Tag 10: Levada das 25 Fontes und Risco & Feenwald

25.7.25

Today's Highlights:

• Levada das 25 Fontes and Risco
• Fanal Forest Park (Feenwald)

Today the night ends too early again... the early bird and all that...

We want to do the Levada hike 25 Fontes & Risco. Our landlord already told us: be there early!

Okay, we leave the house at 7:45 and drive about 15 minutes up into the mountains towards Rabacal to the starting point of the trail.

As we leave the house, it’s already over 20 degrees before 8 AM, so we are all very 'airy' dressed. I have only a thin rain jacket with me, the rest of the family either a sweater or an extra jacket.

With almost every minute of driving we can track the falling degree numbers on our car's temperature display.

When we arrive at the parking lot at Miradouro do Rabacal, the car thermometer shows +13 degrees.... oops.

But: the sun is shining!!! And that is probably not the case every day up here.

We find a parking spot now easily at 8 AM. There are maybe 10 cars in the parking lot.

The shuttle bus that connects the parking lot with the starting point of the Levada 25 Fontes & Risco leaves only around 10 AM, so we first walk the roughly 2km long 'bus shuttle path' downhill (about 250 meters of elevation) to the Rabaçal Nature Spot Cottage, where one can also stay overnight and where there are also public restrooms and a café (however closed at 8:45 in the morning). This is also where the 25 Fontes & Risco Levada hikes start.

We first walk to the Risco waterfall, which we find impressive. It’s still not very crowded, not many hikers are coming towards us.

The path to the waterfall is a detour; we walk the same way back to the cottage, where the path to the Levada 25 Fontes descends over steep stair steps for more than 150 meters of elevation.

I’m already getting anxious thinking about having to walk back up the 400 meters of elevation later or the 150 meters with the stairs... but the shuttle bus will take care of the rest later.

I try to push that thought aside and focus first on the Levada path to the 25 Fontes waterfall.

Here it gets pretty exciting and very narrow quickly! We had had some stages on the last Levada hike where the Levada was so narrow that it was hard to pass, but here it eventually gets so narrow that there is a 'one-way street'. Still, some hikers keep coming towards us.

25 Fontes

Upon reaching the waterfall, we are not alone anymore. It’s crowded here! Wow, we were out relatively early.

The waterfall is completely besieged, photos are being taken everywhere (loads of Instagram stars are present here), people are sitting on the rocks, making it almost impossible to get a picture of the waterfall. While my husband climbs around on the stones searching for the best photo spot, I just wait on the side until I have a clear view.

The highlight here is actually not the waterfall, but the birds that come to your hand and arm looking for food. My son has a few nuts in his hand, and immediately several birds join him and come to our hands as well. Very sweet. Better than any waterfall 😅

(We only see the sign that says not to feed the birds when we leave the Fonte... oops. Okay, they are fed - then it’s clear why they are so trusting.)

We spend about 15 minutes at the waterfall before we start our return journey.

The path actually leads (Reminder: along the Levada there was a one-way street!) now up steep stairs back to the shuttle bus and the parking lot or we can split up and my husband can walk back to the car alone or with company, while I walk either alone or with company (?) through the 600m long tunnel, and then further towards the road, where my husband would pick me up again.

Uff.... I don't have to go back up the 400 meters - hossassa!!!

My son sees the tunnel and refuses to go in. There are no 10 horses that could get him in there, while my daughter would love to go into the tunnel right away with full eagerness. Okay, so my son and husband go back to the car and I brave the tunnel with my daughter and then continue until we reach the road. It’s alright! No elevation...

We take a break for a while and give the men a head start, then we venture into the 600m long tunnel Vereda do Túnel do Cavalo. This is significantly higher and wider than the last one but you can’t see anything! No end, nothing! Again I'm extremely envious of the bright headlamp my daughter has on her head.

We walk closely behind each other through the tunnel... it’s a bit creepy. Only on the last 100, do we meet some hikers coming towards us, but you have relatively much space to pass.

The tunnel ends in the middle of greenery.

We follow the path for about 1 km and then arrive - after 5 hours and 20,000 steps - at the road with parking and WC / rest area that we saw in the morning. All parking spots are filled, cars line up everywhere along the street. Incredible.

If I had to do the 25 Fonte hike again, I would start from here. You have minimal incline, an exciting tunnel, and can relatively easily walk to the waterfall.

Although you miss the Risco waterfall, which we actually liked better in retrospect than the 25 Fonte waterfall, this would be tolerable.

It doesn’t take long until my husband and son arrive with the car. Wow, they walked the entire 400 meters of elevation up the stairs and road to the parking lot without a shuttle bus (they missed it at the cottage and didn’t want to wait 20 minutes). Respect! I wouldn’t have managed that today...

Now we are hungry!

We drive the road back to the upper parking lot and can only shake our heads at where all the cars are parking! Everywhere next to the road, some kilometers from the Levada starting parking lot. Total madness! We don’t want to know what is going on down there at the waterfall and along the Levada now....😱

A few kilometers later we stop at the Jungle Rain Restaurant. It has a bit of the Rainforest Café vibe - jungle design with cardboard animals and corresponding sounds. It's kind of funny. The veggie burgers are very tasty and are even served by a robot 😃

After eating, we drive over the Paul da Serra plateau, past some cows grazing up here, further to the Fanal Forest Park, the 'Fairy Forest', which is famous for its centuries-old Madeira laurel forest (Ocotea foetens), some specimens of which date back to before the island's discovery.

And this one today does justice to its name 'Fairy Forest'. Already on the way there, we drive from bright sunshine into sudden fog, visibility under 20m. Extremely intense! We drive at a walking pace to not miss the turnoff to the parking lot.

In retrospect, we found that we didn’t reach the official parking lot but stood at the campsite. Not a problem - the 'Fairy Forest' can be reached from both sides.

In the thick fog, at a perceived 10 degrees colder, we explore the ancient laurel trees. The dense fog creates a very special atmosphere here - I can hardly describe it. In many photos, I’ve seen images of trees in the sun with some passing fog, but today there’s no sign of the sun.

The youth finds it too cold, and while they wait in the car, my husband and I explore the surroundings. We find it - perhaps just because of the fog - incredibly beautiful here!

As we drive back towards the plateau, it’s as if we suddenly break through a wall: from one second to the next we are back in bright sunshine with a sky so blue!!! Incredible....

We stop at the Miradouro da Barragem d. Pico da Urze, where you can get a view of the reservoir and the low-hanging clouds in the background, where Fanal is located. The clouds lie like a blanket over the mountains and slowly drift over.

We spend the afternoon by the pool on the terrace of our vacation home. Today was definitely another eventful day here on Madeira!

For the statistics:

Walked: 17 km

Driven: 40 km

Overnight stay: Villa Cró in Calheta

Weather: Plenty of sun up to +27 degrees, in the fairy forest fog and at least 10 degrees colder