Official IFCN status
Madeira trail status: which trails are open, closed or restricted
A trail can be shut for months and still sit at the top of every guide. IFCN publishes the real status, on pages that are easy to miss. Right now 5 classified trails are closed outright and 4 more are walkable only in part.
In short
Of the 42 classified Madeira trails, 33 are open, 4 are walkable only in part, and 5 are closed. That is 21% not fully open today.
- Closed (5):
PR7, PR20, PR27, PR28, PS-PR3 - Part walkable (4):
PR1.3, PR4, PR12, PR17 - Open (33):
PR1, PR1.1, PR1.2, PR2, PR3, PR3.1, PR5, PR6, PR6.1, PR6.2, PR6.3, PR6.4, PR6.5, PR6.6, PR6.7, PR6.8, PR8, PR9, PR9.1, PR10, PR11, PR13, PR13.1, PR14, PR15, PR16, PR18, PR19, PR21, PR22, PR23, PS-PR1, PS-PR2
Official status last read successfully on
All 42 classified trails, closed ones first
Closed first, then the part walkable ones, then everything IFCN currently lists as open. The detail column is IFCN's own wording, translated where IFCN publishes only Portuguese.
| Trail | Official status | What IFCN says |
|---|---|---|
| Levada do Moinho PR7 | Closed | No restriction published |
| Vereda do Jardim do Mar PR20 | Closed | No restriction published |
| Glaciar de Planalto PR27 | Closed | No restriction published |
| Levada da Rocha Vermelha PR28 | Closed | No restriction published |
| Levada do Pico do Castelo PS-PR3 | Closed | No restriction published |
| Vereda da Encumeada PR1.3 | Part walkable | No restriction published |
| Levada do Barreiro PR4 | Part walkable | Accessible route – there is a signposted path to Ribeira das Cales, next to the Funchal Ecological Park Interpretation Centre. The current version of the route, between Poço da Neve (the start of the PR4), Levada do Barreiro and Ribeira das Cales, is fully signposted in both directions. |
| Caminho Real da Encumeada PR12 | Part walkable | a passable route from Boca da Corrida to km 3.5. |
| Caminho do Pináculo e Folhadal PR17 | Part walkable | a passable route between Encumeada and Bica da Cana |
| Vereda do Areeiro PR1 | Open | No restriction published |
| Vereda da Ilha PR1.1 | Open | No restriction published |
| Vereda do Pico Ruivo PR1.2 | Open | The section between the Pico Ruivo mountain hut and Pico Ruivo is now fully accessible |
| Vereda do Urzal PR2 | Open | No restriction published |
| Vereda do Burro PR3 | Open | No restriction published |
| Caminho Real do Monte PR3.1 | Open | No restriction published |
| Vereda das Funduras PR5 | Open | No restriction published |
| Levada das 25 Fontes PR6 | Open | One-way circulation: walk Rabaçal to 25 Fontes outward along the Levada das 25 Fontes, and return to Rabaçal via the alternate Bypass section. The full trail is open. |
| Levada do Risco PR6.1 | Open | No restriction published |
| Levada do Alecrim PR6.2 | Open | No restriction published |
| Vereda da Lagoa do Vento PR6.3 | Open | No restriction published |
| Levada Velha do Rabaçal PR6.4 | Open | No restriction published |
| Vereda do Pico Fernandes PR6.5 | Open | No restriction published |
| Vereda do Túnel do Cavalo PR6.6 | Open | No restriction published |
| Vereda da Câmara de Carga do Rabaçal PR6.7 | Open | No restriction published |
| Levada do Paul II PR6.8 | Open | No restriction published |
| Vereda da Ponta de São Lourenço PR8 | Open | No restriction published |
| Levada do Caldeirão Verde PR9 | Open | No restriction published |
| Levada do Caldeirão Verde - Um Caminho para todos PR9.1 | Open | No restriction published |
| Levada do Furado PR10 | Open | No restriction published |
| Vereda dos Balcões PR11 | Open | No restriction published |
| Vereda do Fanal PR13 | Open | No restriction published |
| Vereda da Palha Carga PR13.1 | Open | No restriction published |
| Levada dos Cedros PR14 | Open | No restriction published |
| Vereda da Ribeira da Janela PR15 | Open | No restriction published |
| Levada Fajã do Rodrigues PR16 | Open | No restriction published |
| Levada do Rei PR18 | Open | No restriction published |
| Caminho Real do Paul do Mar PR19 | Open | No restriction published |
| Caminho do Norte PR21 | Open | No restriction published |
| Vereda do Chão dos Louros PR22 | Open | No restriction published |
| Levada da Azenha PR23 | Open | No restriction published |
| Vereda do Pico Branco e Terra Chã PS-PR1 | Open | No restriction published |
| Vereda do Pico do Castelo PS-PR2 | Open | No restriction published |
Source: IFCN, Percursos Pedestres Classificados (ESTADO table). Read the official page
Subscribe to trail status changes via RSS
Upcoming closures
- Vereda do Areeiro PR1 August 19 - August 20 · Active now Access to the Ninho da Manta Viewpoint will be restricted, not closed, on 19 and 20 August. Temporary limitations may occur -- please follow on-site staff instructions. The remainder of the trail, including access to Pico Ruivo, remains open.
- Vereda do Areeiro PR1 September 14 - September 17 IFCN has announced PR1 (Vereda do Areeiro) will be temporarily closed for boardwalk installation works, with no reservations possible on the affected days.
- Vereda do Areeiro PR1 September 21 - September 22 IFCN has announced PR1 (Vereda do Areeiro) will be temporarily closed for boardwalk installation works, with no reservations possible on the affected days.
IFCN's own official status does not change often. A closure or restriction here can stay accurate for a long stretch, which is why the date below matters more than how frequently the page is rebuilt.
Sources: IFCN: Percursos Pedestres Recomendados Checked .
Show every Madeira trail's live status on your site
Hotels, rentals and blogs: copy this snippet to show your guests which trails are open, closed or restricted right now, straight from the IFCN official status table. It refreshes itself, so you never publish a closure that reopened weeks ago.
Keep the link under the frame: it credits the source and is the only part search engines can follow. Free to use, no sign-up, and your visitors are not tracked.
Why IFCN closes a trail, and how a closure ends
A closure is almost never about the weather on the day. The usual causes are a rockfall or a landslide that has taken away part of the path, storm damage to a handrail, a footbridge or a tunnel, and the repair work that follows. Madeira's north facing valleys are steep, wet and unstable, so a single bad winter can put several routes out of service at once.
IFCN is the only body that can close a classified trail or reopen it, and it decides route by route, never for the island as a whole. A closure lasts as long as the repair does, normally months rather than days, and it can be lifted in stages: a trail often comes back part walkable first, then fully open, sometimes with a rule that stays behind, such as a fixed walking direction or a compulsory booking.
That is why a status copied from a printed guide, or from a blog post written last season, says nothing about today. The table above is the state IFCN itself published, with the date we last read it successfully.
When IFCN contradicts itself, and how we settle it
IFCN publishes trail status in more than one place and the places do not always agree. On 27 July 2026, PR1.3 Vereda da Encumeada read as part walkable in the status table, as open on the notices page, and as closed in the English FAQ, all at the same instant.
We settle it with the publisher's own date: the surface IFCN itself stamped most recently wins. The status table carries 24 July 2026 in its own page body. The notices page carries no date anywhere, so it can tell us something moved but it can never win the argument, and an undated page is never treated as fresh.
We deliberately ignore the HTTP Last-Modified header on those pages. That server answers with the time of the request, so every page looks brand new every time you ask. A rule fed by it would rank nothing at all, while looking like it worked.
Today the two feeds we ingest still disagree on: PR1.3. The table above shows the dated surface's answer.
What this page covers, and what it does not
42 of the 111 trails we track carry an official IFCN status. The other 69 are community, council and municipal routes. IFCN does not classify them, so it publishes no status for them and neither do we.
No official status is not the same as open. A route with no entry in the table has not been declared anything, and weather, landslides or works can still shut it on the day.
This table says open or closed. It does not say busy, and on a summer morning that is the difference between two very different walks. For that, see which Madeira trails get crowded, and when. It also says nothing about the hour you set off, which in July decides more than the trail does: when to start walking in Madeira's heat.
A closed road is not a closed trail, and only IFCN can declare the second. For the roads an April ultra-trail shuts for a few hours, see which roads close for the MIUT ultra-trail.
The full list of Madeira levada walks and trails · Which trails are free · active fire and weather alerts right now · Live webcams
Questions
Which Madeira trails are closed right now?
PR7 Levada do Moinho, PR20 Vereda do Jardim do Mar, PR27 Glaciar de Planalto, PR28 Levada da Rocha Vermelha, PS-PR3 Levada do Pico do Castelo, as of 19 Aug 2026. A closure normally follows a landslide, storm damage or repair work and can last months rather than days.
Why was PR1 closed, and what changed when it reopened?
PR1 Vereda do Areeiro was restricted after a rockfall on the route, and it stayed that way through the repair work that followed. IFCN reopened it fully on 1 May 2026, and one of the safety measures introduced after that rockfall is still in force: PR1 is bidirectional only between Pico do Areeiro and the Pedra Rija viewpoint, and beyond Pedra Rija it runs one way only, from Pico do Areeiro towards Pico Ruivo, so you cannot walk back the way you came. IFCN can close it again for works at any time, so the table above is the state that counts today, not this paragraph.
Why are so many Madeira trails closed at the same time?
Because they share their causes and their repair queue. The classified network runs through steep, wet, north facing terrain, so one bad winter damages several routes at once, and each one then waits for a survey, a budget and the work itself. Of the 42 classified trails, 5 are closed outright today and 4 more are walkable only in part.
The date above is a few days old. Is this still accurate?
Almost always, and the date is there so you can judge for yourself instead of trusting a page that says "live" and proves nothing. Official status changes rarely, and when it does it is normally one trail moving rather than the list. Read the date as the age of the reading, not as a promise about this morning: if one particular trail decides your day, check the official notice before you drive out to it.
Are Madeira's levada walks closed, or only the mountain trails?
Of the 5 classified trails currently closed, 3 are levada walks. Closures are decided trail by trail, so the rest of the levada network is unaffected by them. The table above names every one, closed trails first.
What does part walkable mean?
It is IFCN's parcialmente transitavel: the path is open but not end to end, and the notice says which section is out. It is not a closure, and it is not permission to walk past a barrier.
Can I walk a closed trail anyway?
No. IFCN is the authority that opens and closes a classified trail, walking a closed one can carry a fine, and the closure is usually there because a piece of the path is gone. Rescue on Madeira's north face is slow and expensive.
How often does this page change?
It changes when the official status changes. The date shown is the last successful reading of that status, never the date the page was built, so if a reading ever fails the date stops instead of rolling forward.
Who decides that a trail is closed?
IFCN is the Instituto das Florestas e da Conservação da Natureza, IP-RAM, Madeira's regional forestry and nature-conservation institute. It is the only body that can open or close a classified Madeira trail. Municipal and community routes sit outside that system.
This page reports what IFCN published. It is not a safety clearance: conditions on the ground change faster than any official page, and an open trail can still be a bad idea today.