Levada do Caldeirão Verde: Walking PR9 to the Green Cauldron (2026)

The Levada do Caldeirão Verde is PR9, starting from Queimadas Forest Park above Santana on the north coast and ending at a waterfall dropping roughly 100 m into a green-walled amphitheatre pool – the green cauldron the walk is named for. It is about 13 km on the transfer operators' measure and up to ~17 km by the official PR9 distance, so a 5 to 6 hour day either way.

The walking is near-flat, because you are following a water channel. What makes it demanding is the length, the four hand-cut tunnels where a head torch is essential, and the unfenced drops. Since 2026 it needs a mandatory timed €4.50 reservation.

How do you get to Queimadas?

Queimadas Forest Park sits above Santana on the north coast, roughly 45 to 50 minutes from Funchal by car. You cross the island and climb the mountain road up to Santana, which is narrow, winding and lined with hydrangeas for much of the way in summer.

Two things have changed here and older guides get both wrong.

• The car park is now paid: €2 per hour at Casa das Queimadas, settled at a machine before you leave rather than on arrival. On a six-hour walk that is real money.
• It fills early. The park is small and there is no overflow, so a mid-morning arrival in season often means turning round.

There is no public bus to the trailhead. That leaves a hire car, a taxi, or a transfer from Funchal, which is why the transfer products exist: they remove the drive, the parking hunt and the hourly charge in one booking.

The route: Queimadas, the levada and the tunnels

Queimadas itself is worth five minutes before you start. The forestry houses here are casas de colmo, thatched almost to the ground, and they sit in a clearing of ancient trees that looks staged and is not.

From there the levada contours into the Ribeira de São Jorge valley, running high above the riverbed through dense laurisilva. The path is a metre or so wide with the channel on one side, and it barely rises or falls for most of its length.

The four tunnels are the part people remember. They were cut by hand, they drip constantly, and the longest runs to around 200 m with no lighting whatsoever. A phone torch will get you through but a head torch leaves your hands free, which matters when the floor is uneven and wet.

The final stretch climbs briefly away from the levada to the cauldron: a near-circular amphitheatre of dark wet rock with the fall coming in from above and a shallow pool at the bottom. It is cold, often crowded at midday, and swimming is discouraged.

How hard is it, really?

Easy underfoot and long overall, which is an unusual combination and catches people out.

There is almost no climbing. What tires you is spending five or six hours walking, and what demands attention is the exposure: sections of the path have a substantial unfenced drop on the outer side, and the tunnels are dark, low in places and slippery.

It suits reasonably fit walkers and sensible older children who will not mess about near an edge. It is not a casual stroll, it is not suitable for a pushchair, and anyone badly affected by confined spaces should know about the tunnels before booking rather than discovering them at kilometre four.

The 2026 booking and the trail status

PR9 is a classified trail, so the rules are the same as the rest of the network but stricter than they were.

• Reservation: mandatory and timed, through the government SIMplifica portal at simplifica.madeira.gov.pt. Not "advised" – rangers check on the trail.
• Fee: €4.50 per person, or €3 booked through a licensed operator with an IFCN protocol. This is the standard PR rate; only PR1 costs more.
• Residents: exempt from the fee but still required to reserve.
• Buy it in advance. There is no ticket booth at Queimadas.

Check the status before you travel, because this trail closes. PR9 was shut for around two months in spring 2026 after landslides and reopened on 29 May 2026. The Caldeirão do Inferno extension, a further hour and a half to two hours beyond the cauldron with fixed chains in places, is closed after landslides more often than not. Treat it as a bonus you might not get.

Caldeirão Verde or 25 Fontes?

The two walks people choose between, and they are genuinely similar: both classified levadas of comparable length, both €4.50, both needing a car or a transfer, both taking most of a day.

Caldeirão Verde is the north-side one, above Santana. It has the four tunnels, more continuous forest, one tall waterfall at the end, and noticeably fewer people on it.

25 Fontes is on the western plateau at Rabaçal. It is shorter, finishes at a rock amphitheatre where two dozen springs run out of the cliff, and it is the more photographed and more crowded of the two. Its access road is barriered, so you walk 2 km down or take a shuttle.

Do both if your trip is long enough. If you only have one day and want quiet forest, come here. Our levada walks guide puts them alongside everything else, and the best hikes in Madeira guide ranks them against the peaks and the coast.

When to go and what to pack

Go early, both for the car park and because the cauldron is a small space that gets busy from late morning.

The north side of the island is wetter and cloudier than Funchal, and this trail runs through that weather. Rain makes the waterfall better and the tunnels and rock worse, which is a real trade-off rather than a reason to cancel.

• Head torch: essential, not optional. Four unlit tunnels, the longest around 200 m.
• Grippy shoes: the tunnel floors and the wet basalt sections are genuinely slick.
• Layers and a rain jacket: it is cooler and damper up here than on the coast in any month.
• Water and food: the café at Queimadas is the only supply, and it is at the start.