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PR7 · Northwest — Ribeira da Cruz / Ponta do Pargo

Levada do Moinho

Also known as PR7 · Ribeira da Cruz–Tornadouro

10.5 km Length linear
3.5 h Duration typical
Moderate Grade moderate
80 m Ascent climb
medium Exposure vertigo
PR7 Trail official PR

PR7 follows the Levada do Moinho from Ribeira da Cruz in Porto Moniz towards Tornadouro in Ponta do Pargo. Its name records the watermills that once depended on the channel, making the route as much a journey through Madeira's working landscape as a nature walk. This is not the similarly named Levada Nova–Moinho circuit in Ponta do Sol; the two routes are on opposite sides of the island.

Highlights

  • Historic watermills once powered by the levada
  • Rural northwest landscapes
  • Long, quiet linear traverse
  • Working irrigation heritage

Water on the route

  • Levada do Moinho channel
  • Northwest streams and mill-water system
Tunnels: No tunnel is listed as a defining feature of the classified route.. Bring a head-torch — some levada tunnels are long, low and pitch black.

Walks like this

PR9.1 North — Queimadas / Santana

Levada do Caldeirão Verde — Um Caminho para Todos

PR9.1 is the accessible short section of the Levada do Caldeirão Verde, connecting Queimadas with Pico das Pedras through the Laurisilva. It is distinct from both the long PR9 walk to the Caldeirão Verde waterfall and the unofficial Caldeirão do Inferno extension. The official programme identifies this route for people with motor and visual disabilities.

  • Waterfall on the route
  • Official adapted access
  • Family-friendly
1.9 kmLength0.75 hTimeeasyGrade
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PR9 North — Santana

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
17.4 kmLength6.5 hTimemoderateGrade
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PR9 North — Santana

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
17.4 kmLength6.5 hTimehardGrade
View walk