We’ve done almost every major hike in Madeira, and when people ask us which one we enjoyed the most, we almost always say it was the hike to Levada do Caldeirão Verde.
Other hikes may be equally as beautiful, such as the coastal trail to Ponta de São Lourenço, the views between Pico do Arieiro and Pico Ruivo, or the dense vegetation at Lagoa das 25 Fontes.
But the trail to Caldeirão Verde has it all—incredible viewpoints, lush forests, long tunnels, and huge waterfalls. It’s also one of the most accessible trails, with hardly any elevation gain throughout the hike!
Here’s everything you should expect + some crucial tips to know before hiking to Caldeirão Verde for yourself!
Details of the Hike
Here are all the details you’ll need to know about Levada do Caldeirão Verde at a glance:
Trailhead Location: Queimadas Forest Park
Distance: 11.8 Kilometers (7.3 Miles)
Elevation Gain: 93m (305 ft.)
Type of Trail: Out-and-back
Average Time: 5 Hours
Entrance Fee: Free
Parking: Queimadas Parking Lot (€10 for the day)
Distance + Difficulty
The Levada do Caldeirão Verde trail is very flat, which is part of the reason why the longer hike is still so accessible to novice hikers.
The route is also very easy to follow, and most hikers can finish in less than 6 hours (although it only took us 4.5 hours because we didn’t spend a whole lot of time at Caldeirão Verde waterfall).
You should also be aware that there are some very steep drop-offs. Although handrails are almost always there, it can still be pretty intimidating if you aren’t good with heights.
Getting to Caldeirão Verde
The trailhead to Caldeirão Verde is at Queimades, close to the northern coast of Madeira and just 10 minutes outside the famous town of Santana.
It takes about an hour to get here from most towns on the southern coast (Funchal, Ribeira Brava, Calheta), but if you’re staying on the northeast coast at all during your stay, it’s a lot more convenient at only 30 minutes from Machico, Caniçal, and Santa Cruz.
You have a couple of options for transportation to the trailhead. You can go:
By bus: Interurban routes 56, 103, 133, or 138 all depart from Funchal and make a stop at Queimades Forest Park. It takes 2-3 hours to get there from Funchal, and tickets cost €2.60 (each way)
By car: It takes about an hour to drive to the trailhead from Funchal. If you rent your own car in Madeira, you’ll only need to pay a few dollars for petrol. Otherwise, a private taxi from Funchal will cost upwards of €60 each way.
By guided tour: One way to save a little money on transportation is to book a shuttle bus to the trailhead. This ‘tour’ includes instructions for a self-guided hike and round-trip transportation from your hotel at about half the price of a private taxi.
Parking at Queimades
Queimadas Forest Park has a dedicated parking area, which is where all the hikers park for Levada do Caldeirão Verde.
The parking area is pretty big, but since the hike is so popular, it fills up quickly. We could easily find a spot when we arrived at 7:00 A.M., but when we returned at 11:00 A.M., it was totally full.
You pay at the end of your hike, and unfortunately, they just raised the daily price from €4.10 to €10 (the ticket machine is cash only).
What to Expect: Our Experience
This was one of our favorite hikes in Madeira, but surprisingly, it wasn’t because of the waterfall.
Instead, it was because it’s so scenic throughout the entire trail, starting in a dense forest with tons of wildlife, flora, and fauna, then slowly transforming into a series of dark tunnels and narrow ridges, eventually leading to a beautiful emerald-green cauldron.
It would be well worth your time even without the waterfall at the end.
Queimadas
The hike begins at Queimadas, which is a protected Ecological Forest Park. We didn’t realize this until we arrived, so it was a wonderful, unexpected perk of hiking Levada do Caldeirão Verde.
The park is filled with diverse flora/fauna, rare tree species, and a handful of endemic bird species. You’ll also see a substantial thatched-roof house with a small cafeteria inside.
Outside the building, there are some picnic tables, a small café, restrooms, and some smaller structures resembling the iconic Casas de Santana.
When we arrived at 7:00 AM, the cafeteria wasn’t open, but we wanted to beat the crowds anyway, so we waited until the end of the hike to actually take a look around Queimadas and get a glass of refreshing craft soda from the cafeteria!
0.0 – 4.0 km
After passing through Queimadas, you’ll immediately enter the Laurisilva forest, which is Madeira’s only UNESCO World Heritage site.
It’s one of the few places in Madeira that legit made us feel like we were stepping into a fairytale (Fanal Forest and Levada Das 25 Fontas were the others).
It begins as a paved path with plenty of room for groups to walk side by side.
But after just 5 minutes, it turns to a dirt trail and narrows to 2-3 meters (7-10 ft) wide. It continues like this for a few kilometers, staying completely flat, shaded by the lush forest, and passing through a handful of short tunnels.
4.0 – 5.9 KM
Around kilometer 4, the right-hand side of the trail opens up and reveals the first dramatic views of the valley. This is also where the trail starts getting progressively narrower, hugging the mountain, with the irrigation canal on one side of the path and steep drop-offs on the other.
Tunnels also continue throughout this last section of the trail, but they’re also smaller, and some sections even required me to duck to avoid hitting my head (I’m 6’2” for reference)
The nice part is that there are holes carved periodically out of the rock toward the valley, so it’s never pitch black, and you’ll be able to get through even without a flashlight (although we still recommend bringing one because the tunnels are full of puddles and you don’t want to get your feet soaking wet.
Levada Do Caldeirão Verde
After walking along the cliffside for 2 kilometers, you’ll have a short ascent leading up to Caldeirão Verde. The trail then flattens out again as it enters the caldera.
You’ll be able to see the 100-meter-tall waterfall way before you get to it, and as you get closer, you’ll start to see the small pool at the base of the falls, surrounded by large rocks and vegetation.
The waterfall slides down the caldera’s wall and isn’t very powerful, even during the rainy season, so you can safely sit next to the pool and swim under the falls!
But there isn’t a lot of space, so it can feel really crowded around the pool if you’re here midday.
If this is the case for you, one way to find a little bit of space for yourself is to climb up the hill opposite the waterfall. This does require a bit of rock scrambling, but it’s a beautiful vantage point to sit and have a picnic while taking in the view of the waterfall!
5.9 KM – 11.8 KM
The return journey felt so much longer than the hike to the waterfall.
I realize this is typical of an out-and-back hike, but it wasn’t just in our heads. It was almost 10 AM, and large tour groups had begun approaching the falls. This made the narrowest section of the trail extremely crowded.
For the first couple of kilometers, we’d have to stop and step aside every 2-3 minutes to let people pass.
We made it back to Queimadas around 11:30 A.M, with enough time to look around the gardens for a bit and grab a small snack from the cafeteria!
Then we paid for parking–the kiosk is in a room next to the cafeteria, which is a little tricky to find, but it looks like the photo below–and began driving back to Santana!
Pro Tips for Caldeirão Verde
If you’re trying to make the most of your hike, here are a few things we’re either glad we did or wish we’d known before visiting ourselves.
Start Hiking Before 8 AM
This is extremely important, more than any other hike in Madeira, mostly because the second half of the hike gets so narrow that it’s hard to actually enjoy the hike once crowds arrive.
In some sections, it’s only wide enough for one lane of traffic. So, every time you pass a group of hikers, you’ll have to step onto the concrete section of the irrigation canal and lean against the side of the mountain to make room for them to pass.
This wasn’t a big deal at first, but after the 7th group of 20 people, we were tired of it.
There’s no way to avoid this altogether, but if you can start hiking around 7:00 AM, you’ll have zero issues on the way there and only some smaller traffic jams on the way back. We started back to our car around 10:30 A.M., and groups had already started reaching the narrowest part of the path.
The Waterfall Might be Just a Trickle
This waterfall is not a powerful cascade by any stretch of the imagination.
At its best, it’s a steady stream of water about 5-10 feet wide. This is common after a few days of rain, so if you visit between October and January, there’s a good chance you’ll see Caldeirão Verde Waterfall in full force!
But if it hasn’t rained much over the previous weeks, this can reduce to a small trickle sliding down the rock wall. The water levels were pretty low when we visited, as it was the peak of the dry season (September).
Consider Hiking to Caldeirão do Inferno
A couple of kilometers past Caldeirão Verde is another waterfall called Caldeirão do Inferno.
The waterfall is significantly smaller, but you’ll get less than 1/10 of the crowds that are at Caldeirão Verde, making it an extremely peaceful place to stop and have lunch for a little while.
Unfortunately, it was ‘temporarily’ closed when we were in Madeira and remains closed today.
Pack a Rain Jacket
The weather in Madeira (especially anywhere on the north side) is very unpredictable.
Because of this, even a perfect sunny day can turn into a rainstorm, and we won’t attempt a hike this long without bringing a rain jacket along. It’s easy to pack, and after getting caught in the rain on three separate hikes, it’s not worth the risk.
We also recommend wearing waterproof hiking boots on this hike, as opposed to walking shoes, for the same reasons.
When we did this hike, the trail was well-maintained and easy to follow. However, it was September (the driest month of the year). We’ve heard that this part of the trail can actually be pretty muddy if you’re there after a few days of rain.
Last Thoughts
Levada do Caldeirão Verde is literally our #1 pick for the best levadas in Madeira.
It’s one spot that we strongly encourage everyone to visit when they go to Madeira, and we’d really struggle to leave it off of our itinerary when returning to the island.
But your experience hiking along the levada to the waterfall can definitely be affected by how prepared you are. If you get there early and pack the right gear, we guarantee that you’ll have a wonderful time.
