Hi all! After seeing some confusion online about the feasibility of a full Madeira thruhike, I want to share my experience of a just completed successful 5-day thruhike.

TLDR

A full thruhike is possible as of May 2026. The administrative hurdles seem intimidating at first but are manageable eventually. Bring some flexibility and perhaps a slight risk affinity. Key info: PR 1.3 is still closed but passable (due to maintenance done for the MIUT), and there is a convenient way to Pico Areeiro from Nuns Valley that avoids the one-way Pico Ruivo route. GPX is attached.

Day 1: Porto Moniz - Fanal (via PR 15, 14)
Day 2: Fanal - Bica da Cana (via PR 13, 13.1, 6.5, along 25 Fontes)
Day 3: Bica da Cana - Encumeada (via PR 17 (left bow)), Encumeada - Nuns Valley (via PR 1.3, PR 2)
Day 4: Nuns Valley - Poiso (via Eira do Serrado, Volta Malhada, PR 3)
Day 5: Poiso - Machico (via PR 10, Porto da Cruz, Coroa Peak)

Full Version

I booked and planned my trip pretty spontaneously and freestyled the whole hike quite a bit. I was doing East to West since I wanted to have a coast day around Caniçal/Sao Lorenço at the end, which seemed to be the opposite of what many people do.

Day 1 + 2: The start of the route is pretty standard from Porto Moniz to Fanal (Day 1), on to Bica da Cana (or any other of the campsites around that area; Day 2). I didn’t take the most direct ways but tried to stay on trails, for PR info see TLDR above. I had booked Bica da Cana camping but didn’t manage Fanal due to limited availability. I slept there nonetheless as there was only one tent although all 5 places were booked out, and no one checked my permission (not only me, other hikers reported the same).

Day 3: For the third night I had booked an apartment in Nuns Valley since I wanted to recharge my powerbank etc. Day 3 was therefore challenging as seemingly all routes into Nuns Valley are closed. The first half of the day I hiked down to Encumeada, but had to take a longer bow over Caramujo since the shorter circuit of PR 17 is closed due to a landslide. Beware that this longer route to Encumeada contains long Levada tunnels, which in my case were also flooded. Headlamp mandatory, prepare for wet feet, and don’t do with claustrophobia. I was at first planning to then take a cab from Encumeada to the upper parts of Funchal to hike into Nuns Valley, but met a number of people who had hiked PR 1.3 the days before and said it was safe. As also the MIUT happened a week ago which led over the 1.3 ridge, I spontaneously decided to give it a shot and can confirm, the route is pretty safe for experienced hikers. The route is not yet secured for mass tourism hence the continued closure I assume. I strongly advise to bring hiking poles for safety, I was very happy I had mine. Just before Pico das Torrinhas PR2 descends into Nuns Valley, but is currently closed as it leads through a fire-damaged forest. The path itself is mostly safe, but there are dead trees laying in the way occasionally, and many dead trees are standing / hanging in other trees besides the trail. I can imagine there’s some danger of falling trees/branches with heavy wind, and I hiked it without music to hear any wood breaking down.

Day 4: The most convenient path out of Nuns Valley would’ve been continuing on 1.3 until Ruivo and traversing to Areeiro, but since I wanted to avoid trouble with authorities questioning why I’m coming out of a closed trail at Ruivo, and the way between Ruivo and Areeiro is currently uni-directional (Areerio-Ruivo, not the other way round), I decided against. Instead, I approached Areeiro from the back via Eira do Serrado, and after that taking a small but sweet path (Volta Malhada) along the ridge of Montado do Paredo. Once up there it’s straightforward and convenient to get to Areeiro. From Areeiro I decended down to Poiso for a campsite I had booked, but there are many other ones in the area you could target.

Day 5: The way from Poiso and surrounding areas to Machico is straightforward but very long (I did 40k that day), so start early. One gotcha: PR10 is officially closed and guarded by a policeman at Ribeiro Frio, but it’s very easy to get on the trail from surrounding trails. There is one small landslide that’s easily passable. For the hike from Porto da Cruz to Machico I recommend taking the peak of Coroa for an amazing view.

General Admin: I did book most of my trails and campsites and was not checked a single time. I’d recommend to book wherever possible, but I also wouldn’t plan my trip around availabilities of trails (excluding to PR1). On every single campsite I arrived there were a fraction of tents present as booked on the website (Poiso 25 booked vs. 3 present, Bica da Cana 26 vs. 6, Fanal 5 vs. 1), so rocking up spontaneously works around that time of the year.

Route: You can find a GPX attached. The closed PR 1.3 and the small Volta Malhada trail weren’t recognized by the app when drawing the route, so the path in the GPX there is an approximation. When you’re there it’s obvious where to go.

Hope this helps some people!

Enjoy Madeira, it’s beautiful and its people are amazingly welcoming and warm :)