A first-timer's food crawl through Funchal

You can eat your way across Funchal in an afternoon, and it’s one of the best things to do on a cloudy day when the peaks are socked in. Here’s a route that hits the essentials without doubling back.

Start at the market

Begin at the Mercado dos Lavradores. Wander the fruit stalls, try a slice of anona (custard apple) or passion fruit, and watch the fishmongers fillet jet-black espada downstairs.

Bolo do caco, the right way

Find a spot serving bolo do caco fresh off the griddle — a flat sweet-potato bread, split and slathered with garlic-parsley butter. It’s the island’s universal snack and the bar for everything else.

The main event: espetada

For lunch, order espetada — chunks of beef rubbed with garlic and bay, skewered on a laurel stick and grilled over wood. It arrives hanging from a hook at your table. Pair it with milho frito, crispy cubes of fried cornmeal.

Finish with poncha

End in the old town with a glass of poncha — sugarcane spirit, honey and citrus, mixed with a wooden caralhinho. The traditional version is lemon; ask for passion fruit if you want it softer.

Map it in Wander Madeira

The full crawl — five stops, walking times between them, and which places skip the tourist mark-up — is saved as a ready-made plan in the app.