Collection
Chasing tunnels
Torch-lit walks through the mountain's hand-cut dark.
Where the contour couldn't be followed around a mountain, the levadeiros drove it straight through — and walking those tunnels is the levadas' signature thrill. These routes string together the longest and most atmospheric of them, from the four dripping bores of the Caldeirão Verde to the kilometre-plus tunnel on the Ribeira da Janela.
The rules of the dark are simple and non-negotiable: one head-torch per person (not a phone), aim it at the low ceiling, expect to get wet, and never enter a flooded tunnel.
A hands-free head-torch per person is essential on every walk here.
Levada do Caldeirão Verde
Madeira's most celebrated levada walk and the archetype of the north. From the thatched A-frame shelter at Queimadas the path runs almost level along an 18th-century channel cut to water the fields of Faial, plunging into the densest interior of the UNESCO Laurisilva. Four rock tunnels punctuate the route — bring a torch and expect water underfoot — before the channel rounds a final escarpment to the Caldeirão Verde, a green-walled amphitheatre where the Ribeiro do Caldeirão Verde drops roughly 100 m into a dark pool. The drops beside the unfenced channel are real and the basalt is slick when wet. Visit Madeira gives the official PR9 as 8.7 km one-way / 17.4 km round trip; in practice GPS tracks to the waterfall and back cluster around 11.5–13.5 km.
- Has tunnels
- Waterfall on the route
Levada do Caldeirão do Inferno
Not a separate trail but the full extent of the official PR9: from Caldeirão Verde the channel pushes a further ~2.4 km through a string of narrow, often flooded tunnels into the Caldeirão do Inferno, a sheer-sided canyon closed by a final towering waterfall. This is the demanding end of the route — guidebooks count around eleven tunnels in total and rate the complete out-and-back as hard, a full day of 6–7 hours or more. The popular shorthand 'PR9.1' for this extension is a misnomer: the official register names the whole Queimadas–Caldeirão Verde–Caldeirão do Inferno line as PR9, while the real PR9.1 is a short accessible path (Queimadas–Pico das Pedras) elsewhere.
- Has tunnels
- Waterfall on the route
Levada da Ribeira da Janela
The far northwest's epic, and a deliberate exception on this list: the Levada da Ribeira da Janela is not a classified PR trail, but it is one of the most ambitious tunnel walks on Madeira. The channel follows the right bank of the Ribeira da Janela — the longest river on the island — deep into a cliff-walled valley, the path hugging the inside wall above the gorge. Its centrepiece is a tunnel of more than 1,200 m, pitch-dark, dripping and partly flooded, with waterfalls spilling inside; in all there are roughly seven to nine tunnels. Crystalline pools punctuate the route, some deep enough to swim. Distances vary sharply with the chosen variant: about 11.5 km one-way along the levada, a long ~22.8 km full out-and-back, or roughly 16 km looped via the Vereda do Galhano. Edges are crumbly and exposed — for sure-footed hikers only.
- Has tunnels
- Waterfall on the route
Levada do Folhadal
A short out-and-back along the Levada do Norte from the Encumeada pass into the dripping Folhadal cloud forest — effectively the scenic core of PR17 without the full traverse. The route is defined by two long, dark tunnels (about 500 m and 800–1,000 m) for which a torch is essential, opening onto ferny, misty terraces and the Folhadal waterfall. Trackers log it at roughly 5.3 km round trip, moderate, about 2.5 hours, with modest elevation change.
- Has tunnels
- Waterfall on the route
Caminho do Pináculo e Folhadal
The big, strenuous traverse of the central highlands, crossing from the Lombo do Mouro on the Paul da Serra plateau down to the Encumeada pass. It links the Levada da Serra and Levada do Norte, passing the Pináculo viewpoint over the Ribeira Brava valley and threading several long tunnels near the Folhadal. Visit Madeira lists 15 km, Difficult, about 6.5 hours, climbing to 1,490 m (min 970 m). GPS trackers walking it as a loop from Encumeada log around 17.2 km with ~583 m of climbing.
- Has tunnels
- Waterfall on the route