PR1 logistics: Pico do Areeiro - Pico Ruivo

The full traverse: from Pico do Areeiro past Pico das Torres to Pico Ruivo (PR1, about 7 km), then down the PR1.2 variant to Achada do Teixeira (2.8 km). This is the classic direction where the trail looks its best, but you finish somewhere other than where you started.

Out and back: from Areeiro to Ruivo and back the same way. The distance doubles and the climbs return in reverse, but your car is waiting at the car park and the logistics problem disappears.

The shortest variant: PR1.2 from Achada do Teixeira to Pico Ruivo, 2.8 km one way (5.6 km round trip). The simplest way up Madeira's highest peak, also good for less experienced hikers.

If you do the full traverse, your car stays at the Pico do Areeiro car park while you descend to Achada do Teixeira. You need a plan for getting back to it before you set off.

The options: a taxi or transfer from Achada do Teixeira or from nearby Santana back to Areeiro, splitting the group across two cars (leave one at the finish, drive the other to the start), or skipping the traverse and returning the way you came.

Taxi and transfer prices are agreed with the driver or the company, so arrange the ride and the price in advance, ideally the day before. Do not count on finding a free taxi waiting at Achada do Teixeira without a booking.

Sunrise above the clouds is the reason people set alarms for the middle of the night. To catch it you must be at Pico do Areeiro before dawn, and in season the car park fills up fast, so build in a generous buffer.

At nearly 1800 m it is cold and windy even in summer. Bring warm layers, a hat and a headlamp, because you will walk the first kilometres in the dark.

If you would rather not drive mountain switchbacks at night, organised sunrise transfers and tours with hotel pickup exist. They also solve the car-at-the-start problem in one go.

The full PR1 costs 10.50 EUR, and the variant that goes only to the Miradouro da Pedra Rija viewpoint costs 4.50 EUR. Children under 12 pay nothing.

You pay in advance on the government SIMplifica portal. Keep the payment confirmation, ideally offline on your phone, because checks happen on the trail and mobile signal in the mountains is weak.

When PR1 is closed, partially open, or the weather in the massif turns, the PR1.2 variant is usually the more realistic option: from Achada do Teixeira you reach Pico Ruivo by a shorter and easier path, often below the worst of the ridge wind.

Always check the current IFCN status before you go: the pages of both trails in our catalog show it together with the weather and access details.