PR21 Caminho do Norte: the long north-coast traverse

We did PR21 the first time as one leg of a three-day spine crossing in October. Boca da Encumeada to Ribeira Grande on day one, slept in São Vicente, picked up PR2 the next morning for the Boaventura side, then chained PR12 over the Encumeada pass to close the loop. Four years living in Ponta do Sol and we still think this is the proper way to see the north. Not a hike. A traverse.

PR21 itself is the short stage that gets the credit for the whole tradition. Three point two kilometres, an hour and a half, 680m of downhill through laurissilva and into the transition forest above Ribeira Grande. On its own it’s a half-day. Strung together with PR2 and PR12 it’s the closest thing Madeira has to a long-distance walk, the old south-to-north crossing people used before the roads went in. Here’s how we run it.

The trail in three sentences

PR21 Caminho do Norte drops from Boca da Encumeada at 1,000m to Ribeira Grande at 320m, 3.2km one-way through indigenous laurissilva and then transition forest after you cross the ER-104. Around 1h30 of walking, moderate, mostly downhill but steep enough that the knees feel it by the bottom. It’s the surviving stage of the old south-north crossing, which means the trail itself is short, but the hike you actually want is PR21 chained with PR12 and PR2 across the spine. (Island-wide context lives in our Madeira hiking guide. This post zooms in on PR21 and the traverse it belongs to.)

Stages of the north-coast traverse

If you only want PR21, skip to the next section. If you want the full crossing the way the muleteers used to do it, this is the rotation we use with guests who book a long weekend on the spine.

• Stage 1: PR12 Caminho Real da Encumeada. Boca da Corrida to Boca da Encumeada. Around 5 hours, 12km, the high traverse along the central ridge. You finish at the Encumeada pass, which is exactly where PR21 starts. Stay the night at the small guesthouse complex up there if you want a true through-hike, or shuttle down to São Vicente.
• Stage 2: PR21 Caminho do Norte. Boca da Encumeada to Ribeira Grande. The 3.2km descent into the north-coast forest. This is the stage we’re writing about. You sleep in São Vicente or Ribeira Grande itself.
• Stage 3: PR2 Vereda do Urzal. Curral das Freiras to Boaventura, the parallel north-coast traverse one valley east. 10.6km, 4h30. We cover the full thing in our PR2 Vereda do Urzal write-up.

Most people pick one stage and call it done. The proper three-day version is for people staying long enough to wait for the right weather window, which is most of our guests at Banana House.

Where it starts: Boca da Encumeada

The trailhead sits at the Encumeada pass on the ER-228, the road that cuts north-south across the spine. From Ponta do Sol it’s 40 minutes by car: VE3 to Ribeira Brava, then up the ER-228 through eucalyptus and pine until the air gets noticeably colder. Park at the Encumeada viewpoint, signed with the green-and-yellow PR21 marker. There’s a small café up there if you want coffee before you start. The miradouro looks both ways: south down the Ribeira Brava valley, north down the throat of São Vicente.

The first metres set the tone. You drop straight off the road into thick laurissilva, the trail going down through til trees and hanging lichens, the kind of forest that swallows sound. Phone signal cuts out fast. Tell someone where you’re going. Standard north-coast levada rules apply even on a short trail.

What you actually walk through

Three distinct sections.

The first is pure UNESCO laurissilva. You’re inside the protected forest from the moment you leave the road, walking on packed earth and roots, with the canopy closed overhead. Most of the descent happens in here. It’s quieter than PR13 Fanal because the road access is harder and the trail is shorter. We’ve done PR21 in July with one other group on the path.

Then you cross the ER-104, the smaller north-coast road. The forest changes on the other side. The pure laurissilva gives way to a transition zone with eucalyptus, acacia, pine and mixed exotic species. Less photogenic, more workmanlike. This is also where the gradient eases off and the trail becomes a wider track.

The last stretch into Ribeira Grande feels rural in a way the rest of Madeira doesn’t. Small terraced plots, vine pergolas, the occasional banana patch on the lower slopes, somebody’s dog barking from a yard. You finish in the village proper, which is where the basket weavers still make the willow wicker sledges they send up to Monte. Some of the sheds have piles of stripped willow stacked outside. You can usually see one or two through the open doors.

Logistics for multi-day

PR21 needs a permit through simplifica.madeira.gov.pt: €4.50 per person over 12, free under. Same broken portal we cover in our Madeira hiking permits 2026 guide. Use madeira.fun/hiking to actually complete the booking. The trail almost never hits its daily cap, but the system still wants the booking.

For the multi-day version, the questions are sleep, water and shuttle.

Sleep: Encumeada itself has a small guesthouse near the pass, basic, breakfast included, fine for one night. São Vicente town has a handful of family-run inns, our pick is a place near the church for around €60 a night double in shoulder season. Ribeira Grande is too small for accommodation, so you walk down and either get picked up or taxi to São Vicente for the night.

Water: there’s no fountain on the trail itself. You can refill at the Encumeada café before starting and at any of the houses at the bottom if you ask politely. For PR12 the day before, fill 2L at Boca da Corrida and stretch it. The north-coast humidity does some of the work for you. For PR2 across the way, same rules as our PR2 write-up.

Shuttle: PR21 is linear, so you finish 680m below where you parked. Three options. One, two cars in the group: drop one at Ribeira Grande, drive the second to Encumeada. Two, taxi back from São Vicente to Encumeada, around €25, easy to call. Three, do PR21 as the descent leg of a full traverse where you sleep down at the bottom and don’t need to return.

If you can’t sort the logistics, the cleaner alternative is PR15 Vereda da Ribeira da Janela one valley further west. Different forest, similar laurissilva-to-sea vibe, less shuttle headache.

After-hike: where to eat on the north coast

You finish in Ribeira Grande hungry and a long way from Funchal. Three stops we rotate:

• São Vicente, 15 minutes by car. Cantinho da Serra for mountain food: caldo verde, picado, espetada on bay-laurel skewers. The kind of restaurant where the owner asks where you walked from and pours you a complimentary poncha because you came down PR21.
• Seixal, 25 minutes west. Restaurante Brisa Mar above the natural pools. Limpets, black scabbardfish, a window onto the Atlantic. Worth the detour if the swell is up.
• Santana, 30 minutes east. Restaurante O Colmo. Same espetada we recommend after PR2, and the thatched casas de colmo are a 5-minute walk after lunch if you want the postcard photo.

If you did the car shuttle and you’re driving back to Ponta do Sol via Encumeada, Restaurante Encumeada at the pass does a solid plate of picado and you don’t have to detour.

When to go

PR21 is open year-round, but the forest changes with the season. The full month-by-month picture sits in our best time to visit Madeira breakdown.

• January, February: the upper laurissilva is wet and dripping, the trail can be muddy near the top. The descent is shielded by canopy so wind isn’t usually an issue. Pack a shell and proper grip on the shoes. We’ve done PR21 in late January with the forest steaming.
• March to May: prime. Wild flowers, dry trail, light filtering through the laurel canopy. Best window for the three-day traverse if you want all three stages dry.
• June to September: the start at Encumeada is cooler than the south coast, so 9am is fine. The exotic-forest section after the road crossing gets warmer than you’d expect by midday. Start before 10am.
• October, November: our favourite. Quiet trail, golden light, the laurissilva at its richest after the first autumn rains. We’ve had the entire descent to ourselves on a Tuesday in November.
• December: north-coast storms occasionally close the lower sections after rockfall. Check the IFCN trail status the morning of.

Status as of June 2026: open. We checked the night before writing this.

FAQ

Is PR21 really long-distance? On its own, no. It’s 3.2km, an hour and a half, technically a half-day hike. The “long-distance” framing comes from its place in the historic south-north crossing: PR12 over the spine, PR21 down to the coast, and the parallel PR2 route one valley east. Chain them and you get a proper three-day traverse. Walk PR21 alone and it’s a forest descent with a steep finish.

How does PR21 compare to PR2? PR2 is a real crossing: 10.6km, 4h30, a hard climb followed by a hard descent. PR21 is the easier half-day version of the same idea: short, downhill, mostly forest, no exposure. If you want one hike, do PR2 for the variety or PR21 for the forest concentration. If you want a weekend, do both.

Can I hike PR21 with kids? Yes, from around age 8 if they’re used to walking. The descent is steep but the trail surface is good and there are no drops or exposed sections. Bring proper shoes. The roots get slippery when wet.

Do I need a guide? No. PR21 is well marked with the green-and-yellow PR posts. If you want local knowledge on the wider traverse, Alex at mountain-alex.com knows the spine routes better than anyone and occasionally runs the full crossing in his Sunday rotation.

Is the permit actually checked? Sometimes. Rangers run spot checks at the Encumeada trailhead in high season, less in November. Book it anyway. The trail is in protected forest and €4.50 keeps the system funded.

Can I do PR21 without a car? Just barely. Bus #6 from Funchal reaches Encumeada once or twice a day and connects through to São Vicente. The timetable is the problem. If you miss the afternoon return you’re calling a taxi or hitching. Most guests rent a car for hiking week or sort the shuttle through Alex on Sunday.

The bigger picture

PR21 is the short stage that opens up the longer story. Walk it alone and it’s a forest descent with a basket-weaving village at the bottom. Walk it as one leg of the south-north crossing and it’s the moment Madeira stops being a viewpoint island and starts being a place you walked across. The historic muleteers did it in two days with a cart. You can do it in three with a backpack and a permit. The full hiking pillar has the other PR routes that round out the spine weekend.

Stay a month and the spine opens up

A week in Madeira is a PR1 permit and a flight home. A month is the right three-day weather window for PR12, PR21 and PR2, espetada at O Colmo on the way back, a swim at the Ponta do Sol pier before sunset.

We run Banana House year-round, one-month minimum. Seven private rooms in Ponta do Sol, 40 minutes from the Encumeada trailhead, the kind of base where you can wait for the right Tuesday and walk over the island instead of around it.

Pick a month. We’ll see you at the pass.