PR 1.2 - Vereda do Pico Ruivo

Elevation: 300 m / Lenght: 6 km / Time: 3 hrs
Visit rate: 5/5 / Rating: 5/5

We arrived around 9:30 in the morning, and the parking lot was already half full, which is relatively manageable by Madeira standards. The ascent to Madeira's highest peak from Achada do Teixeira is quite straightforward, although you still gain a few hundred meters of elevation. The trail itself is a pleasant rocky path with no significant technical difficulty.

Getting the weather right in Madeira's mountains is an art in itself. In the evening, the forecast might promise a pleasant 15°C and clear skies, but when you wake up, everything is covered in fog and rain is expected for the entire day. So you really can't rely too much on weather forecasts here. What actually works is checking the live webcams spread across the island and deciding where to go based on that. In the morning, the whole of Madeira was covered in clouds, and it was raining in most places. However, the mountain peaks were sticking out above the cloud layer into a beautiful blue sky, which is exactly what Madeira is famous for.

Weather in the mountains also changes incredibly fast, so within an hour it can look completely different as clouds move through at high speed. It's actually quite surprising how many people come to Madeira, head into the mountains, and then end up filming videos where the "view" is just thick fog. Using webcams, however, you can get a fairly good idea of where it makes sense to go on the island and where it doesn't. After a few days on Madeira, you start to understand it quite well. Just keep in mind the wind, which can be uncomfortable in any weather conditions.

The trail itself is fairly easy going a pleasant rocky path with no technical sections. The views of the mountain peaks, whether green or barren after the wildfires from recent years, looked absolutely incredible. At times, it even reminded us of Sardinia. Due to those fires, a large number of hiking trails on Madeira are still closed. We originally planned to continue further, but to be honest, the hike to the highest peak was more than enough for us the best views were probably already behind us. By the way, most of the trails are expected to reopen again from April 2026.

From the summit, in good weather, you can see almost the entire island, which must be absolutely stunning. In our case, however, it had a completely different atmosphere. We were standing above a layer of clouds, feeling almost like we were on an airplane. It was absolutely incredible. 

Once again, this is a paid PR trail, but we didn't encounter anyone checking QR codes this time, which was a bit surprising here. We recommend setting off early in the morning or, alternatively, later in the evening. Finally, it's worth mentioning the parking situation. When we were descending in the afternoon, we were honestly left speechless for a moment, the access road was completely clogged with cars and buses stretching more than a kilometre away from the parking area.

Week on Madeira for 2 (7 nights)                                                                                               Flights (Smartwings): 820,-                                                                                                               Car rental (Sixt): 370,-                                                                                                   Accommodation (Booking): 570,-                                                                                             Spending: 610,-                                                                                                                               Total: 2 370,- EUR