Madeira Levada Walk - Rabacal Lakes And Fountains

Great day with Marta, she has been a great guide, giving lots of info and insights on the island. The hike was really nice, and making sure everyone was comfortable. Easy pick up.

This is such a fantastic experience to see the 25 fountains and walk a part of the Levada trail. Ben, our guide was brilliant and his knowledge and easy going manner added to the whole enjoyment of the experience. A shout out to Carlo our driver who greeted everybody with a cheery good morning. I would definitely recommend this guided walk. Thank you Ben Steve

Beautiful levada walk from Rabacal to Risco and then 25 Fontes and return through a tunnel which took about 4 hours in total. Despite the very wet weather on the day, the scenery was incredibly picturesque - lots of greenery and water. The walk leader, Luisa, gave an excellent commentary to the walk in both English and German covering both history and nature. At times it did seem busy along the route but our group managed to walk easily and the pace of the walk was perfect for all members of the group. How perfect to be picked up from and deposited back to my hotel in Funchal with no stress.

Yes there was a bit of rain but you expect that in the mountains. Scenery was amazing and so good having a knowledgeable local tour guide

Well organised trip. Pick up on time from nearby hotel, comfortable transport & convenient stop before starting the walk to buy food & use toilet facilities. Walk itself well paced, views spectacular. 5/5 for our tour guide Amilcar. Knowledgeable & unobtrusive with good sense of humour. Would definitely recommend using a guide to avoid having to go back on the same route. Really nice to wander further along and have different views. Also recommend having a guide for the additional conversation and information about plants, trees, levadas, weather, living in Madeira etc. Really interesting! Experience itself not given 5/5 due to other tourists leaving their tissue paper/toilet roll along the route from their toilet stops. Not the organisers’ fault but sad to see. Bag it & bin it later!

Great levada walk with our guide Elton. Paced the walk for everyone. Fantastic walk along the levadas and spectacular waterfalls and mountain views. Elton gave lots of interesting facts along the way. Highly recommend. Jenny & Tony

Our tour guide was great. We really enjoyed the walk and the information provided…it is very busy and the waterfall is hard to get to when busy. The paths are thin at points especially for 2 way walking. We did however really enjoy the trip especially the 800 ft tunnel!

Fabulous views, exhilarating walk. Very knowledgeable guide. Steady paced walk with some steep climbs and descents and at times narrow passing places. A very popular area for walkers, hence quite busy at times. The waterfalls were amazing. 700 meter tunnel towards the end of the walk, which was quite wet and muddy, but an enjoyable experience. Make sure you have appropriate footwear and waterproof jacket. The only downside to the trip was that there are no toilet facilities, and 4 hours is a long time to wait!

Professionally organised with excellent Guide Elton, knowledgeable, fun and inclusive. Walking Shoes ideal, take picnic lunch.

Awesome views, great guide. Quite grouted but that was something to expect. 25 fountains itself was quite disapointing, but over all views were great. Having wet shoes was impossible to avoid. Nice surprise that ending point wasn't same than starting point, means way less clinbing up hill. Walking through a 800 meter long dark tunnel in end of the trip was exiting! Only complain is that in confirmatin on pick-up time come quite late in previous evening, even it was mentioned it should come 24 hours before.

Great views. Walking paths give you amazing access to the cliffs and waterfalls of the island. A lot of steep downhill. So bring good shoes.

The trail itself was stunning and honestly very accessible. There are quite a lot of stairs but that's about the only difficulty there is. The waterfalls are gorgeous and the views are spectacular. Our tour guide Bruno was lovely and informative as well. Not a bad price for this trip.

Great guide and lovely mux of walking companions from all over europe. Exceeded our expectiations in terms of scenery and guide was a mine of information. Great day.

Great Guide, Elena was fantastic! Unfortunatly the paths and spots are heavily crowded. Its too much tourism at this place. But for what it is, the trip was very well organized and if you want to go there, this tour is a good way to get there and you will be very well guided along the levadas and one-way-foodpths. Elena will explain a little inside to the local botany as well.

It was a good trip with a nice and attentive guide. They picked us up close to our hotel and drove us back there after the trip. We had a great walk along the levadas in speed comfortable for the group. We had enough time to make the puctures and enjoy the nature

All very good. Great guide who accounted for all walking speeds. Beautiful scenery with breath taking views.

Walk was lovely and the guide was nice and Informent but spoilt by nature meetings not contacting me with time and meeting point was like I didn’t exist till I contacted the main tourist operator who got it sorted couldn’t get in touch by phone or e mail actually I did send them e mail but never got back so really disappointed has it was a birthday treat for my partner caused me to much stress booked on line a few months in advance I won’t book on line again

Wonderful experience. The rain made it even nicer because it gave the whole nature a different Color. The air is so clean that you feel it with every breath. Also your skin plumps up a lot. The guide was so nice and helpful. I felt very dizzy and shivered a lot which took my energy and he helped me all the way back, and stayed with me all the time. He didn’t make me feel that I am a burden but he always reassured me. If you book any tours than please only work this company. You are in safe hands.

Very nice walk with a great guide. Mostly downhill with a 170 steps uphill part. Trail is packed with other tourists reducing the experience a bit.

A great tour to kick off the vacation with. The landscape is amazing with a lot to see. The local flora is amazing. Gonzalo was a great guide, a very knowledgeable and polite pesron. I would highly recommend!

Hi all unfortunately I was not able to go on this trip, partly my fault but also because of the behaviour of the Tour guide and the driver of the private van that collects you. Me and my 15 year old daughter did not have a mask, the Tour guide thinking we were English said in Portuguese, “ look another bunch without masks, we need to charge them for ours”. Since being in Madeira I’ve not been asked to wear a mask, hence why I did not have one as the rules have also been relaxed. 14/July 2022. ( I now can confirm that it is law to wear a mask on public transport/private shuttles/ pharmacy’s and other events. Please make sure you carry a mask so that you don’t miss out on things like we did ). The drive leaves the van removes his mask being very aggressive telling me no mask no trip ” you are in Madeira now you can’t do as you like”. My daughter could see this was going to escalate and got in between me and the driver, she then went on to saying ok we don’t go then give us a refund then! The driver replied yes we will, we will bring it to the Hotel and leave it there for you at reception. ( they were also late by 50 mins and made me go look for a bus stop in an area I do not know, waiting with no confirmation of them being late wondering if anyone was going to come! Strange thing is at my hotel everyone gets collected from reception and no one ever wears a mask ( again it’s a law requirement to wear one if the police stop the van you are subject to a fine as well as the company)” with other companies that do the same tours. I have had a conversation with the company and spoke to Andrew who was amazing, we have both agreed we got off on the wrong foot and that it has been an unfortunate situation. I’ve since received a full refund for my trip, I totally believe In second chances and hope to revisit the island again soon. I will rebook the same tour again and this time not forgetting my mask, I will then add my input of the tour itself and experience. I hope this will help future customers who will book understand that a mask is a must and also how good the company’s Customer service is. Kind regards John

What a beautiful day ! The guide was just perfect, really nice, team gonzalo was perfect 🙈 Thank you for all those knowledge you gave us. Emi and Max (Switzerland)

Our driver Elton took us safely to the beginning of the walk where our guide Claudia was waiting for us to show us the beauty of the nature in that area. It was an amazing walk with very beautiful views and the waterfalls where we had lunch were fantastic.

Walk was amazing! Beautiful forest over majestic mountains! Fantastic waterfalls! The guide was very competent and speak many languages. We enjoyed every minute!

I booked the tour via the "Get your Guide"-App. I was picked up on time by our tour guide Bruno picked @ 0845 AM near my house. We drove around one and a half hours to get to Rabaçal where the tour started. On our way to Rabaçal we reached the plateau Paul da Serra. At Rabaçal we hiked both routes: first the PR 6.1 to the Risco waterfall and then the PR 6 to the 25 Fontes. As an older man collapsed on the way and our tour guide Bruno took him back to the Rabaçal nature spot cafe. During the hike Bruno let us smell some freshly picked mint and bay leaves. I really enjoyed the time out there and everything was organized well.

Organised this walk via our tour operator, Jet2 holidays with local company MB tours. Billed as a moderate walk. Efficient transport to and from the levada. Experienced guide who pointed out many things we would have missed had we not paid for the guided walk. A lot of steps to negotiate, more than usual apparently due to a recent landslide which blocked part of the regular route. Care needed on some sections where the path was narrow and bordering a precipitous drop into the valley below. Our guide was excellent at keeping our group of eleven walkers safe. Views were spectacular, the 25 fountains where we stopped for a packed lunch in particular. We missed the Rabaçal waterfall as it has no water flowing over it now due to the construction of a dam and reservoir further upstream. The last section of the walk involved a tunnel about 700m long. My only criticism of the walk was the number of other people on it. It might be better if the numbers were restricted. Trying to pass people walking the other way was challenging on the narrow sections. Overall though, I would recommend this walk.

I really cannot fault any part of this trip including communication before and during, pick-up times, comfort and well-being and guide knowledge. The driver was skilled and efficient and our guide (sounded like a Portuguese version of Edward?) was a warm-hearted, gregarious and confident man with a font of knowledge about the area, the plant life, the eco-system, safety and the history of the levadas; he had the best sense of humour and I feel very fortunate to have had him as our guide. The trip has inspired me to learn more about plant life and to return to Madeira to experience more of the levada trips.

A lovely scenic walk in a beautiful shady valley, with a delightful and knowledgeable guide Suzanna. She explained about all the flora and fauna as we went along and had lots of interesting facts about the island to share with us. My highlight of the tour was experiencing 'liquid sunshine' - this is when you walk through the clouds and the mist is very fine, but the sun is still shining with blue skies and it makes rainbows around you. A very easy walk suitable for most people, but you should wear trainers or full shoes, the paths are uneven.

Sherpa holidays did not in anyway highlight the danger of doing the walks along the Levadas. One of the walks had been closed for a long time as a permanent fence had been constructed across the path. As we were only walking for five days one day was therefore lost. Some of the accommodation was only satisfactory. We were offered a 10 % discount of a future holiday which we will not be taking.

<p>Only 3 stars because the pre tour communication was so poor. The telephone number on the voucher was not in use and emails received no response. The tour company finally made contact at 6pm the night before to provide pick up details.<br/> Picked up at 8.40am.. walk started at 10.40am. Not surprisingly wed been delayed because of a pick up mix up.<br/> Its a nice waik and the tour guide, Gloria, was excellent. Got off to a slow start due to two unfit americans who only just about managed the first 2 kms on a paved path before giving up and getting in the rescue van. Main problem with the walk is that its overcrowded...its way too busy. Also helps if youre okay going close to 6 hours without atoilet.</p>

<p>to be honest, this walk can be done by yourself with the necessary research and willingness to drive around the island to get to the walk. this tour is good for pple who don't drive, don't do much researching and solo pplein a way. it's nice to the someone pick you up and just guide you along the paths so you don't have to worry if you get lost, etc. if you are fast and adventurous, you may feel held back and you generally have to go at the pace of the slowest member in the group. also the first walk idea is not exclusive to any tour company as i found out. there were already a lot of other tour groups and independant trekkers there already. it all boils down to who has less and easier members to pick up and of course, who has the faster vehicle. the guide did give certain information during the walk but i felt that more information could have be shared. the infos given were basic and could be read up on your own in the internet if you want.</p>

<p>This was our first trip to Madeira so we thought it would be a good plan to go on a guided walk or two rather than set off independently straight away. The added bonus of a guided trip is also the transport being laid on, avoiding the need to negotiate the winding roads and enabling drop off and pick up at different locations at the beginning and end of the walk. When we booked this one, we didn't quite appreciate that it was one of the most popular of the guided levada walks and that it would be quite as busy as it was. Our day began when we were picked up by the minibus at a pre-arranged spot. Our guide for the day was Rita, who proved to be well-informed, knowledgeable and concerned for our safety, wellbeing and enjoyment. We were a group of 10, mixed in terms of nationality, age and walking experience. It was a good size of group, unlike some of the other guided groups we met. Our first stop was at a small village supermarket, with a cafe and toilet facilities. Rita also took the time to show us our route on the map, which was helpful. Our route from there was up a steep road to the Paul de Sierra. The sun was shining, and it was magnificent. We set off from where the minibus had dropped dropped us off, our driver having ensured we all had torches for later in the day. The first part of the route was down a tarmac road, leaving it to descend on a cobbled path. The native woodland was beautiful, and Rita was great at pointing out flora and fauna. The walk to the waterfall was lovely, and a welcome stop there allowed for a snack, before we headed down to the levada leading to 25 Fontes. This section was quite slow, mainly because of the need for care because of the narrow path, and also because of the number of people coming back from the 25 Fontes. When we got there, we were out of the sun so it was quite cool. Loads of people having lunch. No toilet facilities of course. We stopped for 45 minutes, possibly slightly longer than needed, but not a problem. Setting off again, it didn't seem to take us long to retrace our steps on the levada, before taking a new stretch along to where a very long tunnel cut through the mountain. We were glad of jackets and needed the torches for the 700 metres, moving from the north side of the island to the south. Having been in sun or able to see the sun through the trees for most of the day, we were surprised to come out of the tunnel into cloud and mist. A relatively short walk led us to where the minibus was waiting for us. Down the mountain, a very welcome stop allowed bathroom visits and drinks, some of us sampling the local Ponchas. It was also nice to have time to chat further to others in the group. Back in the minibus, it was about 30 minutes back to the first drop off point on the outskirts of Funchal. All in all, a very good experience. Big thanks to Rita. Also very grateful for the way staff dealt with walking poles left in the minibus - a phone call and clear explanation of when they would be dropped in at the office and could be collected. We have booked another two walks during our stay in Madeira.</p>

<p>Fantastic day on this Levada walk led by Denis who was very entertaining and informative. Lovely walk to and from dramatic lake with many streams flowing down but very busy area so you need to prepare yourself for that. 4 stars as admin was hopeless. No communication until late afternoon day before.</p>

<p>We were picked up promptly at our hotel by the mini bus driver and tour guide.<br/> Had a comfortable journey to the start of the walk via a stop for coffee/picnic things/toilet. <br/> Our guide was keen for us to have a great walk but was also to have a safe walk so stressed the right way to walk a levada. Very reassuring. He was very knowledgeable about the area and knew his plants and wildlife. A very enjoyable walk even providing torches when going through a tunnel. Would thoroughly recommend this trip.</p>

<p>Loved the tour but my wife found it a bit nervey due to some of the drops. Beautiful scenery and a brilliant, multilingual and informative guide in Gabriel.<br/> So if you get the chance, do this tour but not if you're a bit nervous of heights</p>

<p>This was a very nice tour. The guide made enough stops to enjoy the views and timed the tour so that we arrived before the other groups and had time to enjoy the fountains by ourselves. During levada walk you have to keep your eyes on the ground to stay safe. So making enough stops is essential. Even though our guide did not have a big script for the tour, but he has good humor and always answered the questions about history and nature.</p>

<p>Wonderful guide. Superb and worth every penny. Do not hesitate to book this trip.</p>

<p>Very good trip,the organisation was fine and bus picked me up exactly when and where agreed.guide was extremely informative about native plants and wildlife and the walk was spectacular through amazing scenery,but mostly pretty flat for actual walking.final part walking through 800 metre tunnel was unique in my experience!altogether a really good day out.</p>

It was a nice walk, in the middle of the forest, George was very attentive in guiding us and explained many things to us about the plants and the island. The only downside was that there were a lot of people at the waterfalls and you cannot fully enjoy their beauty.

Great experience and good care. I would do it again. Fun and history in the forests of Madeira.

We were very well taken care of from and back to our hotel. George is an excellent guide. It is straight and safe but very funny for all that. We had a wonderful time with him. He explained the vegetation and the canal system with great expertise. It was very interesting The Levada is beautiful. The hike is more interesting than the 25 waterfalls (25 cast irons) which is a bit disappointing and difficult to observe because so many people. The descent and return through the tunnel are already worth the cost! I highly recommend the activity and our guide! Thank you.

Great views of the mountains, very nice and varied hiking trails through different vegetation, very friendly guide.

Perfect organization, well-thought-out points of the trip, great guide. Amazing views. The attention paid to the group and the well-being of each participant is noteworthy.

No pudimos hacer el plan establecido por culpa de corte de tráfico por incendio y la ruta que hicimos alternativa fue muy monótona.

Die Wanderung war super! Wunderschöne Aussicht und ein sehr netter und kundiger Reiseführer! Ein tolles Erlebnis und ich möchte die Tour an sich nicht kritisieren; Anmerken möchte ich jedoch, dass die Wanderung alles in allem meiner Meinung nach zu harmlos beschrieben wurde. Es handelt sich um ca 12 km Strecke mit teils starkem Gefälle (nichts für vorgeschädigte Knie), Treppen aufwerts (nichts für Leute mit schlechte Konstitution) uns unwegsamen, rutschigen oder sehr schmalen Wegen (nichts für Ältere bzw. Leute die nicht gut zu Fuß sind). Eine ältere Dame musste während der Tour bereits bei der ersten steilen Treppe abwärts aufgeben, weil die Knie das nicht mitgemacht haben.

Great tour along lots of water with lots of shade. At the end we went through a long unlit tunnel, which was a particular highlight for me.

This was a beautiful walk along Levadas and a few waterfalls. We did this walk in May and the weather was lovely. It's a little chillier in the mountains but a coat wasn't necessary. Shorts and T-shirt are fine. After pick up you drive to the top of the mountain. There you walk a bit and then there is a stop for a last pee break and possibly buy some drinks or food (expensive€€€). Don't forget 50 cents for the toilet. The walk is beautiful but intensive. If you have weak knees, hips or ankles then you should be careful. You go up and down a lot of stairs and up and down. It is 11 km walk but really doable and the area makes up for it. Halfway through a stop to eat your self-brought lunch at a beautiful spot near the waterfall. Wear good shoes, sneakers are fine but slippers are a no go. The guide was fun and told along the way about the flora and fauna and everything else you want to know. Recommended!!

Very professionally organized hike with lots of background knowledge and explanations in a fantastic mountain world and nature. Easy - moderate hike (even with teens no problem) but better with basic condition about 500 steps) recommended. Highly recommended

The hike to Rabacal was well organized, pickup on time and execution very good. Our guide Sergio explained a lot to us and was a super pleasant guide. The hike has been adapted to the level of the group and certainly led. The scenic impressions beautiful and the levadas were good to run. At the end as a highlight the crossing of the 800 m long tunnel. Only the possibilities for going to the toilet are very limited, but the organization can't help it. There are simply no opportunities on the go. So please make sure to use the last stop at the supermarket.