Pico Ruivo

On a clear day the view from the top runs from the green ridges around Curral das Freiras across to the Ribeira Grande and São Jorge valleys, with Porto Santo and the Desertas out on the horizon. At 1,861 m this is the highest ground on Madeira and the third highest in Portugal. The path crosses high-altitude heath, thin and wind-cropped, past rock formations that often stand clear above the cloud. Madeira firecrest, chaffinch and linnet are the birds you hear on the way up. North of the peak a shelter, renovated in 2019, has running water, restrooms and meals.

• Closures: PR1.3 to Encumeada has been shut since November 2024, and the summit routes can be closed on the day you turn up.
• Steps: both routes climb in long flights of steps, with steep staircases on the ridge section of PR1.
• Water: carry plenty in summer heat; the shelter north of the peak has running water, restrooms and meals.
• Cloud: the summit often stands above the cloud layer, and when it does there is no view of the island at all.
• Torch: anyone walking up for sunset comes back down in the dark, so take a head torch.

Most walkers drive to Achada do Teixeira and start from the car park there: PR1.2 runs 2.8 km each way to the summit, about an hour and a half for the round trip. The longer way in is PR1 from the Pico do Areeiro viewpoint at 1,818 m — 7 km over Pico das Torres through volcanic tunnels, steep staircases and open slopes, roughly 3.5 hours, ending with a steep pull up to the shelter below the top. Whichever you take, the last stretch to the summit is walked.

Better: clear days, when the view reaches Porto Santo and the Desertas, and the run-up to sunset — one visitor set off from Achada do Teixeira after 18:00 and watched it from the top.

Avoid: days with cloud sitting on the massif. The summit often stands above it, which is a sight in itself and leaves you with nothing of the island to look at.

Weather here turns fast at this height: the shelters along PR1.2 were built for exactly that.