MOUNTAINS OF MADEIRA ISLAND

Did you know that Madeira island has three of the highest mountains in Portugal?  

Therefore we’ve decided to let you know a bit more about one our favourites mountains, but first things first so let’s start with some presentations.

The highest mountain in the Island is “Pico Ruivo” with 1861m (6105ft) and is accessible by hiking, and for that there are several routes that may lead you there.

The easiest way to reach the summit of “Pico Ruivo”  is the hiking route PR 1.2  with its starting point in “Santana” more specifically in “Achada do Teixeira” (where you can park your car). It has a distance of 2.8km (+ 2.8km return) which takes around 1H30 hours to accomplish.

To learn more about it you can download here the trail brochure.

Another option to reach “Pico Ruivo”  is to hike the route PR 1. This trail starts in “Pico do Areeiro” which has an altitude of 1818m (5964ft) making it the third highest mountain in the Island. If you plan to hike this route you can download the Brochure available here.

If you just want to go there and enjoy the astonishing views you can easily reach it by car, which you can leave in the existing parking lot.

One of our suggestions if you decide to go there is to go as early as possible, thereby being able to enjoy an epic sunrise there (you can thank us later 😉 )

Introductions made it’s now time to talk about our favourite mountain, the “Pico das Torres” which literally translates to Towers Peak, it was given this name due to the various existing towers.

“Pico das Torres” is one of the climbing “Meca’s” in Madeira, it has an altitude of 1851m (6072ft) making it the second highest in the Island and the 4th in the country and it’s located on the central mountain range between “Pico do Areeiro” and “Pico Ruivo”.

To reach the “Pico das Torres” you’ll have to hike the old route (which is closed at the moment) between the peaks, it’s not very conspicuous  but as a reference point you have to reach a water spring at the bottom, and from that point on the adventure begins.

For you to summit it’ll take you approximately 02H30 hours of hardcore scrambling with lots of climbing but if you enjoy nature and love climbing, this will be one of those lifetime memories.

So here are some pics of our ascent:

PS: Pico do Areeiro can also be found written as Pico Arieiro. Pico Ruivo is stated 1861 and in some places as 1862.