Rabaçal Valley

Cows graze between the parked cars, and the footpath board stands at the edge of the car park — Rabaçal Valley is a trailhead first and a viewpoint second. From here the paths drop into the laurel forest and pick up a levada, running past lookouts to the pond fed by the 25 Fontes waterfalls; the falls are fullest in winter and spring. Across from the car park a track climbs to the transmitter mast, about five minutes on foot, with grass to sit on and the sunset straight ahead. Every walk here ends the way it began: uphill.

• Watch your kit. Trekking poles left in the Rabaçal car park in May 2026 were gone by the time their owner came back for them.
• Van back up. A van runs between ER105 and Rabaçal House and covers over half the climb; it leaves from beside the café at the bottom.
• Toilets and water are below. Free toilets and a drinking water point sit around 650 m down from the car park, near Rabaçal House.
• It gets busy. The footpath network for this whole corner of the island starts and ends at this one car park.
• Routes. A board with the Rabaçal footpath network stands by the car park; one walker navigated the trails with the Komoot app.

The approach is by car, up ER110 to the plateau: the ground-surface car park sits at the top of the valley, with a second one about 340 m back along the road. From the car park on it is on foot, and it is downhill from the first step — the tarmac road and the footpaths both drop away towards Rabaçal House. Whatever you walk down, you walk back up, though the van between ER105 and Rabaçal House covers over half the return climb.

Best: winter and spring, and late in the day for the mast. Avoid: high summer if the waterfalls are the point.

The falls that feed the pond run full in winter and spring; outside those months they carry less water. The viewpoint on the far side of the car park, by the transmitter mast, faces the sunset — about five minutes on foot, with grass to sit on.