Levada das 25 Fontes and Levada do Risco Hiking Trails on Madeira Island, Portugal

 

Levada das 25 Fontes hike is one of the top 5 hikes on Madeira Island.  It is roughly 4.5 kms long.  It is the hike of 25 Springs or Fountains that are clustered in this area of Rabacal.  Levada do Risco is 3 kms long round trip.  Together they take about 4-5 hours depending on how many breaks and photo stops you take.  They are moderate hikes with stairs and steep inclines and drop offs.  These were  amazing hikes with stunning scenery which was dampened by low clouds.  It would be even more incredible if it had been a clear day.  There are roughly 450 hikes on the island of Madeira, Portugal.

There is not enough parking to deal with the popularity of these trails so we arrived early to get a spot.  It was December 26th so the shuttle van was not working which takes you down to the trail head and back up when you have completed the trail.  Therefore; you must walk down the steep road almost 2 kms to the beginning of the first trail.  That was the easy part.  After a long 4 hours of trails then you have to walk back up the steep 2 km road which has a steep incline so that you can get back to your car.  This was the only disagreeable part of the day.

The walk down the 2 km road.  We started out in a cloud and it continued sporadically throughout the trails.

The valley gorge was beautiful even with the cloud obstructing our view.

Laurissilva Trees of Madeira island.  The Laurissilva Forest on Madeira Island is a 20 million year old sub-tropical rain forest which has been named a UNESCO Biosphere.  The forest is very thick with these spindly crooked trees.  The trees can grow to be huge crooked, thick truncked beauties on the island.

The trails are well marked and have a large informative poster at each beginning.

The drive up to the trail head was beautiful, in fact everywhere you drive is beautiful on Madeira Island.  Bananas are a big export of Madeira Island along with other fruits.  There are terraced crops built into the hillsides everywhere you look on Madeira.

Everyone lives on a hill or cliff side on Madeira.

I did a drive by from our car window to try and capture some of the beauty of the island. 

The Red Flowering Agave are everywhere in Madeira.

In the two weeks we spent on this island we saw a constant cloud somewhere hovering in the mountains but this just added to the beauty.  Various towns dot the landscape.

There is a cafe at the end of the road and you can use their washroom before you set out on this lovely trail.  It was wet and slightly muddy in places and you begin to see the first Levada which is "a unique irrigation channel or aqueduct system  built to carry water from the wet north to drier agricultural areas of the south, built with maintenance paths alongside that have become popular hiking trails."  Some of these Levadas were built as early as the 1500s.  These organized aqueducts were built to last and are quite impressive to see how they work.  These paths are not wide so occasionally when you meet a hiker going the other way you can jump up and stand on the Levada and try not to fall in.

The first sightings of the ancient Levadas.  This flat surface is the walking trail.  The water is running downhill to the right of the flat trail.

Miniature waterfalls are spouting all around you.

Stairs up to another trail head.

Surrounding countryside is all steep hills and mountains.

This was a man made fountain of an old house that had been refurbished into the Cafe.

Some fallen Laurissilva Trees lying over the trail.

There was some Limbo needed
to maneuver under the trees on the 
trail.

Risco Waterfall Trail head marker

A 4 foot curtain waterfall running down a moss covered cliff.

Little waterfalls being captured inside the flowing water of the Levada.

Fairly early on the trail leads to where you can branch off to Levada do Risco which has a higher waterfall and very different than Levada das 25 Fontes.  Both are very much worth seeing. When you first spot Risco Waterfall you get quite excited so we snapped a few shots.  You walk closer and begin to hear the roar of this 330 foot tall waterfall.  Once we reached the falls which actually branches out you begin to get rained on, thank goodness we had our rain jackets and we had to put our hoods up.  Dax and I walked closer to the waterfall hoping to walk behind where there was a tunnel carved out.  There was a gate and it was closed unfortunately and we got drenched in that 15 seconds that we tried that.  It was warm and our pants dried quite quickly.

Risco Waterfall in the distance.

The cliff is raining water.

Dax was getting soaked on this one splashing down on him.

Dax at the bottom of the photo and behind him is the tunnel opening.

It was a very well maintained trail.

A Levada with fairly swift moving water.

Dax in front of a wide Levada.

Some sections of the Levadas are on cliff sides and most have a guide rail if you wish to use it. 

We walked back along the Levada trail towards where the other trail continued and continued walking on Levada das 25 Fontes trail.  The water source is continuous and rapid.  It did begin to rain and that is when the Levadas began to fill to the brim in some areas and spill over.  There are mini water sources falling down all along these trails.  The earth is seeping out water all around you.  It is so green and lush and beautiful.

This is a very lush place and it seemed perpetually in the clouds which helps to provide the water for the Levadas but many are tapped into the Springs on the island.

There was a bridge over this little creek.

Its a very pretty area to hike through.

If you look closely there are several people walking in the center of the photo.  These are the stairs back up along the cliff side on the trail.

Another mini waterfall feeding the Levada.

There are some very narrow paths along the Levadas.

Lush Laurissilva Trees cover the landscape.

There were some areas that only had a guide wire between you and your death.  The rock trail was perpetually wet the entire time.  Good footwear is essential.

Some areas of the trail are wide and people can generally pass by quite easily others not so much and that is when you have to jump up and straddle the two sides of the Levada.

When the Laurissilva Trees are in a dense fog, you are reminded of Hansel and Gretel and the Witch.

We came to a split in the trail where you could continue onto another trail or walk up the stairs to ours and this is where there was a large volume of water spilling over a man made waterfall into the Levada.  We continued walking up and saw the second large waterfall that was not as easy to get to and you had to scramble over boulders to get close to it.  This was also a very exciting waterfall to be near and so incredibly pretty.

This Levada was full and spilling over onto the pathway. 

This was the way up to the waterfall.  The water was rushing downhill to meet the main Levada.

This cat was under a large boulder waiting out the spitting rain and she had her eye on the docile birds that I was capturing on my phone camera.

The main waterfall of the Levada das 25 Fontes hike.  It was beautiful!

Continuing on the trail.  There were plenty of elevation changes on these hikes.

Spooky Laurissilva Forest.

I love spotting different mushrooms etc on dead tree trunks.

There are some precarious spots on the trail with some steep drops that you would most likely not survive unless you could grab a tree on the way down?

The moss in this area was so incredibly thick and soft.

I was not super happy with my Man-child who was standing on a wet rock on the side of a steep cliff wanting his picture taken.

More spooky photos where you expected a Witch to come creeping out of the forest.

There were many birds on these trails begging to get their picture taken and were true posers.

I was super happy with this little darling that I captured. He was posing on a branch in the sun and it had just misted out.  The water droplets were sparkling and he seemed to be thrusting his chest out saying 'look at me'.

I believe this was the female Chaffinch.

And this would be the male Chaffinch.

This is a Common Blackbird but also a poser.

This little dude had been digging his beak into the dirt for seeds or worms.

The walk back was good but it had continued to rain but more of a mist due to be up in the cloud.  We stopped at the cafe and grabbed a bite to eat before the arduous trek back up the steep incline of the 2 km road to our car.

Some glimpses of the sun coming through.

The tiny square represents the magnified version of the small section of the island that we trailed on.

Some cows munching at the side of the parking lot.

Driving back home, we were smacked in the face with ocean views which don't look real.  The sun was close to setting and reflecting strangely on the flat surface of the water.  These mountain roads are so steep that when you are descending it looks like the road is ending and you will drive off the cliff and into the ocean.  I personally never got used to that.

Ocean view shot through a back road that our Garmin took us on.

A mountain town street.

Everyone has an ocean view in Madeira, I think.

You can see a cliff hugging road in
the distance.

There are so many pretty towns 
on Madeira Island.

Both of these trails are gorgeous and I highly recommend both of them.  On a clear day you would be inspired by the jaw dropping beauty of the valley and gorges in this area of Rabacal.