Madeira's closed hiking trails (and what to hike instead)

Nothing kills a hike day faster than driving 45 minutes to a closed gate. This page exists so that doesn’t happen to you.

We’ve sent guests up to Ribeira da Cruz at 7am, watched them text us photos of the IFCN barrier at PR7 by 8:30am, and watched the rest of the day disappear into “where’s a café and a plan B?” After four years running Banana House in Ponta do Sol and watching the trail status flip month to month, we keep a running list of what’s actually walkable. Below is the June 2026 version: every PR route currently closed by the regional government, why it’s closed (when they say), and the closest open trail that gives you a similar day.

How we know what’s closed

The source of truth is the IFCN trail status page on visitmadeira.com/en/what-to-do/nature-seekers/activities/hiking. Each PR route has its own subpage with a status line: Open, Restricted, or Closed. That’s the page park rangers and trailhead booth staff reference, and it’s the page Alex Boboc checks before his Sunday community hike.

Two things to know about it. First, the page often lists a trail as “Closed” without a reason. We’ve asked at the Funchal IFCN office and the answer is usually “rockfall” or “ongoing maintenance,” but they don’t publish dates and don’t update reliably. Second, the English version sometimes lags the Portuguese one by a few days. If you read Portuguese, the PT page is fresher.

We sync our list with theirs the first Monday of every month and after any major storm. Last sync: June 16, 2026.

The currently closed trails

PR1.3 Vereda da Encumeada (closed since 2024)

What it was: the 6km bridge route across the central massif from Boca da Encumeada up to the PR1 ridge near Pico Ruivo. A way to start the high traverse without the Areeiro car park crowd.

Why it’s closed: storm damage to the suspended walkways and several rockfall scars between Encumeada and the connection point at km 4. The IFCN page lists no reopening date. Talking to the rangers at the Encumeada café in March, the answer was “next year, maybe.”

Closest open alternative: PR12 Caminho Real da Encumeada, at least the open 3.5km out-and-back from Boca da Corrida. Different starting point but the same Encumeada-area mountain feel, with one of the best Curral valley overlooks on the south side. If you want to actually summit Pico Ruivo, do PR1.2 from Achada do Teixeira instead.

PR7 Levada do Moinho (closed after rockfall)

What it was: a 10.5km laurel-forest levada walk on the north coast between Porto Moniz and Calheta. Lower altitude than the Rabaçal trails, mossier, quieter, with old mill ruins along the way.

Why it’s closed: rockfall and channel collapse along the upper section near Achadas da Cruz. No reason published on the IFCN page, but the local maintenance team confirmed two scars between km 3 and km 5 when we asked at the Porto Moniz info point.

Closest open alternative: PR6 Levada das 25 Fontes. It’s the obvious swap: similar laurel-forest atmosphere, similar elevation, same general region of the island. Permit required, but the trail’s open year-round. If you want the quieter no-permit option, PR14 Levada dos Cedros covers the same Fanal-area laurissilva.

PR10 Levada do Furado (closed, alternative access from km 7+200)

What it was: 11km from Ribeiro Frio to Portela, one of the oldest public levadas on the island. Crosses through the heart of the laurissilva with views toward Penha d’Águia.

Why it’s closed: the IFCN page lists the main trail as closed but notes an alternative access at PK 7+200, which is rangers’ code for “the first 7km has issues, you can join the trail past that point if you know how.” In practice, this means most visitors can’t reach the open stretch without local knowledge. We don’t recommend trying it without a guide.

Closest open alternative: PR9 Levada do Caldeirão Verde. Longer at 13km return, six tunnels, similar dense laurissilva. If you want the shorter, easier viewpoint experience that PR10 partly delivers, do PR11 Vereda dos Balcões instead. Same Ribeiro Frio trailhead area.

PR20 Vereda do Jardim do Mar (closed, coastal erosion)

What it was: a 1.9km descent from Prazeres down to the surf village of Jardim do Mar, dropping 500m through old agricultural terraces and past a restored water mill.

Why it’s closed: the IFCN page doesn’t specify, but the path is laid into a cliff face that’s lost two sections to slides since 2023. The village council in Jardim do Mar has the closure pegged to coastal erosion and unstable terraces above the lower switchbacks.

Closest open alternative: PR19 Caminho Real do Paul do Mar. Same idea: an old steep path down from the cliffs to a coastal village, sea-cliff drama, painful climb back up. Park at Prazeres and walk down to Paul do Mar instead. We’ve done both. PR19 is honestly the better walk anyway.

PR27 Glaciar de Planalto (closed)

What it was: a high-altitude route across the Paúl da Serra plateau, exposed and weather-dependent. One of the lesser-known PR routes, partly because it doesn’t sell well to visitors and partly because access is poor.

Why it’s closed: no public reason on the IFCN page. From the pattern of plateau closures over the last two winters, our best guess is weather damage to the cairn markers and erosion of the unpaved sections. Plateau routes get neglected first when the maintenance budget is tight.

Closest open alternative: PR22 Vereda do Chão dos Louros for the laurel-floor walk near Paúl da Serra. For the high-plateau feel, the Rabaçal trail network starts on the same plateau and gives you several options without the closure risk.

PR28 Levada da Rocha Vermelha (closed)

What it was: a small Paúl da Serra levada feeding into the wider Rabaçal system. Short, less travelled, mostly walked by people doing the longer Rabaçal loops.

Why it’s closed: no reason published. Like PR27, this is one of the routes that gets ignored when the IFCN team prioritises high-traffic trails.

Closest open alternative: pick anything in the Rabaçal trail network post. PR6.2 Levada do Alecrim is the gentlest swap. PR6.4 Levada Velha do Rabaçal is the atmospheric one.

PS PR3 Levada do Pico do Castelo, Porto Santo (closed)

What it was: a short levada-style walk on Porto Santo, branching off the Pico do Castelo summit route. Mostly a way to extend a Porto Santo day-trip without doubling back the same way.

Why it’s closed: the IFCN page lists it as closed without a reason. Porto Santo’s three PR routes share one small maintenance team and closures there tend to stay closed for long stretches.

Closest open alternative: PS PR2 Vereda do Pico do Castelo itself, which is still open and shares the same trailhead. Pair it with PS PR1 (Pico Branco e Terra Chã) for a proper Porto Santo hiking day. Our full Porto Santo combo guide covers the ferry, the rental car question, and how to time the day so you actually make the return boat.

Should you ignore the closure and try anyway

Don’t. Three reasons, in order of how likely they are to ruin your day.

First, the physical barriers are real. The IFCN doesn’t just put up a sign. On PR7 there’s a chained gate at the Ribeira da Cruz trailhead, and the upper section past Achadas da Cruz has a collapsed channel you cannot walk around. On PR20 the lower switchbacks are missing in two places, and the workaround locals use involves scrambling over loose terracing that’s exactly the kind of terrain the closure is about.

Second, permits and rangers. If your trail is closed and you’ve still booked through SIMplifica, the permit doesn’t cover hiking past a barrier. Rangers do check the busy trails (PR1, PR6, PR9, PR8) and they’re polite but firm. We’ve heard of fines in the €75 to €250 range. More importantly, search-and-rescue charges fall on you if something goes wrong past a closed sign.

Third, safety. Most closures are for rockfall or eroded path. The last two trail deaths on Madeira (2023 and 2025) happened on technically restricted sections. The PR1 fatality in late 2023 was a visibility issue, not a closure issue, but the pattern is the same: the warnings exist because the conditions are bad.

If you’re genuinely tempted to try a closed trail, hire a licensed guide who knows the workarounds and carries the right permits. Alex at mountain-alex.com is the person we send guests to.

How to verify before driving

Three checks the morning of, in order:

1. The IFCN trail page. visitmadeira.com/en/what-to-do/nature-seekers/activities/hiking. Find your trail in the list, click in, read the status line. If it says “Closed” or “Restricted,” that’s the answer.

2. This page. We update it the first Monday of each month and after big storms. It also gives you the closest open alternative, which the IFCN page doesn’t.

3. Call the IFCN office. +351 291 145 905. They speak English. They’ll tell you if a status changed yesterday and didn’t make the website yet. We’ve done this twice in four years and both times got a clear answer in under 90 seconds.

If you’re already at the trailhead and the gate’s chained, do the alternative. Don’t go around it.

What we tell guests

Our default protocol when someone wants to hike on a day we don’t already have planned:

1. Pick the trail Sunday night for a Monday hike. Not the morning of.
2. Cross-check with the IFCN page over coffee Monday. If anything’s flipped to closed, swap to the alternative from this post.
3. Book the permit (if needed) via madeira.fun/hiking right then. See our 2026 permit guide for the full walkthrough.
4. Leave by 7am for any south-coast or Rabaçal trail. By 6am for PR1.
5. If you arrive at a barrier you didn’t expect, drive to the alternative. The post tells you what that is. We’ve also baked it into the hiking pillar guide so you can pull the swap on your phone at the trailhead.

This protocol breaks once every six weeks or so. Usually because someone gets to the trailhead and the IFCN status hasn’t been updated since the closure went up. The fix is the same: drive to the open alternative.

FAQ

How often do closed Madeira trails reopen? Hard to predict. Some reopen in three months (storm-damaged levadas, after maintenance season). Some stay closed for years (PR1.3 has been closed since 2024). The IFCN doesn’t publish reopening dates. We watch the list and update this post when something flips.

Can locals access closed trails? Some can, in the sense that residents in the villages along certain trails (Jardim do Mar, Curral das Freiras) use sections of the paths informally. They’re not supposed to past a closure barrier, and they’re not insured if something happens. Visitors absolutely cannot, and the rangers know the difference.

Do permits work on closed trails? No. If you booked a permit for a trail that’s since closed, SIMplifica usually refunds within 14 days. If they don’t, email permits@simplifica.madeira.gov.pt with the booking reference. We’ve helped two guests through this in the last year and both got refunded.

What if I have a permit and the trail closes between booking and hiking? Same as above. Refund via SIMplifica. Swap to the alternative we list here. The permit on the new trail (if needed) is a fresh booking.

Is there a Madeira hiking trail status app? Not officially. The IFCN page is the closest thing. The third-party app “Madeira Hiking” on iOS pulls from the same source but lags by a few days, so we don’t rely on it. The fastest live source is honestly the Digital Nomads Madeira Slack #pds-hiking channel, where someone always reports back from the trailhead the same day.

What if both the trail I want and the alternative are closed? Pick from the open trails in the hiking pillar guide. There are 27 open routes as of this update. Even if your first two picks fall through, there’s always something walkable within an hour’s drive of Ponta do Sol.

Are closures listed in Portuguese first? Yes. The PT version of visitmadeira.com updates a few days before the English version. If you read Portuguese, bookmark the PT hiking page. If you don’t, this post is the next-best thing.

Stay a month and you’ll catch the reopening

A closed trail is annoying on a one-week trip. It’s nothing on a one-month one. You hike the open alternative on the day you’d planned the closed one, you refresh the IFCN page over Sunday coffee, and if PR7 or PR20 flips to open you’re 25 to 45 minutes from the trailhead with a Tuesday morning free.

We run Banana House year-round, one-month minimum, in Ponta do Sol. Seven private rooms, seven nomads, cooking together most nights and hiking the trails that are actually open on weekends. From €997 a month, bills in.

Pick a month. We’ll keep the trail list updated and the espresso machine on.