[Pico de Areiro / Santana, Madeira, May 14, 2025]

I had been watching the weather every single day, hoping for a window of opportunity to hike one of Madeira’s best known hikes. At almost 6,000 ft, Pico de Areiro is the third highest peak on the island. An 8-mile round-trip trail connects it to Madeira’s highest, Pico Ruvio. In the Madeira hiking system, it’s marked as PR1. PR stands for “Pequena Rota,” which is Portuguese for “short route”. These trails are part of a network of government-maintained and officially recognized footpaths across the island. The Sao Lourenco hike we did a couple of days before is PR8. Finally, on our last day here, the forecast for the peak called for clear skies in the morning.

Since this is a very popular hike, we started very early and got to the parking lot just after 7 am. We paid the parking fee at the pay machine, and I had already paid the 3EUR fee per person each PR requires via the Simplifica portal. Nobody was there to check if we had paid the fee when we started, but by the time we came back, there was a person checking both incoming and outgoing people.

My first order of business was to take photos with the Pico Areiro sign and at a viewpoint nearby. Honestly, I was a little surprised that the peak was at the start of the hike. For some reason, I thought we’d have to hike at least a little to get to it. Of course, its accessibility is part of the reason it’s so popular. The views of the mountains around us were incredible already.

Unfortunately, we could only do the first mile or so of the route. The rest of the connection to Pico Ruvio was cut off by a landslide the previous summer and the trail had not been reopened yet. The only way to get to Pico Ruvio was to drive all the way to the north side of the island and pick up the other end of the trail. We didn’t have time to do that on this trip, sadly.

Still, the section of PR1 that was open was incredibly beautiful. Towards the end of the hike, as we were about the finish, I could see clouds starting to come in. It was barely 10 am! The forecast didn’t call for clouds until later in the day. It just goes to show how capricious the weather is up here!

We decided to sit down at the cafe at Pico Areiro. While we enjoyed our coffee and a piece of cake, the clouds came in even more. We felt so lucky to have seen the views without the fog!

Teddy had to work in the afternoon, so we decided to squeeze in a quick trip down to Garajau to see the statue of Jesus before going back to Funchal. The giant statue facing the Atlantic ocean was inaugurated in 1927. There is a set of stairs leading down to a viewpoint as well as a cable car down to the beach. We didn’t take either one, instead opting to enjoy the views from up high.

I debated what to do with my free time while Teddy worked. The prospect of driving around by myself was a little daunting. However, I really wanted to see the Laurissilva trees that the island is known for. The famous Fanal forest, the best place to see them, was too far away. So I headed to Queimadas Forest Park, the second best place to see them.

The highway part of the drive was fine. But once I turned off and started climbing the narrow road up to the forest, it got tricky. The road was barely 1.5 cars wide but with two-way traffic. Cars were parked in the few pullouts along the way. Any time I encountered oncoming traffic, one of us had to reverse on this steep narrow road in hopes to find a slightly wider section where we could pass each other. It was quite stressful, but I got to the top and luckily, found parking in the parking lot itself. I made a comment about my order to the guy at the visitor center, and he said today was strangely quiet! I can’t imagine doing that drive when it’s busy.

I should have asked where the best place in the park is for the laurissilva trees at the visitor center, but alasa, I didn’t. I noticed a sign for PR9, Caldeirao Verde, so I decided to try that. This is a beautiful levada walk, and it wasn’t long until I encountered the irrigation channel these hikes are known for. This is a moderately difficult trail, which I could see for myself with the narrow slippery rocky trail running next to the levada. I hadn’t come prepared for a true hike, nor did I have the time, so I didn’t go too far down this trail. Were any of the trees I encountered the famous laurissilva? I still wasn’t sure.

Back at the beginning of PR9, I had noticed another trail. It formed a small loop around the visitor center, so I decided to try that. After my hike, once I was back at our AirBnB, I uploaded a bunch of my photos to chatGPT, and asked if the trees in them were laurissilva. The photo below from the little loop trail seemed the most likely to feature the famous trees. I am going to call this mission accomplished!

I got back to Funchal in time to finally check out the Farmer’s Market, which was closed on Sunday when we spent our day walking around here. The azulejos at the entrance were gorgeous, but I found the market itself a little underwhelming. It was rather small and there wasn’t a great variety of merchants.

A friend recommended we eat at the seafood restaurant right outside the market. They get their fish fresh daily from the fisherman down the wharf. We had one of our best meals here. The shrimp starter was to die for, and the fish we chose was served whole. The waitress deboned it for us and we washed it all down with some poncha and some wine.

This was our last day in Madeira, and we were sad to leave. This island definitely deserves and can easily occupy more than the 4 full days we had.