 2026 tariff
- Beaches
- APA, ABAAE and Frente MarFunchal
- Weather and statistics
- IPMA and DREM
- Tour and hotel prices
- The booking partners' own catalogues, dated
Why some sites are never linked
Citing and linking are different acts. An encyclopedia is used as a source of record for a measurement or a date, and it is named where it is used, but it summarises other sources, so it is never the destination of a link. A reseller quoting a price it does not set is not treated as evidence for that price: tour and hotel prices come from the booking partners' own catalogues, and fares and tickets from the body that sets them. A short list of sites is excluded as link destinations: review aggregators, price comparison sites and ticket resellers that repeat other people's facts. The editorial principles set out the rest.
Common questions
Which travel advice does the site follow?
Readers in the United States are pointed to the State Department and readers in the United Kingdom to the Foreign Office; both are cited, and differences are stated.
Why is the encyclopedia not linked?
It is a source of record for a measurement or a date, not a destination worth sending a reader to, so it is named and never linked.
What happens when two sources disagree?
Both figures are given, each with its source.