# Can I fly a drone in Funchal, Portugal?

No published drone zone covers the exact centre of Funchal, but 7 restricted zones fall within 10 km of it, the nearest 2 km away. Check your exact take-off point before you fly.

## Key facts
- Restricted zones within 10 km of the centre: **7**
  - Requires authorisation: 4
  - Conditional: 2
  - Prohibited: 1
- Zones covering the city centre: **none**
- No zone over the centre states a height at which its restriction stops; the EU open-category limit of 120 m applies
- Published by: ANAC - Autoridade Nacional da Aviação Civil
- Official source: https://dnt.anac.pt/
- Data version: 2026-04-22
- Measured within 10 km of 32.6657, -16.9255

## Zones nearest the centre of Funchal

| Zone | Restriction | Distance from centre | Restricted up to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parque Natural da Madeira | Requires authorisation | 2 km | 120 m AGL |
| RN Parcial do Garajau e MN da Ponta do Garajau | Requires authorisation | 4 km | 120 m AGL |
| Aeroporto da Madeira - Área 1 | Conditional | 5 km | 600 m AGL |
| Aeroporto da Madeira - Área 2 | Conditional | 5 km | 600 m AGL |
| PNM, MN, PP do Cabo Girão | Requires authorisation | 6 km | 120 m AGL |
| Monumento Natural do Maciço Montanhoso Central | Requires authorisation | 6 km | 120 m AGL |
| Aeroporto da Madeira - Área Proíbida | Prohibited | 7 km | 600 m AGL |

## Who to ask for permission

- **IFCN IP RAM - Instituto das Florestas e Conservação da Natureza** - ifcn@madeira.gov.pt (4 zones near Funchal)
- **ANAC - Autoridade Nacional da Aviação Civil** - uas.spec@anac.pt (3 zones near Funchal)

## Frequently asked questions

### Can I fly a drone in Funchal?
No published drone zone covers the exact centre of Funchal, but 7 restricted zones fall within 10 km of it, the nearest 2 km away. Check your exact take-off point before you fly. Funchal is in Portugal, where the UAS geographical zones are published by ANAC - Autoridade Nacional da Aviação Civil under Regulation (EU) 2019/947, Article 15. Always confirm against the official source before a flight.

### Where can't I fly a drone in Funchal?
Inside Funchal's UAS geographical zones. Within 10 km of the centre canfly? tracks 7 restricted zones: 4 requiring authorisation, 2 conditional, 1 prohibited. They are published by ANAC - Autoridade Nacional da Aviação Civil and shown on the map at https://canfly.io/map.

### How high can I fly a drone in Funchal?
The EU open category caps you at 120 m above ground across Portugal, and lower where a zone says so. No zone over the centre of Funchal publishes a height at which its restriction stops, so treat 120 m as the limit and check the zones nearby before you launch.

### Who do I ask for permission to fly a drone in Funchal?
The zones around Funchal name 2 different responsible bodies, so it depends which zone you are in. The most frequently named are IFCN IP RAM - Instituto das Florestas e Conservação da Natureza (ifcn@madeira.gov.pt); ANAC - Autoridade Nacional da Aviação Civil (uas.spec@anac.pt). Each zone's authority is listed on this page.

## How this was worked out

A zone counts if any part of it falls within 10 km of 32.6657, -16.9255 - Funchal's centre as recorded by GeoNames. That radius scales with population and is NOT the administrative city boundary, so a zone just outside the city limits still appears. Population 105,795 (GeoNames record updated 2026-04-14).

City names, coordinates and populations from GeoNames (https://www.geonames.org/), licensed CC BY 4.0. Zone data is the official national dataset, unmodified except for normalisation to ED-269.

Full country picture: https://canfly.io/drone-zones/portugal
Interactive map: https://canfly.io/map?country=PRT&lat=32.6657&lon=-16.9255&radius=10000

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**Citing this page:** canfly?, “Can I fly a drone in Funchal?”, https://canfly.io/drone-zones/portugal/funchal (data as of 2026-04-22).
canfly? aggregates the official UAS geographical zones that EU and EEA states publish under
Regulation (EU) 2019/947, Article 15. It is not an air-traffic or flight-authorisation service;
critical flights must be confirmed against the national authority.