7-Day Madeira Itinerary in Winter: Hikes, Drives and Rainy-Day Alternatives

Madeira in winter rewards a week that is planned in the right order rather than a week that is planned in detail. The island's two classic walks, the ridge from Pico do Arieiro towards Pico Ruivo and the Levada das 25 Fontes, sit at 1,000 to 1,850 metres in the wettest part of the island, and since January 2026 every classified trail needs a paid, dated booking that is not refunded when it rains. The rest of the island is far more forgiving: Funchal's average December high is 21 degrees, the eastern peninsula is nearly a desert by Madeiran standards, and the south-west coast stays workable on most wet days. So the plan below fixes only the shape of the week and lets the weather decide which day becomes the mountain day.

The short answer: sleep in Funchal for all six nights, rent a car at the airport, and keep two days for the hikes (peaks and levada), two days for the coasts (east and south-west), one buffer day and the arrival and departure days. Book each trail on the SIMplifica portal the evening before, once you have seen the forecast for the mountains, never before you fly. Walk PR1 one way and get collected at Achada do Teixeira, or reach Pico Ruivo from Achada do Teixeira with your own car; walking back to Pico do Arieiro from the summit is no longer allowed. If the plateau is in cloud on your levada day, swap it with the south-west coast and try again on the buffer day. Everything below follows from those rules.

Your 7-day route at a glance

Who this route suits, and who should change it

This plan is for a first visit between October and February by people who want the two famous walks but will not gamble the whole week on them. It assumes a rental car from the airport, moderate fitness (the longest walk is about 9 km on the one-way PR1 including the descent to Achada do Teixeira, with repeated climbs, or two shorter walks of 1.5 to 3 hours each), and a willingness to reshuffle days at breakfast. It is not a beach week: the sea is about 18 to 20 degrees and the natural pools on the north coast are often closed by swell.

Change it if you cannot or do not want to drive. The same week works with buses on four of the seven days and shared transfers on the two hike days, and the car-free version lays that out line by line, with the 2026 fares. Change it too if you would rather split the nights: a second base in Calheta shortens the levada day and gives you the south-west coast on your doorstep, and Funchal or a second base weighs that against the extra packing. If you only care about the weather question, Madeira in December has the station numbers and the daylight.

Five decisions to make before you book

1. Which days become the hike days

Do not decide before you land. The Portuguese weather service, IPMA, issues a separate forecast for the mountains, and trail slots are sold in 30-minute entry windows with roughly 15 minutes of tolerance, so booking on the evening before costs nothing extra and protects you from paying for a rained-off walk. In practice the order of Days 2 to 6 above is only the version for a settled week. If your arrival day is clear and tomorrow looks bad, the peaks come first; if the plateau is in cloud all week, the levada moves to the buffer day and the coasts fill the gap. The one risk of waiting is a full slot on a fine weekend, which is why the peaks day is the one you book first, as early in the evening as the forecast allows.

2. Walk PR1 one way with a transfer, or climb Pico Ruivo with your car

Since the full reopening on 1 May 2026, PR1 (Pico do Arieiro to Pico Ruivo) is two-way only as far as the Pedra Rija viewpoint. From there to the summit it runs one way, and you leave Pico Ruivo by PR1.2 down to the Achada do Teixeira car park or by PR1.1 to Ilha. The forestry institute does not run any shuttle back, so a car parked at Pico do Arieiro becomes a problem the moment you pass Pedra Rija. Two clean solutions: leave the car at the hotel and take a shared hiking transfer (about 40 euros per person from Funchal or Caniço, drop-off at Arieiro, pickup at Achada do Teixeira), or drive to Achada do Teixeira yourself, walk PR1.2 to the summit and back (2.8 km each way), then drive round to the Pico do Arieiro viewpoint and do the two-way section to Pedra Rija. The second option is what this plan assumes for one car and no transfer.

3. Book before you fly, or the evening before

Bookings are made only online on the SIMplifica portal, including for children and residents who pay nothing, and the fee is lost if you do not turn up for any reason of your own, including rain, illness or a cancelled flight. Rescheduling or a refund exists only when the institute itself closes the trail on your date. That rule settles the question: book the evening before, when you know the forecast, and accept the small risk of a sold-out slot on a Saturday. Same-day booking is allowed if capacity remains.

4. One base or two

Funchal for six nights keeps every day under three hours of driving and puts the museums, the wine lodges and the cable car within a walk of your bed on the wet afternoons. The only day it makes long is the levada day, because Rabaçal is about 1 hour 15 minutes away over the plateau. A Funchal 4 plus Calheta 2 split cuts that to about 40 minutes and gives you the south-west coast as your last two days, at the cost of one hotel move. Santana as a base suits hikers who want Ribeiro Frio, Achada do Teixeira and the north coast close by, but it is the wetter side and has little to do indoors.

5. Car or no car

With a car the whole week is yours. Without one, the east loop, the south-west coast, Curral das Freiras and Monte all work by bus, and the two hike days become transfer days. The bus network was merged into one system in 2024 and is getting new line numbers during 2026, tickets on board are cash only and cost 2.65 euros on interurban lines, and a seven-day pass is 31.10 euros. Details, timetables and what does not work without a car are in Madeira without a car.

Day-by-day plan

Day 1: arrive, collect the car, set the order of the week

The airport is 19 km east of Funchal, about 20 minutes on the expressway, so even a mid-afternoon landing leaves time for the old town, the Mercado dos Lavradores and the seafront. If you land before about 14:00 and the sky is clear, the cable car to Monte (08:45 to 17:45, 22 euros return) is the best use of the light. Over dinner, read the forecast for the mountains and decide whether tomorrow is the peaks day; if it is, book your PR1 or PR1.2 slot now. Keep half a day of slack in your head for this whole trip: wind closes the airport several times a year, and a diversion to Porto Santo or the mainland is not rare in December storms.

Day 2: peaks day, Pico Ruivo and Pico do Arieiro

With your own car, drive to Achada do Teixeira (allow 1 to 1.5 hours from Funchal on the mountain roads via Poiso or Santana) for the first slot of the day and walk PR1.2 to Pico Ruivo, at 1,862 metres the highest point of the archipelago: 2.8 km each way with a steady climb, 1.5 hours round trip by the official estimate, so allow 2 to 2.5 hours with time at the top. Then drive round to the Pico do Arieiro viewpoint (18 km and about 30 minutes from Funchal; allow about an hour from Achada do Teixeira) and walk the two-way section of PR1 to the Pedra Rija viewpoint and back. Both walks need their own booking, 4.50 euros each; the one-day combined fee does not apply because PR1 is excluded from it.

With a transfer, the day is the full PR1 traverse: 6.1 km and about 3 hours officially, between 1,857 and 1,491 metres, one way from Arieiro to Ruivo, then PR1.2 down to Achada do Teixeira where the van waits. The full trail costs 10.50 euros and includes PR1.2. In either version, start early: sunset is around 18:00 in December, the temperature at Pico do Arieiro averaged 5 degrees last December with a low of minus 1, and fog can close in fast on the road up. If the summit is in cloud when you wake, this is the day you move.

Day 3: levada day, Rabaçal and the north-west

Rabaçal is the trailhead for the Levada das 25 Fontes (PR6): drive west on the expressway to Ribeira Brava, then up onto the Paul da Serra plateau, about 47 km and 1 hour 15 minutes from Funchal without fog. Park at the Rabaçal car park on the plateau road and either take the paid minibus shuttle down the closed road to the Rabaçal house (cash) or walk the 1.8 km. The levada itself is 4.3 km each way to the pool of the 25 springs, about 3 hours, with circulation now one way: out along the levada, back by the signed bypass. Add the short Levada do Risco (PR6.1) to the waterfall while you are there; booked together, two trails on one day cost 9.00 euros under the combined fee.

In the afternoon you have a choice. Continue north-west to Porto Moniz (about 50 minutes) for the natural sea pools and the coast road back through Seixal and São Vicente, or turn back to Funchal if the plateau is closing in. The pools are the north coast's calling card but they close when the swell is up, which in winter is often, so treat them as a bonus rather than the point of the day. The full loop is about 125 km and three hours of driving, the longest day of the week; if you split the trip with a Calheta base, the same day is an hour shorter.

Day 4: east loop, the peninsula, Santana and Ribeiro Frio

This is the day that works in most weather. Ponta de São Lourenço, the bare eastern tip, is one of the two driest corners of the island: the station at Caniçal recorded 386 mm of rain in 2024, against about 1,870 mm at Chão do Areeiro in the mountains and 296 mm at Funchal's seaside station. The Vereda da Ponta de São Lourenço (PR8) starts at the Baía d'Abra car park, 31 km and about 35 minutes from Funchal, and runs 4 km each way to the Casa do Sardinha, about 2.5 hours with the climbs. It costs 4.50 euros through the same portal. The peninsula's weakness is wind, not rain; if the forecast carries a wind warning for the east, do the Santana half of the day first and the walk after lunch.

From Baía d'Abra, go back through Machico (the Whale Museum in Caniçal, Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 to 18:00, is the rain stop on this side) and over to Santana on the north coast, about 30 to 40 minutes, for the thatched houses and lunch, then up to Ribeiro Frio, 18 km and 25 minutes, for the Vereda dos Balcões (PR11): 1.5 km each way on a nearly flat path to a balcony over the valley, 1.5 hours round trip, 4.50 euros, or 9.00 euros in total when booked with PR8 on the same day. Ribeiro Frio is also the start of the longer Levada do Furado (PR10) if you have time and energy. Funchal is 25 minutes down the road.

Day 5: south-west coast, Câmara de Lobos to Calheta

The low, sheltered south-west is the rain fallback for the entire week, and a pleasant day in its own right. Start in Câmara de Lobos, the fishing harbour 15 minutes from Funchal, then the Cabo Girão skywalk (5 euros for anyone over 12, paid through SIMplifica, open 08:00 to 20:00), then the coast road or the expressway to Ribeira Brava, Ponta do Sol and Calheta. In Calheta, the MUDAS contemporary art museum on the hill above the marina is open Tuesday to Saturday, 09:30 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 17:30, and the road continues to the cliff villages of Jardim do Mar and Paul do Mar. Calheta is 33 km and about 40 minutes back to Funchal on the expressway.

Day 6: buffer, Curral das Freiras and Monte

If Day 2 or Day 3 was lost to weather, this is where you repeat it, so keep the day free of bookings until the evening before. If both hikes are done, drive or take bus 181 to Curral das Freiras, the village in the crater-like valley behind Funchal, 15 km and about 25 minutes, via the Eira do Serrado viewpoint. Back in town, take the cable car to Monte for the Monte Palace garden and, if it is not a Sunday, the wicker toboggan run down to Livramento (Monday to Saturday 09:00 to 18:00, 30 euros for one person, 40 for two, 60 for three, tickets on the spot only, and no three-person sleds in the rain).

Day 7: Funchal and the airport

Return the car and fly. With an afternoon flight there is time for the wine lodge or the Museu de Arte Sacra in the morning; with a morning flight, allow the full 20 minutes to the airport and add margin for a queue at the rental return. If a storm is forecast for your departure day, check the airline app before leaving the hotel: on 13 December 2025, 126 of 130 flights were cancelled and stranded passengers had to find beds in Funchal.

How trail bookings work in 2026

The Institute of Forests and Nature Conservation (IFCN) introduced a fee and reservation model for its classified trails on 1 January 2026. The rules that matter for this week:

Refunds and rescheduling exist only when IFCN officially closes or restricts the trail on your date, and you have ten working days to ask by email. Weather warnings do not close trails automatically; the institute decides case by case and publishes the status of every route on its trail page, which is also where you check for temporary closures like the six days of walkway work on the one-way PR1 section in September 2026. Carry the ticket on your phone; there is a control gate at Pedra Rija on PR1, and the portal's contact centre answers on working days if the payment fails.

Weather and the swap rules

Funchal's long-run normals for 1991 to 2020 are the calm side of the story: 91 mm of rain in October, 80 mm in November, 95 mm in December and 67 mm in January, on seven to nine days a month, with December highs of 21 degrees and lows of 15.5. The mountains are another climate. The Chão do Areeiro station in the central mountains recorded 1,874 mm in 2024, six times Funchal's seaside station, and has a normal of 155 rain days a year against 61 in Funchal. Last December the Pico do Arieiro station averaged 5.4 degrees, the strongest gust at Chão do Areeiro was 147 km/h, and yet Funchal had 153 hours of sunshine, above its normal. That contrast is why one base on the south coast and movable mountain days is the right shape for winter, and why a wet forecast for the peaks says almost nothing about your afternoon in Câmara de Lobos.

The swap rules in practice: the peaks day needs a clear forecast at 1,800 metres and no strong wind; the levada day tolerates light cloud but not heavy rain (the levada path is narrow and exposed in places); the east loop tolerates rain but not a wind warning; the south-west coast tolerates almost anything. Daylight is the other constraint: about 10 hours in December, sunrise near 08:00 and sunset near 18:00, so the first trail slots of the day are the ones to book and the drive home should start by 16:30. Madeira in December goes through the month by region with the numbers.

Rainy-day alternatives, by day

Every day above has a concrete fallback, and they are all in or near Funchal because that is where the doors are open in winter.

• Peaks day rained off: move it to the buffer day. In town, the Museu de Arte Sacra (Rua do Bispo; Monday to Friday 10:00 to 17:30, Saturday to 13:30, closed Sunday) and the Museu Quinta das Cruzes (Tuesday to Saturday 10:00 to 17:30) fill a morning, and Blandy's Wine Lodge on Avenida Arriaga is open daily, including Sunday mornings, closed only on 25 and 26 December.
• Levada day rained off: swap in the south-west coast; in Calheta the MUDAS museum (Tuesday to Saturday) is the one indoor destination outside Funchal worth the drive.
• East loop in a gale: the Whale Museum in Caniçal (Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 to 18:00, closed 24 to 26 December), then the Madeira Story Centre on the Funchal waterfront (daily 10:00 to 18:00, closed 25 December) and the CR7 Museum next to the marina (Monday to Saturday 10:00 to 17:00).
• Any wet afternoon: the cable car to Monte runs in rain (08:45 to 17:45, every day except Christmas Day) and the Monte Palace garden is at the top station; the toboggans keep running for one or two people but not three when the ground is wet. The Natural History Museum in the Rua da Mouraria opens daily 09:00 to 17:30 in winter, and the Photography Museum on Rua da Carreira and the Casa-Museu Frederico de Freitas are open Tuesday to Saturday.
• Which coast: when the north is wet, the south and east usually are not. Ponta de São Lourenço and the Funchal to Calheta strip are the driest parts of the island; Santana, São Vicente and Porto Moniz are the wettest lowland areas. If a whole day looks lost, drive east, not north.

Two-base and car-free versions

Funchal 4 + Calheta 2. Keep Days 1 to 4 as above, move to Calheta on the morning of Day 5, do the levada from there (Rabaçal is about 16 km and 40 minutes up the hill) and spend Day 6 on the south-west coast, with the airport about 50 minutes away on Day 7. It removes the longest drive of the week and adds one hotel change.

Funchal 3 + Santana 3. For hikers who want two mountain attempts: Achada do Teixeira, Ribeiro Frio and the Caldeirão Verde levada (PR9, 8.7 km each way) are all within about 40 minutes of Santana, and the CAM buses to Funchal run roughly hourly on weekday mornings. The plateau and the south-west stay a full day away, the north coast is the wettest lowland, and rainy days have almost nothing indoors.

No car. Days 4, 5, 6 and 7 work on scheduled buses; Days 2 and 3 need a shared transfer or a tour because no bus serves Pico do Arieiro, Achada do Teixeira or Rabaçal. The car-free guide gives the lines, the departure times for a winter weekday and a Sunday, and the fares.

What to leave for another trip

Porto Santo, the sandy island a ferry ride away, is a summer destination. The Encumeada crossing (PR1.3) and the Caminho Real da Encumeada (PR12) were still closed or partly closed in September 2026, so a north-to-south traverse of the massif on classified trails is not possible yet. Fanal's misty laurel forest is a second plateau day that competes with the levada for the same weather window; do it instead of Porto Moniz if the fog is the point. The Levada do Caldeirão Verde is the best rain-tolerant alternative to 25 Fontes and belongs on a second visit, or on the buffer day from a Santana base.

Common mistakes

• Booking trail slots for fixed dates before flying, then paying twice when it rains. The refund rule is strict; book the evening before.
• Parking at Pico do Arieiro and walking to Pico Ruivo expecting to walk back. The section beyond Pedra Rija is one way; you exit at Achada do Teixeira.
• Planning the levada and the peaks on consecutive days with no buffer. Keep Day 6 empty until the week has shown its hand.
• Assuming the natural pools are open. Winter swell closes Porto Moniz often; the cable car, museums and the south-west coast are the reliable wet-weather options.
• Arriving with only a card for the buses. Tickets bought on board are cash only.
• Flying on the last possible day before a fixed commitment. Storm days shut the airport; give yourself a day at home.

Practical notes for winter 2026-27

Madeira is part of Portugal, so EU and Schengen rules apply and the euro is the currency. The airport bus (Aerobus) costs 6.70 euros, takes about 50 minutes to the hotel zone and runs from 08:30 to 22:00 from the airport on weekdays, with no service on 25 December; interurban buses also stop on Christmas Day and some on 26 December and 1 January. The Christmas and New Year programme runs from 1 December 2026 to 10 January 2027, with the market night on 23 December and the fireworks over the bay at midnight on 31 December; hotel packages for that night were selling at 350 to 1,200 euros per adult in 2025 and sold out, so a New Year trip is a different budget from a January one. Drive with the island's roads in mind: the expressway is fast, the old coast and mountain roads are slow and narrow, and fog on the plateau can cut visibility to a few metres.

Photo credits

Hero: view from the Pico do Arieiro viewpoint by H. Zell, CC BY-SA 3.0. Levada das 25 Fontes by Jon Kolbert, CC BY 4.0. Ponta de São Lourenço by Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0. All via Wikimedia Commons, resized.