Pete on Madeira

With Madeira having experienced a significant increase in tourist numbers since 2021, resulting in the introduction of a permit system for the more popular routes and tales of shuffling cheek-to-jowl on the worst affected ones. It was a pleasure to cast the net wider and find some equally beautiful but much quieter routes on my January trip.

I’m on Madeira, checking Inntravel’s routes. It’s also a chance to do a bit of troubleshooting and see what we offer. I'm rewalking most of the existing routes, but we're also looking at a few changes: dropping a couple of walks that are now just too popular and seeing if I can replace them with good walks that are less busy.

The permit system for the more popular routes on the island has just been changed as well, so I'll be seeing how that works.

As you might know, it’s a steep island, there’s not much flat land, but there’s a network of paths called levadas that make it accessible. Occasionally, levadas might be closed due to landslips, which is the case at the moment on the Levada do Furado (it’s happened a couple of times), and our customers use this levada on the day they move from Santana to Santo da Serra. Our taxi driver, Angelo, knows the walking routes, when they’re closed and proposes solutions, but it does limit the options they have.

So, I met with Angelo and we discussed an alternative route to get to Santo da Serra, which involves a longer walk up on to the highlands. I’ve checked it out – two things to consider: is it appropriate? Is it enjoyable? Thankfully, yes and yes.

What you get up here which you wouldn’t get on the walk, is getting up high and getting the views. From where I’ve started the walk, 200m in the opposite direction, you get to this viewpoint, a mirador, with fabulous views over the summits on the island and the coast. If you didn’t know it was there, you wouldn’t know – I did some investigating and will make sure our customers make it a stop.

I’ve just finished trying our new route, and I’m pleased to say the exertions are worth it! It proves one of my favourite sayings that "a reccy is never wasted".

The plan was to do a circuit from the Interpretation Centre at the Parque Ecológico do Funchal, heading up into the mountains on the PR3 and back on the PR4, but I had a niggling feeling the ascent would be too steep and sure enough by the time I got halfway, it was too much.

I completed it anyway, and came back on the PR4, which was a delight. A real surprise. I hadn’t appreciated it’s a levada walk, but not in a way you might think. Usually they’re flat, but this one is different – it’s carrying water down the mountain rather than around it, and it turns into a spectacular gorge walk. There are guard rails in place wherever there’s a drop, so there’s nothing to worry about. But it’s really spectacular, so I think there might be the chance to do an out and back, heading over to meet the levada and into the mountains.

The Levada Nova is one of my favourite walks in Madeira. There are a lot of levada walks in Madeira and this has the best bits of all them. Very peaceful, one of the very nice things about it is that it’s one of the quieter ones in Madeira – it doesn’t attract huge crowds.

Nevertheless, it’s very pretty. There are some lovely, peaceful woodland sections, but what I really like is that once in a while you get a break in the trees and you get views down to the coast. You’re about 500m above sea level as you’re walking on this levada. And you can see houses clinging to the valley side. If the sun’s shining, you have the sun over the sea over the south of the island. You get a view right down to the airport, which is quite something when you’re 500m above it.

So far, I’ve been walking seven to eight kilometres, and I’ve seen no one at all. It’s definitely one of my top walks on Madeira.
 

I’m currently walking the Levada da Ribeira Janela in northwest Madeira. It’s not the easiest to get to, quite a way from Funchal and where most people stay, but it’s only about 40 minutes from Calheta. I think it’s the 18th route I’ve walked since being on the island. I’ve only got another day or so to go, so I can confidently say this is one of my absolute favourite walks on the island (definitely top three).

It’s an incredible levada walk, it does help it’s really quiet. I walked six kilometres out and back. You might notice I’m wearing a headtorch as there’s a very long tunnel but in between is a waterfall that’s really quite something. You can see there’s a gallery, the levada passes underneath stopping you getting soaked. I’m in this lost world here – the only way out would be by helicopter or taking this levada walk.

It’s beautiful – the valley down to the left is enormous and uninhabited as far as I can tell. It really does feel like you’re walking into this remote, lost world. It’s a fabulous walk.

(Features on Landscapes of Western Madeira)

This is one of my favourite little moments on a walk on Madeira. I’ve done a circuit from Ponta do Pargo I’ve walked up along the Levada Nova, come back down to the village of Cabo, meandered along the coast, a couple of little viewpoints. I’ve taken a detour to see a waterfall tucked away in a valley. I popped a little further down the headland and I can see along the coast to the lighthouse below Ponta do Pargo – the most westerly point on the island. And it’s really lovely with the sun setting over at this time of day. A fitting finale to my time on Madeira.