A quiet walk in the mountains they said.

Tobi Hughes·
Madeira News

See the full photo below.

If someone says “go early there won’t be so many people” . Don’t believe them…

This photo was taken by Pawel Uchorczak doing the peak to peak walk at 7am.

For me it’s just horrendous, I’m so glad I have done all these kind of things with literally no one else about, there is just no fun or pleasure in this as well as a lot of the other hot-spots on the island.

Pawel is on the island doing a photography workshop, so he will be sharing more images to his Instagram account below, give him a follow as he has a few photos from previous trips, that you might spot in his images.

 

So what do you think of this photo.?

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Tobi Hughes

28 Responses

  1. Wow, shocking to see so many people on this peak at one time. It can’t be any fun! Would it be due to the many cruise ships docking in Madeira?
    I almost feel guilty now planning our first time holiday to Madeira? Not sure if we should be adding to the crowds 🙁

    Reply

  2. The answer to these problems is to stop the tour groups. Pretty much every Madeiran walk is blighted by them.

    We’ve done plenty of walking over the years on Madeira and have yet to see a happy face on one of these organised groups as they are marched from place to place. Little consideration is given to the capability of those to do the walks either.

    Reply

  3. Yes we did it years ago and we’re on our own to watch the sun rise which was truly magical. What a tragedy that the island has been so spoilt. We still go every year but not for much longer as we don’t appreciate being amongst throngs of people wherever you go. Fortunately there are still places where you can be on your own but they are now few and far between!

    Reply

    1. … Sue ?? I would say you are Excessively Exaggerating ,, there are only very very few places with “throngs of people” !! But millions of places equally as stunning and beautiful were you barely see anyone …

      Reply

    3. Sad that you feel like this about the beautiful island of Madeira. Agree about tourists but not just in Madiera but many scenic tourist areas in Wales and the UK.
      Living in the the spectacular wooded and Waterfall region of South Wales, we’ve watched the devastating impact tourists have had on the area. Unfortunately many (not all) have very little consideration for locals and farmers, for example:
      When parking;
      Leaving litter behind;
      Lighting fires and having bbqs in wooded picnic areas
      Leaving gates open
      Diving into shalllows pools during drought periods causing injury resulting in expensive air ambulance and search and rescue helicopters to be called.
      I could carry on.
      However we now live in a social media driven world. And when people discover beautiful places, they will naturally share it. And hence the once quiet hidden beautyspots are attract more and more visitors.

      Reply

    4. Then why you are not going to Azores?
      Madeira now is MONACO 2.0 but cheaper. Heaven on Earth. Extraordinary peoples food and culture. Living here and life is simply a DREAM.

      Reply

  4. I have been to Madeira yearly since 2001, except the pandemic years. Have done this trip between Areiro and Ruivo a lot it times, and have always started with the sun. The first years I was almost the only one, met just a few people. It is a pity what’s happening now. This is no good for the islands nature and no good for the experience the tourists take with them. The only way, in my opinion, is to regulate it with a quota of peoples allowed to go per day and a license is necessary. If you walk without a license you will be fined. Let’s say 500€. If you want to save this wonderful island for the coming generations a lot have to be done with the way it is governed.

    Reply

  5. Looks like the Lake District. We suffer this nearly all year round. Litter by the lorry load, thoughtless car parking. Don’t let Madeira get like that. Take it in hand. Regulating the tourists a good idea. We have visited for the last 25 years and would love too see it quieter again.

    Reply

    1. I had the privilege to walk the full caldera circumference way back in 98. It was incredible, I saw three other people, our guide and my two companions. A solid 14 hours walking and scrambling. I was completely ke######ered but so chuffed. I promised ‘ never again’ however the promise was pointless because without a Helo ride it will not happen. It was a beautiful day, never to be forgotten or repeated.

      Reply

  6. It’s over 25 years since I was fit enough to do most of these walks. You had to go with a guide. All we had was the old Sunflower guides no gps. I actually remember doing Rabaçal with a guide. If she hadn’t been there I would have been dead from exposure. The main paths were blocked (hadn’t been the day before). I had to slide down on my backside to get to an accessible path. Ruivo to Areeiro you needed crampons and ropes.

    Now they take children like it was a Sunday picnic.

    Reply

  7. The problem is, if it stays like this, the overcrowding will be spread as quick as the beautiness of the island has been spread in social media after covid thanks to the younger generation (this made tourism survive and grow and brought young people to Madeira). There will be a sudden and violent collapse in the number of visitors… Madeira is not the first touristic area with this phenomenon. Maybe it is already too late. Some might say thank good it is like this, but in my opinion we all need a certain number of visitors for a good standard of living for the Madeira people. Maybe not me or you, but we are not alone on the Island.

    Reply

  8. Like Elizabeth I have been doing these walks over 20 years ago. Hired a taxi to bring us to Pico Areiro at sunrise and walked to Encuemeida. Can’t remember seeing anybody all day. We used to recomend a walking holiday on Madeira to all our friends. Can’t do that anymore. We came to Madeira in the low season (early december) and I got scared of the number of cars at Rabacal. Even on a day with bad weather. If you know where to go there are still a lot of beautiful places but the hotspots have become a no go area to us.

    Reply

  9. It seems that the government is adamant that more people visiting the island is what is needed and therefore just building more and more hotels while doing its best to attract more tourists to the visit.

    Unfortunately, you can’t have it both ways.

    Either, Madeira gears up for less but good quality tourism or it
    opens the doors to anyone.

    It is unfair to pull people in but then penalise them when they visit.

    After all, it is nature that attracts visitors in the first place but at this rate, it will all be destroyed and so the island will be just like any other.

    Control the situation but don’t penalise or discriminate as it seems is becoming the new norm.

    Reply

  11. Don’t worry .with Putin still living and his Chinese mates next door …..we will all be at war soon …
    Less humans to do the walks
    Will be quiet again

    Reply

    1. We have been to Madeira many times.
      We still manage to find walks where we’re the only ones around except locals.
      We have abandoned the hot spots many years ago.
      Madeira is still a beautiful island but the people who make the decisions on how the tourist industry is run should strictly regulate things like jeep safari’s and the number of people allowed visit certain sites

      Reply

  12. I opened the photo and my reaction was o my goodness. When we did it 20 plus years ago again with a guide we were the only ones on the track which in those days was hairy in places.
    Sheila D

    Reply

  13. Sheila D
    When I opened the photo my first reaction was oh my goodness. We did the walk 20 years or so ago with a guide and didn’t see anyone else on the trail.

    Reply

  15. A zoomed pic of 84 People on a narrow path which shows 100s of meters, oh the horror how is there even enough oxygen for them to share? Something MUST be done. Something tells me the photographer chose the most opportune angle and time to favor their narrative.

    Reply

  16. Hi Tobi, As you said, I think its “Ponta São Lourenço” – the second hill out to the peninsula looking back. The rock is too sandy for and the foliage is wrong for the PR1.

    Reply

  17. How privileged that you all had the opportunity to do those hikes 20 years ago, when no one was around. Yet, you did exactly the same thing back then – traveling to Madeira as a tourist. So how does that make you any better than those people in the pic? ????

    We visited two weeks ago and yes, some hikes were overcrowded, especially Arieiro to Ruivo, didn‘t like it at all to be honest. Mostly has to do with plastering and securing the whole hike like a highway, taking away any technical difficulty, but I guess that has been the decision of the Madeiran government.

    Reply

  19. Amazingly from all the comments,none of them noticed a man off the path to take a photo, completely insane

    Reply

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