PR5 Vereda das Funduras: the east-end forest trail almost nobody walks

Most people drive past Funduras without knowing it exists. They blast east on the VR1 toward PR8 at Ponta de São Lourenço, the volcanic peninsula everyone hikes in their first week. PR5 sits in the hills above Machico, ten minutes off the same motorway, and almost nobody turns the steering wheel for it. The last time we walked it, a Thursday in May, we passed two other hikers in three hours. Both were Portuguese.

PR5 Vereda das Funduras is the east-end laurel forest hike. 8.7km point-to-point from the Portela viewpoint down to Maroços, around 3 hours of walking, moderate effort, almost all downhill. It runs through the Serra das Funduras protected area, part of the Natura 2000 network, with views over Porto da Cruz, Penha d’Águia and the Machico bay on the way out. After four years in Ponta do Sol we’ve sent guests on most of the PR trails. This is the one nobody comes back complaining about crowds.

The trail in three sentences

PR5 runs 8.7km point-to-point from Miradouro da Portela (620m) down to Maroços at around 186m, with the high point near the Casa das Funduras forestry post at 624m. Three hours of walking, moderate. The climbing is short and the rest is a long gentle descent through laurissilva forest. The trail is well marked with the green-and-yellow PR5 stripes and you’d have to try to lose it.

Where it starts: Portela, ends in Maroços

The trail is point-to-point, not a loop, which is why most casual hikers skip it. You start at the Miradouro da Portela on the ER-102, the mountain pass between Machico and Porto da Cruz. From Ponta do Sol it’s around 1 hour by car: VR1 east the whole way to Machico, then north on the ER-102 up to Portela. The viewpoint has its own car park and a small café that does an honest galão and a passable bolo do caco. Park here, walk the trail, finish in Maroços.

The end-of-trail problem is the transport back. Maroços is a tiny inland parish above Machico with a bus stop that runs to Machico town a few times a day (line 113 on Horários do Funchal, check the timetable on the morning of). From Machico, line 156 or 113 connects back to Funchal, and you’ll need a taxi or a second bus to get back to Portela for your car. The cleaner option, if you’re a group: drop one car in Maroços, drive the second to Portela, walk down, swap drivers. We’ve also seen guests Uber it back to Portela for around €15. There’s signal at both ends.

If you want to skip the logistics, walk the trail as an out-and-back from Portela: head down the forest road past Casa das Funduras until you hit the Larano viewpoint, around 4km in, then turn around. That gives you the best of the trail (the laurissilva, the views) without the bus puzzle.

What you see

About twenty minutes in, the trail opens to a clear sight line across the valley to Penha d’Águia, the “eagle rock” that pushes 590m straight out of the Atlantic. From this angle you see why it earned the name. The cliff face drops vertical into the sea and Porto da Cruz is tucked into the bay at its base, red roofs against the blacks and greens. Most visitors only ever see Penha d’Águia from below, off the north coast road. PR5 hands you the level view across.

Then comes the laurissilva. The Serra das Funduras is one of the lesser-known fragments of Madeira’s UNESCO laurel forest. PR13 at Fanal gets the photographers; this stretch gets nobody. The trail drops through old laurel and til trees with hanging lichen, ferns at knee height, and stretches where the canopy closes overhead into a green tunnel. We’ve covered this kind of forest in our hiking pillar but PR5 is where you walk it with the trail to yourself. Casa das Funduras, the forestry post near the high point, is a stone building used by IFCN staff. There’s a small picnic shelter beside it.

About two-thirds along, the trail opens again, this time to the Larano viewpoint over the Machico bay. The view runs east: Machico town below, the airport runway out on its concrete platform, the sea wrapping around toward Caniçal and the start of PR8. On a clear day you can see the eastern tip of the island from here. We’ve eaten lunch at Larano more than once, on the wooden benches the IFCN put in last year.

After Larano the trail turns south and drops fast through terraced fields toward Maroços. The terraces are still farmed, mostly bananas and sugar cane, with stone walls that have been there for a couple of centuries. You finish the hike walking past someone’s vegetable garden, which is a strange transition after three hours of forest.

After the hike

Maroços itself doesn’t have much. There’s a small café near the bus stop that does coffees and pastéis but no full meals. The play is to get down to Machico (10 minutes by car or bus) and eat properly.

What we do most often: lunch at Mercado Velho in Machico, the old market square turned into a restaurant garden. Order the lapas (limpets) and the bolo do caco with garlic butter, sit in the courtyard with a Coral. Afternoon at the Machico black-sand beach if it’s summer, or up to Santo da Serra if the weather’s gone in. Santo da Serra is 20 minutes from Portela and has a Sunday farmers’ market with poncha stalls and roast pork sandwiches. If the timing works, Sunday is the day to do PR5.

For a longer day on the east end, pair PR5 with PR8 Ponta de São Lourenço the day before or after. The two trails together cover the eastern third of the island: peninsula coastal walk on one day, laurel forest hill walk on the next. Most guests who do both rate Funduras higher than they expected.

When to go

PR5 works year-round but the forest is at its best in the wet half of the year.

• January, February: the laurissilva looks the way it should. Dripping moss, low cloud, atmospheric. Pack a proper rain shell. The Larano viewpoint can be cloud-bound, which is hit or miss.
• March to May: prime. The wildflowers in the terrace sections are in bloom and the forest is still wet enough to feel old. Comfortable temperatures, dry-enough trail.
• June to September: the south coast hits the high 20s and PR5 at 600m stays in the high teens with shade from the forest most of the way. The Maroços descent gets hot in the open sections after the laurissilva. Start early.
• October, November: our favourite. Crowds (such as they are) drop further, the forest is green, the light is golden through the laurel.
• December: check the IFCN page the night before. The north-facing sections occasionally close after winter rockfall.

PR5 requires a permit through the simplifica.madeira.gov.pt portal (€4.50 adults, free under 12). We’ve covered the broken booking flow in our Madeira hiking permits 2026 guide. Madeira.fun/hiking is the working alternative. The PR5 daily cap is set high enough that we’ve never seen it sell out, even in August. Book 24-48 hours ahead.

Current trail status lives on the IFCN page linked from our hiking pillar. We check it the morning of any hike on this side of the island, since the east coast catches the leftover north-coast weather.

The best time to visit Madeira breakdown has the broader month-by-month picture.

FAQ

Is PR5 a loop? No. It’s a point-to-point from Portela to Maroços. To avoid the bus puzzle, walk it as an out-and-back from Portela for around 8km return, turning at the Larano viewpoint.

How does PR5 compare to PR18? PR18 Levada do Rei is a flat levada walk on the north coast, ending at a waterfall. PR5 is a forest walk on the east end, ending in farm terraces. PR18 is more visually rewarding (the waterfall, the wider levada). PR5 is more varied (forest, viewpoints, terraces) and easier to access from the south. If you want quiet, both deliver. PR5 is the more interesting walk; PR18 is the better postcard.

Is PR5 family-friendly? From around age 9, yes. The trail is mostly forest road with no exposure, no tunnels, no scrambling. The 8.7km point-to-point distance is the limiter. If you’re walking with younger kids, do the out-and-back to Larano (4km each way) instead.

Do I need a torch? No. PR5 has no tunnels. Daylight all the way.

Can I bring a dog? Yes, on a lead. PR5 is one of the better PR trails for dogs: no tunnels, wide forest road for most of the route, water in the levada channels along the way (the channel water is technically off-limits for drinking but they’ll find their own).

Is there phone signal? Patchy. Signal drops in the laurissilva sections, comes back at the viewpoints. Tell someone where you’re going if you’re hiking alone, same as any Madeira trail.

What’s the climb like? Easier than the elevation profile suggests. The first 30 minutes from Portela climbs gently to the Casa das Funduras high point. After that it’s a long descent. Net loss is around 440m over 8.7km, which is gentle. Knees notice the last kilometre into Maroços.

Stay a month and walk the quiet ones

A week in Madeira is a PR1 permit and a panic-booked PR6. A month is PR5 on a Tuesday in October with the laurel forest to yourself, lunch at Mercado Velho with the windows open, and the drive home along the south coast as the sun sets behind Cabo Girão.

We run Banana House year-round, one-month minimum. Seven private rooms in Ponta do Sol, an hour from the Portela trailhead, twenty-five minutes from Rabaçal. The kind of base where you wait for a clear PR1 morning and fill the rest of the week with the trails most visitors never hear about.

Pick a month. We’ll see you at Larano.