We consider all the ways to inexpensively get to Madeira Island from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Riga, Vilnius and Helsinki. We compare prices and choose the cheapest flight option.
The article consists of five parts:
- Analysis of options on how to cheaply fly to Madeira from Moscow.
- Study of ticket prices for flights from St. Petersburg and other cities of Russia.
- Composite flight to Madeira: first to Lisbon, and then from there to the island itself.
- An analysis of the cheapest ways to get to Madeira - flights on low-cost airlines from the cities of the Baltic States and Finland. Saving about 50% of the cost of regular tickets.
- Conclusions and advice.
Prices are indicated for round trip tickets (unless otherwise indicated) in Russian rubles and are duplicated in euros at the current exchange rate (1 euro ≈ 64 rubles). Prices in specific examples are current at the time of publication.
Read also: Holidays in Madeira (all useful information: monthly weather, attractions, a large list of beaches, etc.)
Where to find cheap tickets? They are easy to find through the search engines Aviasales and Skyscanner. To find the best price, check both and see tickets for different dates - this will increase your chances. If we are talking about low-cost airlines, then the cost of tickets must be checked on the websites of the airlines themselves.
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How to get from Moscow to Madeira
There are no direct regular flights from Russian cities to Madeira Island (Funchal).
As a rule, the best option to fly from Moscow to Madeira is a flight aboard Air Berlin with one connection in Berlin. Tickets cost from 22-25 thousand rubles... During Air Berlin promotions, tickets can be even slightly cheaper. Example from Aviasales:
Sometimes it is cheaper to fly on codeshare flights between Air Berlin and British Airways, but then another connection is added (in London) - you can save about 1-2 thousand rublesbut hardly worth it.
Tickets to Funchal from Moscow on TAP Portugal flights usually cost around 30-35 thousand rubles (about 500 euros), but from time to time the airline holds promotions - in this case, tickets may cost less. TAP Portugal flies to Madeira via Lisbon, but sometimes a cheaper option is a combined flight: on Lufthansa from Moscow to Munich, then on TAP Portugal from Munich to Lisbon, and from there to Madeira, a return flight with one connection in Lisbon.
EasyJet flies from London (Gatwick) to Madeira from March to mid-October, flights from Moscow to London operate all year round. Tickets for all flights from Moscow to Funchal usually cost from 350 euros (23 thousand rubles), but if you are lucky with the action, it will come out cheaper. Please note that EasyJet baggage is paid for separately. Tickets for each of the flight segments must be searched for separately, so using the official EasyJet website is not always convenient - in addition to it, it makes sense to use the search for Aviasales and Skyscanner. Example of EasyJet tickets from Moscow to Madeira via London for June 2015:
From St. Petersburg and other cities of Russia
The best price for Madeira tickets from St. Petersburg is usually on Lufthansa + TAP Portugal flights via Frankfurt am Main or Munich and Lisbon. Air tickets for these flights may cost 26-28 thousand rubles (about 420 euros), which is not cheap at all, and two transfers are inevitable. Therefore, it is much easier for Petersburgers to use another way to fly to Madeira - by low-cost airlines from the cities of the Baltic countries or from Helsinki, which can be easily and cheaply reached by buses. More on this below.
Tickets for Madeira from Yekaterinburg, Kaliningrad, Rostov-on-Don and other Russian cities are much more expensive - from 35-40 thousand rubles.
See also: What you can take on board the plane.
Travel accommodation. We advise you to search for hotels on Roomguru.ru, it will help you find the best deal. But it is better to look for apartments, houses and other private accommodation on the popular Airbnb - there you can find very cozy apartments at any price!
Lisbon - Madeira: how to get there
Lisbon to Funchal
The cheapest way to get to Madeira from Lisbon is with the EasyJet low-cost airline. Round-trip tickets to this direction are easy to find for 70-100 euros, during the promotional period even cheaper.
When one-time booking of tickets for several people the airline will significantly reduce the price of each booked ticket. Sometimes round trip tickets can be purchased for as little as 35-40 euros... Do not forget that this is the price without luggage, which is paid separately for this low-cost airline: luggage up to 20 kg costs 34 euros, more is more expensive.
Sample tickets for RUB 4552 (≈70 euros) for June 2015 with Skyscanner (he found tickets 12 euros cheaper than on the official website of the airline):
And here is an example of tickets for the same dates, but when booking for three people (as you can see, the price for each ticket separately decreased by RUB 600 (almost € 10). Tickets cost per 3950 RUB (about € 60). For a reservation for two, the discount will be about 7-8 euros... So fly with a company - it's cheaper this way.
From Russia to Lisbon
It remains to fly from Moscow to Lisbon on a budget. The task is simple - it is an inexpensive destination, and you can often find tickets at a good price due to the fact that there is competition between airlines.
It is easy to find tickets to Lisbon from Moscow and St. Petersburg from 12-14 thousand rubles... Low prices can be found at Air Moldova, UIA, Air France and others. During the period of promotions and sales, the price may be another 1-3 thousand rubles less. Skyscanner ticket example:
Yes, such a combined way to get to Madeira is more difficult, but a visit to Lisbon is successfully integrated into the program. To visit an additional city as part of one trip and at the same time save money, isn't it great?
See also: Which countries are better to live in.
The cheapest way to fly to Madeira
Low-cost airlines to Madeira from the Baltics
The cheapest way to get to Madeira for residents of Russia, Belarus and the Baltic countries is to fly from the airports of Riga, Vilnius, Kaunas or Talinn on low-cost airlines with several (1-2) transfers in European cities. Read more about this scheme of budget travel in Europe here.
There are a lot of options as to which cities and which airlines to fly through - you have a wide choice: start from the prices and from the cities you are interested in.
Here is an example of a very budget-friendly way to get to Madeira (one way) with a flight from Riga via Eindhoven (on board Wizz Air - no. 1) and Lisbon (arrival with Ryanair - no. 2, flight to Funchal with an EasyJet - no. 3). The cost of all flights in total 90 euros (5800 rubles) - just fantastic!
As you can see, all flights are docked with each other so that you can get from Riga to Madeira in one day, and transfers took no more than 2 hours. If desired and possible, in each of the intermediate cities, you can stay for a day or two.
- From Riga you can also fly via London and Lisbon (Wizz Air + EasyJet); Paris and Lisbon (Wizz Air + Ryanair + EasyJet).
- From Vilnius - via Milan and Lisbon (Ryanair + EasyJet); via London and Lisbon (Wizz Air + EasyJet).
- From Kaunas you can fly via London and Lisbon (Ryanair + EasyJet); just via London (Ryanair + Monarch Airways); London and Porto (Ryanair + Transavia); Dublin and Porto (Ryanair + Transavia).
These are the most budgetary ways that will allow you to get to Madeira and back within the range of 180-250 euros (11.5-16 thousand rubles). You can think of dozens of other options for every taste and wallet.
It is easy to get to Riga, Vilnius and Kaunas cheaply. The most obvious solution is the Lux Express buses, for which flights from Moscow, St. Petersburg and Minsk are regularly sold tickets with discounts. Sometimes you can fly from Moscow to Vilnius very cheaply on Transaero flights - for example, for 3852 rubles (round trip).
So, we can conclude that getting to the Madeira Islands can be very cheap - even for 12-13 thousand rubles (about 200 euros) if using low-cost airlines and buses. Do not forget that almost all low-cost airlines have to pay for luggage separately.
Low-cost airlines from Helsinki
The cheapest way to get from Helsinki to Madeira is two ways: via Copenhagen on Norwegian flights, or via London (first on Norwegian, then on Monarch Airways). For all flights, you will need to pay about 300 euros (about 19 thousand. If desired, the way to Madeira Island can be laid in other ways with the capture of more cities: for example, from Helsinki to Nice on Norwegian, and then from Nice to Lisbon and from Lisbon to Funchal on EasyJet.
This option is suitable, perhaps, only for residents of St. Petersburg and the North-West, because the savings in comparison with flights from Moscow are minimal.
See also: The most inexpensive cities in Europe.
Conclusions and advice
- Find out if there are any current airline promotions at the moment.
- Fly with a company - this way you will receive discounts.
- Do not be afraid of difficult routes - this will not only save you money, but also make your trip more interesting.
- Fly with low-cost airlines and take only the bare minimum of things with you. If you refuse your luggage, you will save more than a dozen euros. At least you can take and pay for only one piece of baggage for the entire company in which you fly, and divide the amount equally.
