Hope Albuquerque and Eduardo Jesus are proud of themselves. They really cant organise anything, maybe they should take a trip to the Azores and see how things are organised. Platforms that dont work in every aspect, for locals and tourists.
When will something be done to help the Madeirans, Albuquerque myst be thebonly person who has done very little, if anything, to help the locals, and instead line his own pockets along with his friends.
Due to high demand, huge queues of people are already forming beyond Pedra Rija, in the area that until today was closed to the general public, causing a real traffic jam.
It was to avoid situations like this that the government decided to create access limitations, through ‘slots’ every half hour. But the result is far from what was desired.
For now, the trail is open only on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. On the remaining days of the week, access remains closed to facilitate the continuation of improvement works on this classified pedestrian trail, which suffered considerable damage in the fire of August 2024, which led to its closure until today.
Regarding reservations, for non-residents, availability for the month of May is already very limited. Conversely, for residents, the Regional Secretariat for Tourism, Environment and Culture assured yesterday that there will always be availability.
Hiking the entire trail between Pico do Areeiro and Pico Ruivo costs €10.50 for non-resident citizens aged 12 and over.
If you choose to hike the trail only as far as Pedra Rija, the cost is 4.5 euros.
Residents are exempt from any payment, provided they make a pre-booking through the SIMplifica portal or by presenting their resident card and corresponding identification.
