Vereda do Fanal vs Vereda dos Balcões

Vereda do Fanal is the harder of the two on paper: graded medium against easy. Vereda do Fanal climbs 168 m more, 304 m against 136 m. Vereda do Fanal is the longer walk too, 10.8 km against 3.0 km.

Allow about 4h for Vereda do Fanal and about 1h 30m for Vereda dos Balcões, one way and at a walking pace. That is roughly 2h 30m more for Vereda do Fanal, before any stops. Vereda dos Balcões is an out-and-back, so the return doubles the time on the ground; the other is not.

Both are regulated IFCN trails, so both need a ticket at EUR 4.50, bought through the SIMplifica portal.

Vereda do Fanal

Choose Vereda do Fanal if you are here for Endemic flora, Point to point, Viewpoint.

Vereda dos Balcões

Choose Vereda dos Balcões if you are here for Endemic flora, Out and back, Levada, or if you want the shorter day, or if you would rather not climb.

Which of the two is better on a given morning is a different question, and the numbers above cannot answer it: cloud, wind and closures change hourly and they change differently on the north and south coasts. Levadas scores both live and tells you which to drive to today.

For today's official open, closed or part-walkable status on any classified trail, see the Madeira trail status page