Hiking Madeira’s Caldeirão Verde Levada Trail

One of the many strange and beautiful things in Madeira are the levadas: channels that were originally created in the 15th century to transport water around the island. There are about 1400km of these levadas, many of which are now maintained as hiking trails. Have I mentioned that Madeira is an absolute hiker’s paradise?

We set out for the Caldeirão Verde trail (PR9): one of the more popular levada trails that takes you to a waterfall.

I particularly like the detailed signage that Madeira has for each of its hikes, which displays useful details like the elevation gain. As you can see, this is a nice, flat trail. A perfect chaser to our Pico to Pico hike.

The hike begins in a beautiful forest, which quickly transitions into a lush, rainforesty sort of climate.

You know when you go to a really fancy hotel or restaurant, and they have one of those mossy walls with water running down it? I think I’ve found where the inspiration for those came from.

Waterfalls, tunnels, this hike has it all.

I was expecting a forest hike, so I was really surprised when we once again found ourselves surrounded by jaw-dropping vistas. I guess they just come standard with any Madeira hike.

And here’s the waterfall! This was definitely one of the less crowded waterfalls we’ve encountered on our trip.

Some extra fog rolled in while we were enjoying the waterfall.

The levada continued to babble reassuringly the whole hike back. Definitely impossible to get lost on a hike like this.

Nevertheless, we’re always grateful to make it back to the bike before sunset.