Água d’Alto Waterfall

The way in goes past somebody's house and up a narrow flight of stairs, then left onto a levada — follow the irrigation channel and the fall appears at the end of it. There is no official trail, and that is exactly why the place stays empty: walkers who find the start often have the whole pool to themselves. The water is cold and swimmable, though it does not always run clear. The levada is half the trip. The channel is cut into a steep hillside, and in places the drop is open right beside the path, with nothing between the two.

• Navigation: Google Maps points to the wrong start. The trail begins at the bus stop, on the dead-end Caminho Municipal Água d'Alto - Ramal 2.
• Route: at the end of the road go right, up the narrow stairs beside the house, then left along the levada to the falls.
• No facilities: no toilets, no drinking water and no information board anywhere near the start.
• Swimming: the pool is cold and swimmable, though the water does not always run clear.

There is no driving up to the falls. Cars stop on the roadside, and the walk begins at the bus stop below, on a dead-end municipal road: about 15 minutes and roughly a kilometre in, first up the stairs set into the middle of the road, then along the levada. From Santana the drive itself is easy — the hard part is finding the start, so open a hiking app before you leave the car and go by the photos other walkers have posted rather than by Google Maps, which sends people to the wrong place.