Madeira · northwest coast
Hiking near Porto Moniz
Every concelho has good trails and bad-weather days. A list of what is nearby cannot tell you which one is clear, dry and worth the drive this morning, and which is sitting under the cloud that is always somewhere on the island.
Trails near Porto Moniz
There are 16 marked trails within the Porto Moniz municipality. The easiest is Poço do Candeeiro. The longest is Levada da Rocha Vermelha. The biggest climb is Vereda da Terra Chã.
Every marked trail near Porto Moniz
| Trail | Distance | Route | Ascent | Duration | Difficulty | Booking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poço do Candeeiro POCO-CANDEEIRO | 1.2 km | Round trip | +176 m | 30m | Easy | No booking |
| Vereda da Vigia V-VIGIA | 1.4 km | Round trip | +11 m | 45m | Easy | No booking |
| Pequena Rota do Fanal V-FANALLOOP | 2.1 km | Loop | +179 m | 1h 15m | Easy | No booking |
| Vereda da Ribeira da Janela PR15 | 2.7 km | One way | +24 m | 1h 30m | Easy | SIMplifica booking |
| Vereda da Palha Carga PR13.1 | 1.8 km | One way | +338 m | 45m | Medium | SIMplifica booking |
| Vereda do Calhau V-CALHAU | 2.3 km | One way | +153 m | 1h 30m | Medium | No booking |
| Levada do Brasileiro L-BRASILEIRO | 3.6 km | One way | +162 m | 2h | Medium | No booking |
| Levada dos Cedros PR14 | 7.2 km | One way | +295 m | 3h | Medium | SIMplifica booking |
| Levada do Moinho PR7 | 10.5 km | One way | +225 m | 3h 30m | Medium | No booking |
| Levada da Rocha Vermelha PR28 | 10.7 km | One way | +379 m | 2h 51m | Medium | No booking |
| Vereda das Voltas V-VOLTAS | 3.4 km | One way | +939 m | 1h 40m | Hard | No booking |
| Vereda da Ladeira V-LADEIRA | 4.0 km | Round trip | +68 m | 3h | Hard | No booking |
| Vereda da Ribeira Funda V-RIBFUNDA | 4.9 km | One way | +1,046 m | 3h | Hard | No booking |
| Vereda das Feitas V-FEITAS | 5.2 km | Round trip | +658 m | 1h 10m | Hard | No booking |
| Vereda da Cavaca V-CAVACA | 5.3 km | One way | +921 m | 3h | Hard | No booking |
| Vereda da Terra Chã V-TERRACHA | 8.8 km | One way | +1,180 m | 4h | Hard | No booking |
Distances, difficulty and climb come from the trail catalog. Difficulty is the official grade where a panel gives one, otherwise an honest estimate from distance, ascent and exposure.
The range, shortest to longest
Distances near Porto Moniz are what you actually cover: where a trail is an out and back, the round trip is counted, because you walk the same path twice. The climb figure is ours, read off the elevation profile, because no official ascent number is published for any Madeira trail.
- Shortest walk: 1.2 km, Poço do Candeeiro
- Longest walk: 10.7 km, Levada da Rocha Vermelha
- Least climbing: +11 m, Vereda da Vigia
- Most climbing: +1,180 m, Vereda da Terra Chã
- Every trail on this list added up: 75.1 km
What the walking is like
Counted trail by trail near Porto Moniz, from the catalog's own tags. A levada follows a working water channel and stays close to level; a summit route climbs and is open to whatever the ridge is doing. One trail can carry several tags, so these figures add up to more than 16.
- Viewpoint: 14 of 16
- Forest: 13 of 16
- Waterfall: 10 of 16
- Levada: 4 of 16
- Coastal: 3 of 16
- Summit: 3 of 16
- Endemic flora: 3 of 16
- Family friendly: 1 of 16
Named places these trails pass
Every name below belongs to a mapped object sitting on one of these trail lines: summits, viewpoints and waterfalls, plus chapels and other heritage. Each name links to a trail that passes it. A point with no name on the map is not listed, so read this as what has been named, never as everything worth stopping for.
- Summit: Fanal, Fonte da Pedra, Pedreira
- Viewpoint: Rocha dos Ingleses, Calhau das Achadas, Casa do Elias - Porto Moniz, Fio, Paul, Pombais, Ponta da Ladeira, Rabaçal, Redondo, Vigia
- Waterfall: 25 Fontes, Poço do Candeeiro-Seixal
- Historic: Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Conceição (Porto Moniz)
When the summits are shut in
The highest ground on a marked trail around Porto Moniz is 1471 m, on Vereda da Terra Chã. The lowest ceiling is 266 m, on Vereda da Vigia. That gap is the choice you have on a morning when cloud sits on the ridge: how Madeira's microclimates work explains why the two can be different weather on the same day.
Sun and shade
Each trail carries one shade class, derived from which way its slope faces and how steep that slope is. A north-facing hillside stands in its own shadow for much of the day and a south-facing one does not, which is the difference between an August walk that is bearable at two in the afternoon and one that is not. It reads the shape of the ground and nothing else: it does not know about tree cover, so a levada under laurel canopy can come out as full sun, and it is a derived estimate rather than anything surveyed.
- Full sun: 2 of 16
- Sun & shade: 4 of 16
- Mostly shaded: 10 of 16
What these trails ask of you
- Need a paid Simplifica booking: 3 of 16
- Officially classified IFCN routes: 5 of 16
- Pass through tunnels, where a torch is not optional: 1 of 16
Booking and payment happen on the government portal, not here. For the flow, the timing and what a slot costs, see what SIMplifica costs and how to book.
Where these walks start and finish
11 of the 16 walks near Porto Moniz finish somewhere other than where they start, which is the most expensive fact to find out late: you park, you walk, and the car is at the far end. The place names are the catalog's own, each linked to a walk that begins or ends there.
- Start points: Chão da Ribeira (Seixal), Caminho da Ladeira (Porto Moniz), Posto Florestal do Fanal (car park), Curral Falso, Louro da Gota, Achadas da Cruz (cable-car top), Porto Moniz, Fanal, Ribeira da Cruz, Miradouro dos Pombais (Santa, Porto Moniz), Seixal, Seixal valley (upper), Seixal (Chão da Ribeira, ER 221)
- Finish points that are not also a start: Poço do Candeeiro waterfall, Vigia dos Baleeiros (whalers' lookout), Loop around the Fanal plateau and Lagoa do Fanal, Ribeira da Janela, 25 Fontes, Calhau das Achadas (fajã), Junqueira, Lombo da Atouguia, Upper Seixal valley, Junction above Calhau das Achadas (right for the calhau, left for the cable car), Fanal (posto florestal, ER 209), Seixal valley, Paul da Serra (ER 209)
Where you leave the car
Counted from the car parks mapped beside these trailheads. Where the only mapped point sits on the trailhead itself, it is not counted as a car park, because that is the start of the walk rather than somewhere to leave the car. Distances are straight lines from the start.
- Trailheads with a car park mapped: 15 of 16
- Of those, with a recorded number of spaces: 7 of 15
- Spaces recorded across them: 70
- Largest single car park: 25
- Car park more than 250 m from the start: 10 of 15
A mapped car park is not a promise that a space is free when you arrive, and a trailhead with none listed is one nobody has mapped rather than one with nowhere to stop.
Common questions about hiking near Porto Moniz
Which hikes are near Porto Moniz?
There are 16 marked trails in the Porto Moniz municipality, from Poço do Candeeiro at the easy end to Levada da Rocha Vermelha as the longest. Each links to its own page with the route, official status and live conditions.
Are the trails near Porto Moniz free?
Of the 16 trails near Porto Moniz, 3 need a paid slot booked through the government SIMplifica portal and 13 need no booking at all. 5 are officially classified IFCN routes, which is a separate question: a route can be classified and still cost nothing. Each trail page carries its own fee and official status.
When is the best time to hike near Porto Moniz?
It depends on the day and the elevation more than the season. The coast and the mountains above Porto Moniz can differ by ten degrees, so read the live per-trail conditions before you set out.
Where do you park for the trails near Porto Moniz?
15 of the 16 trailheads near Porto Moniz have a car park mapped, and 10 of those sit more than 250 m from the start, so the walk begins before the trail does. A mapped car park is not a promise of a free space, and a trailhead with none listed is one nobody has mapped rather than one with nowhere to stop.
Other areas: Calheta · Santana · Machico · Câmara de Lobos · Porto Santo · Ribeira Brava · Ponta do Sol · Funchal · São Vicente · Santa Cruz
See also: all Madeira trails ·
hiking weather ·
See the island live on the webcams · Which trails are free