Curral das Freiras: Nun's Valley and the Eira do Serrado Viewpoint

The 1566 refuge

In 1566 pirates attacked Funchal. The nuns of the Santa Clara Convent fled inland and found refuge in this deep valley, which then took their name. Visit Madeira tells this story on its official parish page and on the Câmara de Lobos page.

The valley walls shielded the convent's treasure then, and they still hide the village from view today. Curral das Freiras is one of the few places on the island that cannot be seen from the sea. That is unusual on an island where most towns announce themselves from a ship miles out.

A crater without a volcano

Visit Madeira describes the parish as sitting in a deep valley resembling a volcano crater. The parish covers 25.07 km² and has around 2,000 residents, which makes it the largest parish of the Câmara de Lobos municipality. The municipality as a whole counts about 35,000 people across five parishes, so Curral das Freiras is large in area and thinly settled.

The valley floor holds the village. The rim holds the viewpoints. Everything the visitor does here follows that geometry.

The church and the parish today

The Church of Nossa Senhora do Livramento dates from the 19th century and is the named point of interest in the village itself. There is no published opening hours sheet for it on the official pages we read, so treat a visit as a drop-in stop while you walk the village. Curral das Freiras is a working parish, not a staged one.

You will share the road with residents going about a normal day.

What you see and what it costs

Visit Madeira lists the Eira do Serrado Viewpoint at an altitude of 1,095 m with an unobstructed view over Curral das Freiras. It is an open-air site and no hours are published, which in practice means you can come at first light or near sunset. Entry is free and there is nothing to book.

The footpath down to the village begins next to the Estalagem da Eira do Serrado, which is how Visit Madeira marks the start of the path. No official page publishes the length or walking time of that path, so plan by daylight rather than by a timetable.

The Request Stop Rule

Some runs of bus 81 pass through Eira do Serrado, and the stop there works differently from a normal bus stop. If you want to board at Eira do Serrado, you must phone 291 705 563 or 965 059 005 by midnight the day before. If you want to get off there, you simply tell the driver when you board.

Miss the phone rule and you may watch the bus pass you by on the rim while you stand with a great view and no ride.

Comparing the routes in

Line 81 starts at Funchal stops such as Praça do Povo and the Teleférico terminal and ends at Lombo Chão in Curral das Freiras. The timetable sheet separates a municipal fare from an intermunicipal fare but prints no euro amount, so check at a Horários do Funchal sales point. The roads in and out are the tunnel route and the rim route, and the forestry road over to Pico do Areeiro can close for events, as it did for the Eco Rally.

If you walk in instead

Fit walkers arrive on foot from the mountains. From Pico do Areeiro at 1,818 m and from Pico Ruivo at 1,862 m you can look down on Curral das Freiras, and from Boca das Torrinhas a walker can continue on PR2 all the way to the valley. That routing is described in the trails section below.

For wheels on other days, our overview of getting around Madeira covers the wider bus network, and car hire in Madeira covers the rental basics.

PR2 Vereda do Urzal, the valley's trail

The IFCN register lists PR2 Vereda do Urzal at 10.3 km from Curral das Freiras to Boaventura, and it is open. This is the classic way to arrive on foot from the north coast or leave the valley under your own steam. Non-resident visitors pay $5.17 (€4.50) for one classified trail, booked on SIMplifica, and children 12 and under go free but must still book.

Bookings can be made for the same day or later, and IFCN publishes no maximum advance window. Two cautions from the official register. It gives distance only, with no durations, and IFCN publishes no difficulty grades.

Any walking time you see elsewhere is not from IFCN.

Coming from the peaks on PR1.3 and PR2

IFCN reopened the PR1.3 section between Pico Ruivo and Boca das Torrinhas from 18 June 2026, about 3.9 km walkable. From Boca das Torrinhas you can continue on PR2 Vereda do Urzal toward Curral das Freiras or Boaventura. The PR1.3 section from Boca das Torrinhas to Encumeada stays closed, so this is a one-way mountain link, not a loop.

Note that this route follows an IFCN notice, and the IFCN FAQ still lists only PR1.1 and PR1.2 as the PR1 exits from Pico Ruivo. If you start from the top, our pages on Pico do Arieiro and Pico Ruivo cover the summit ends, and our hikes guide sorts the island's routes.

Fees, passes and small print

Trail fees for non-residents run $5.17 (€4.50) for any single classified trail other than PR1, with the full PR1 crossing at $12.06 (€10.50). Passes that never include PR1 cost $10.33 (€9) for one day. Residents and children 12 and under pay nothing but must book.

The system applies the cheapest eligible rate automatically. The legal basis is Portaria n.º 801/2025 of 10 December, amended by Portaria n.º 48/2026 of 13 February. Full details sit on our Madeira trail fees page.

Chestnut season and chestnut everything

Visit Madeira says the local delicacies here are a must, with chestnut taking the leading role. That is the official word, and it matches what the valley is known for across the island. The soil and climate of the crater suit the chestnut trees, and village kitchens turn them into soups, cakes, sweets and liqueurs.

For the wider island table, our guide to typical food of Madeira covers the dishes you will meet everywhere else.

No published festival date

We checked the official pages and found no chestnut festival date on them. The Visit Madeira parish page praises the chestnut but publishes no festival calendar, and no date appears on the municipal pages we read. If a festival matters to your trip, ask locally or watch the municipality's agenda rather than trusting a fixed date from any guide.

Five details worth knowing

Read these before you set your alarm or your bus time. They are the kind of facts that only surface if you dig through timetables and trail registers.

• The village cannot be seen from the sea, one of the few places on the island with that distinction, which is exactly why the nuns chose it in 1566 (Visit Madeira).
• The bus stop on the rim is not a normal stop. To board at Eira do Serrado you must phone 291 705 563 or 965 059 005 by midnight the day before (Horários do Funchal timetable).
• You can look down on the valley from two summits, Pico do Areeiro at 1,818 m and Pico Ruivo at 1,862 m, without walking into it at all (Visit Madeira).
• The 10.3 km PR2 into the valley needs a same-day-or-later SIMplifica booking and a fee of $5.17 (€4.50) for non-resident adults, but IFCN publishes no walking duration for it (IFCN register and fees FAQ).
• There is canyoning in the ravine below the road. The level 2 descent meets after the tunnel that gives access to Curral das Freiras, so the valley you photograph from above is also run through with water (tour listing for the Intermediate Canyoning Adventure in Madeira, Level 2).

Three ways to spend a day here

The bus runs several times a day, so a half-day visit is realistic without a car. A driving visit gives you more slack for the footpath down from the viewpoint and a chestnut lunch. A hiking day swallows everything.

Morning is the natural slot. Take an early bus 81 or drive up before the midday minibuses crowd the viewpoint, walk to the Eira do Serrado rail at 1,095 m while the valley floor is still in clear light, then follow the footpath down to the village for a chestnut lunch. If you started before dawn on the Pico do Arieiro sunrise tour or the Pico do Arieiro sunrise hiking transfer, the valley works as your afternoon stop on the way back to Funchal.

Serious hikers flip it. They spend the whole day on PR2 Vereda do Urzal or the PR1.3 and PR2 link from the peaks, and the village is the finish line rather than a stop. In that case the church, the chestnut cake and the bus back are the reward.

Budget the tourist tax if you stay over. Curral das Freiras sits in Câmara de Lobos municipality, which charges $2.30 (€2) a night capped at 7 nights, with guests under 13 exempt. For accommodation across the island, see where to stay in Madeira, and for more towns like this one, our Madeira towns hub is the index.