Madeira Hikes: Every Classified Trail, Mapped

PR is short for percurso recomendado, a recommended route. IFCN, the regional forest and nature conservation institute, publishes the classified routes in a single register with a number, a name, a distance, a start and finish point and a status. Today that register holds 42 routes: 39 on Madeira and 3 on Porto Santo. Most are managed by IFCN itself, but four are not: PR3 Vereda do Burro, PR3.1 Caminho Real do Monte and PR4 Levada do Barreiro belong to Funchal city council, and PR23 Levada da Azenha belongs to the Caniço parish council. That distinction matters because the booking system only covers IFCN-managed trails. The four municipal routes do not appear on the SIMplifica booking list and carry no fee through it.

Since the fee system was introduced, booking is not optional on the IFCN trails. You pick a trail, a date and an entry slot on the SIMplifica portal, pay, and receive a ticket by email. Children of 12 and under and residents go free but must also book. A single trail costs $5.17 (€4.50) per person, PR1 in full costs $12.06 (€10.50), and if you plan several trails there are 1, 3 and 7-day rates, as long as PR1 is not among them. The full arithmetic and a step-by-step booking walkthrough are on our Madeira trail fees page.

One legal point is worth knowing before you set out. Article 11 of Regional Legislative Decree 24/2022/M puts responsibility on you: trail users are personally and exclusively responsible for any damage during their use. You tick an acknowledgement of exactly that when you book. It is also worth knowing what the rules do not require. IFCN states that a guide is not mandatory on any classified trail, and that IFCN itself does not book guides or plan itineraries.

Not every path on the island is in the register. IFCN says plainly that not every trail on Madeira is classified, and that a trail not offered for booking is either not IFCN-managed, not classified, or closed. So if a famous levada you have read about does not appear above, it is not one of the 42.

What the Register Does Not Tell You

The register publishes distances and nothing about effort. There are no walking times on any official IFCN page for these routes, and no difficulty grades. Any duration or grade you see attached to a PR number comes from somewhere else, such as a tour operator's own listing, and is that listing's claim, not IFCN's. For planning, that leaves you working from distance and terrain you can judge from the map. A levada path and a ridge path can share the same kilometre count and make very different days.

The register also does not fix the other half of the logistics: how you get back. More than half the routes are linear, A to B, so finishing them puts you somewhere else entirely. IFCN states that it provides no return transport from Pico Ruivo. And it does not publish how far ahead the booking calendar opens. The FAQ confirms same-day and next-day bookings are possible subject to availability, but no official page read states a maximum advance window. Book early when you can, and treat anything beyond that as unconfirmed.

PR1 Vereda do Areeiro is the route most people mean when they say Madeira hiking. It links Pico do Areeiro to Pico Ruivo in 6.1 km, and the register notes that the open western branch runs through the tunnels. It reopened on 1 May 2026 after a two-year closure, and since 26 June 2026 it has been open every day of the week, having earlier run only Friday to Sunday.

The way it works now is specific. You start at Pico do Areeiro. The path is two-way as far as the Pedra Rija viewpoint at km 1.2, and from there to Pico Ruivo it is one-way, a rule set after a rockfall on the trail. The east branch via Pico das Torres is closed. IFCN closes the upper section on announced works days and posts the dates, so the register can show the one-way section as closed even while the rest is walkable. On those days you can walk out to Pedra Rija and return the same way on the cheaper ticket. There is no way to continue east or west: IFCN states that no east-west crossing between the central peaks and Paul da Serra is possible on classified trails at present.

Booking is mandatory and the full PR1 ticket covers the exit trails too. The $12.06 (€10.50) ticket includes PR1.1, PR1.2 and PR1.3 without another fee. The $5.17 (€4.50) ticket only covers the out-and-back to Pedra Rija and cannot be converted into the full walk. The gate at Pedra Rija is not a start point. Entry is at Pico do Areeiro.

If PR1 is your goal, the two names to know beyond it are Pico do Arieiro, where you start, and Pico Ruivo, the end of the one-way section.

Planning the Return From Pico Ruivo

IFCN provides no return transport from Pico Ruivo, so the return is your problem to solve, and there are three classified ways off the mountain. PR1.1 Vereda da Ilha drops 8.2 km to the north coast at Ilha. PR1.2 Vereda do Pico Ruivo climbs 2.8 km up from Achada do Teixeira, and back again, the shortest classified route to the summit and the usual pickup point for transfers. PR1.3 Vereda da Encumeada runs toward the west, but only the first part is open: the section from Pico Ruivo to Boca das Torrinhas has reopened, about 3.9 km of the 11.2 km, and from Boca das Torrinhas you can continue on PR2 Vereda do Urzal toward Curral das Freiras or Boaventura. The rest of PR1.3 to Encumeada stays closed.

The simplest arrangement for most walkers is a transfer that drops you at Pico do Arieiro before dawn and collects you at Achada do Teixeira. Two listings do exactly that: the Funchal Pico do Arieiro sunrise hiking transfer, a transport-only package where the trail permit is your own responsibility, and the Pico do Arieiro sunrise and Ruivo PR1 hike transfer, which adds permit booking help while the fee itself is still paid separately. Both include hotel pickup in Funchal. Whichever exit you choose, book the matching ticket: the full PR1 ticket already covers PR1.1, PR1.2 and PR1.3, so the walk out does not cost extra.

Two of the shortest are also two of the most photographed. PR11 Vereda dos Balcões is 1.5 km each way from Ribeiro Frio to Balcões, and one east island tour listing describes it as a short, flat levada walk. If you want it with transport and the rest of the east island in one day, the east tour with Santana and the Balcões walk includes the trail as part of a longer loop.

The Rabaçal plateau holds most of the rest of this list, and they combine well. PR6.1 Levada do Risco, PR6.2 Levada do Alecrim and PR6.3 Vereda da Lagoa do Vento all start at Rabaçal and come back the same way, and the famous Levada das 25 Fontes is only slightly longer at 4.3 km each way. One practical note for that area: the last road section to Casa do Rabaçal is closed to private cars, and no official fare is published for the shuttle van that covers it. A transfer listing such as the Rabaçal 25 Fontes and Risco levada hiking transfer removes the shuttle question altogether.

PR9.1 and PR6.8 carry the name Um Caminho para Todos, a path for everyone, at Queimadas and Rabaçal. The register gives their length, 1.9 km and 1.2 km, but no accessibility specification, so do not assume step-free or wheelchair access from the name alone.

Treat the table as a logistics warning as much as a menu. PR10 Levada do Furado is a case in point: 11 km from Ribeiro Frio to Portela, reopened after repair works, with IFCN asking for extra caution because of erosion. Walking it back doubles the day. PR5 has the same shape from Portela to Maroços. PR2 crosses from Curral das Freiras in the south to Boaventura in the north, so its two ends are on opposite sides of the mountains.

The peaks cluster is the one where the problem is most misunderstood. PR1 itself is 6.1 km one way, and PR1.1 to Ilha and PR1.3 toward Encumeada are linear exits from it. IFCN's own FAQ says there is no return transport from Pico Ruivo. That single sentence is why transfer services exist, and why the transfer listings on this page collect walkers at Achada do Teixeira, the road end of PR1.2. Our getting around page covers the wider transport picture, and if you are weighing whether a second car or a transfer makes more sense for a walking week, our Madeira tours roundup lists the trail transfers side by side.

PR3 and PR3.1 chain together into a linear descent from Pico do Areeiro to Ribeira das Cales and on to Monte, above Funchal. They are also two of the four routes with no SIMplifica fee, since Funchal city council manages them. Monte is a parish of Funchal, so this is one linear day that finishes above the city rather than on the far side of the island.

IFCN closes or restricts a trail for safety, weather, risks on the ground or works, and the register shows each change as a status. Before you build a walking week around a specific PR number, read its status. Five routes are fully closed at the moment, and several more are only partly walkable.

Booking a closed trail is not possible: SIMplifica simply does not offer it, and a trail not offered for booking is either not IFCN-managed, not classified, or closed.

• PR7 Levada do Moinho, 10.5 km, Ribeira da Cruz to Lamaceiros: fully closed.
• PR20 Vereda do Jardim do Mar, 1.9 km, Prazeres to Jardim do Mar: fully closed.
• PR27 Glaciar de Planalto, 4.6 km, Bica da Cana to ER 105: fully closed.
• PR28 Levada da Rocha Vermelha, 10.7 km, Fanal to Lombo da Atouguia: fully closed.
• PR3 Levada do Pico Castelo on Porto Santo, 4.1 km, Camacha to Ribeiro Formoso and Capela da Graça: fully closed.
• PR1 Vereda do Areeiro: the east branch via Pico das Torres is closed, and the one-way section from Pedra Rija to Pico Ruivo is closed on announced works days, when the walk becomes an out-and-back to Pedra Rija.
• PR1.3 Vereda da Encumeada: only the Pico Ruivo to Boca das Torrinhas section is open, about 3.9 km of the 11.2 km. From Boca das Torrinhas you can continue on PR2. The stretch to Encumeada stays closed.
• PR4 Levada do Barreiro: partially passable, so expect not to complete the full 6.7 km from Poço da Neve to Casa do Barreiro.
• PR12 Caminho Real da Encumeada: passable only from Boca da Corrida to km 3.5 of the 12.5 km.
• PR17 Caminho do Pináculo e Folhadal: passable between Encumeada, Folhadal, Caramujo and Bica da Cana, which is not the full 15 km route from Lombo do Mouro.
• PR10 Levada do Furado: open again after repair works, but IFCN asks walkers for extra caution because of erosion, so expect a rough surface in places.

The climate figures that exist for Madeira describe the coast, not the trails. At the Funchal weather station, 58 m above the sea, the 1991-2020 average daily high is 20.0°C in January, 21.0°C in April, 23.7°C in June and 26.6°C in September. Rain is almost absent in summer, 1.7 mm in July and 1.3 mm in August, and arrives in autumn, 91.2 mm in October and 94.8 mm in December, against 574.3 mm for the whole year. There is no official normal published here for the peaks, which are colder and wetter than Funchal in every month, so any mountain temperature you read is an estimate, not a statistic.

For walking, the coastal record gives a simple shape. June to August are nearly dry in Funchal, October to December are the wettest months, and the highs stay between 20.0°C and 26.8°C all year. What it cannot tell you is the weather on a ridge on the day you booked, and the booking rules do not refund rain, only an official closure. Our Madeira weather page goes deeper into the monthly picture, and choosing when to visit weighs the walking seasons against crowds and prices.

Whatever the month, plan for the mountain to disagree with Funchal. Reviewers of the PR1 sunrise transfers describe summit fog and cold on mornings when the coast was clear, and the operators recommend layers and a rain jacket rather than promising views. Pack for the register trail, not for the beach.

Start with what the rules demand, which is less than most people assume. IFCN states that a guide is not mandatory on any classified trail. What is mandatory is the booking: every IFCN-managed trail needs a paid slot on SIMplifica, and the fee for a single trail is $5.17 (€4.50). So the choice of guide or no guide is a preference and a logistics question, not a legal one.

A hire car suits the out-and-back trails, where you finish where you started: PR8 at Baía d'Abra, PR9 at Queimadas, PR11 at Ribeiro Frio. The exceptions matter, though. The last road section to Casa do Rabaçal is closed to private cars, with a shuttle van covering it and no official fare published for it. And on the peaks, a car left at Pico do Arieiro is 6.1 km of ridge away from where PR1 ends. Our car hire page covers rental practicalities and getting around Madeira compares the alternatives.

Transfers exist precisely for the linear and car-restricted cases. A listing such as the Rabaçal 25 Fontes and Risco levada hiking transfer takes you to Rabaçal without a car, or the Funchal Pico do Arieiro sunrise hiking transfer puts you at the PR1 start and collects you at Achada do Teixeira. Check each listing for what is bundled: the PR8 Ponta de São Lourenço transfer includes the trail permit per its listing, while most transfer-only options leave the booking to you.

Guided days add a guide and take the navigation off your hands. The guided Rabaçal levada walk, the Caldeirão Verde levada walk and similar listings are full days with hotel pickup. Note that for these guided levada days the listing does not say the trail fee is included, so you still book your own slot on SIMplifica. Our Madeira tours page collects the options in one comparison, and if you would rather descend a stream than walk beside one, canyoning is the wet version of the same landscape.