PR19 Caminho Real do Paul do Mar: the fishermen's path down to the sea

We’ve done PR19 with a guest who insisted on flip-flops at the trailhead and bought trainers in the village before walking back. We’ve done it on a January morning with the cliffs sweating mist and a sea so flat you could hear the surfers paddling out from 500 metres up. Four years running Banana House in Ponta do Sol, and PR19 is the trail we save for guests who want the old Madeira. Fishermen carried wet salt cod up this cliff in baskets because there was no road. The road came in the 1960s. A tunnel opened in 2004. The path stayed.

Trail in three sentences

PR19 Caminho Real do Paul do Mar drops from Prazeres (550m) down a zig-zag of stone steps and cobbled switchbacks to Paul do Mar at sea level (16m), a fishing village wedged between cliff and Atlantic on the south-west tip of the island. It runs 1.8km one-way, takes around 1 hour 20 minutes at a steady pace, and is rated moderate by the official register, which is honest about distance and quiet about what 500 metres of descent does to your quads. Bring proper shoes, a swimsuit for the basalt pools at the bottom, and €4.50 for the permit.

For where this fits in the wider picture, see our Madeira hiking guide.

Where it starts: Prazeres, the church, the parking

Prazeres is a clifftop parish at the western end of the island, 50 minutes from Ponta do Sol on the ER101. The trailhead sits behind the church (Igreja de Nossa Senhora dos Prazeres), a white-washed building with a small square in front and a parish herb garden next door. Park in the square or on Rua da Igreja a hundred metres uphill. Free.

The sign for PR19 is on the seaward side of the church, pointing down a narrow alley. You walk past a vegetable patch, a chicken coop, a stone trough still holding water, and the alley opens onto the cliff. The Atlantic appears underneath you like the floor just dropped out. Paul do Mar sits 550 metres below, white houses strung along a strip of basalt between the surf and the rock wall. From the viewpoint at Lombo da Rocha (about 200m in), Jardim do Mar opens up to the east on its own shelf.

The path was the only connection between these villages and the high parishes for centuries. Fishermen carried salted cod up. Farmers carried potatoes and wine down. The cobbles are worn smooth in the middle of each step, polished by four hundred years of feet and donkey hooves.

The descent: knees on fire, the honest version

The official register calls PR19 moderate. The official register has not done PR19 with a knee that learned to complain on PR3 the previous week. We have.

Moderate in the sense that nothing is exposed, no tunnels, no cables. Not moderate in the sense that you lose 534 metres in 1.8 kilometres. A 30% average gradient, almost all on stone steps cut into the cliff. The switchbacks come fast. You count them at first and stop around the twentieth. Your quads burn by the fifth.

The cobbles are smaller and steeper than PR3, and uneven where the basalt has cracked. Proper shoes matter. Trail runners with grip work, hiking boots work better. We’ve seen people start in sandals and finish barefoot, shoes in hand because the leather blistered them open by the second switchback. The Banana House porch drawer has a pair of hiking poles you can borrow. Use them.

The trail is well marked with red and yellow stripes every fifty metres. PR19 has become more popular since the surf in Paul do Mar started showing up on Instagram, but it never gets crowded the way PR8 does. We’ve done it on a Saturday in October and passed six people total.

A third of the way down, the path crosses an old water channel and the angle eases for a few hundred metres. You can stand up straight, look out at the sea, and your knees can negotiate a ceasefire. Then it pitches again for the final descent.

90 minutes if you move steady. Two hours with photo stops.

Paul do Mar: the surf, the fish, the basalt pools

You arrive at the back of the village near the chapel of Nossa Senhora da Piedade and the road ends at the seafront. Paul do Mar is one street wide. Seaward side: basalt promenade, surf break, old port, natural sea pools. Landward side: a row of bars, a couple of restaurants, the surf school.

The surf is what put Paul do Mar back on the map. A long left-hand point break that works in any south or south-west swell. Big-wave surfers have been coming for twenty years. On a good winter day you’ll see jet-skis towing into sets bigger than the houses. Most days it’s a long ride for intermediates, with locals taking priority. The surf school rents boards.

Maré Alta on the seafront is the local pick, family-run, two generations in. The menu is whatever came in that morning. Lapas with garlic butter, bife de atum cooked rare, octopus rice in a clay pot. Bill around €18 a head with a half-bottle of Coral. They open at noon and the terrace fills with surfers by 1pm. Backup is O Precipício, same kind of menu.

The basalt sea pools sit at the eastern end of the promenade. Carved by waves into volcanic rock, refilled with each set, the water clear and cold and exactly the temperature you want after walking down a cliff. Free, no lifeguard, deeper than they look. The swim is the best part of the day.

Getting back up: don’t walk it

This is the part everyone underestimates. Down took 90 minutes and shredded your quads. Up takes 2 hours 30 minutes and your quads have nothing left. We’ve walked back up once, on a stupid bet, and earned a three-day limp.

The sensible move is the taxi. Pedro’s Taxi in Paul do Mar runs the loop up to Prazeres for €15 to €20. His number is on the chapel door and on a hand-painted sign outside Maré Alta. Call when you finish lunch, he’ll be there in ten minutes. New road through the tunnel, 12 minutes, you’re back at your car in Prazeres before your knees stop negotiating.

If Pedro’s busy, the Rodoeste bus (line 142 or 107) runs two or three times a day between Paul do Mar and Calheta. A 90-minute logistics puzzle. Don’t try to hike back up via PR20, which used to drop into Jardim do Mar but has been closed since the 2023 coastal erosion. Just take the taxi.

When to go

PR19 is hike-able year-round. The south-west coast is the driest, sunniest corner of the island, which is why the surfers come.

• November to February: surf season. Big swells, basalt pools too cold for most. Path dry, village quiet.
• March to May: stable weather, terraces greening up, sea warm enough for a quick dip.
• June to August: hot after 10am. Start by 8am or wait until 4pm. The cobbles hold heat and the cliff offers no shade.
• September and October: our favourite. Sea at its warmest (around 23°C), light golden, day-trippers gone.

For the wider seasonal picture see our best time to visit Madeira breakdown.

Permits and pairing

PR19 moved into the permit bucket with the 2026 simplifica rollout. €4.50 per person over 12, kids under 12 free. The official portal is the usual painful experience.

The natural pairing is PR19 in the morning, lunch and a swim in Paul do Mar, taxi back up, then an afternoon in Calheta at the artificial sand beach or the contemporary art centre. Six hours door-to-door. The rest of the Madeira hiking guide covers what’s worth pairing across a longer stay.

FAQ

How hard is PR19 Caminho Real do Paul do Mar? Officially moderate. In practice, a steep descent that wears on your knees more than 1.8km suggests. 534m of altitude loss on stone steps. Fit hikers do it in 75 minutes. Casual walkers in two hours. Hiking poles help.

Can I do PR19 uphill instead? You can, and your knees will thank you. Around 2 hours 30 minutes. Park in Paul do Mar, hike up, taxi back down.

Is PR19 suitable for kids? Older kids yes, from around age 10. Not exposed, no scrambling. Younger kids tire by the third switchback. The basalt pools at the bottom are the bribe.

Can I hike PR19 without a car? Just barely. Rodoeste bus from Funchal to Prazeres runs a couple of times a day. Plan a full day for the logistics.

Do I need a permit for PR19? Yes, from 2026. €4.50 per person over 12, paid through the simplifica portal. Children under 12 free.

Is the surf in Paul do Mar beginner-friendly? Not really. A long left-hand point break over basalt with locals who deserve priority. Beginners are better off at the Calheta sand beach with a board rental.

Stay a month, walk the old paths

Most visitors fly in, do PR1, leave. They miss Paul do Mar because the postcards show ridges, not fishing villages. They miss the basalt pools, the lapas with garlic butter, the chapel with the painted ceiling.

Stay a month and PR19 becomes a Tuesday. You hike down with a swimsuit in your pack, eat tuna in the sun, taxi back up with a tin of lapas in your bag, home in Ponta do Sol by 6pm with sea salt still in your hair.

We run Banana House year-round, one-month minimum, from €997 including bills. Seven private rooms in Ponta do Sol, 35 minutes from Prazeres, a kitchen where someone is always cooking. Pick a month. We’ll see you on the cliff.