How to pay hiking fees in Madeira?
Starting in January 2025, Madeira has introduced a fee if you wish to hike one of the official PR hikes. According to the island government, these fees will be used for maintenance and cleaning of the trails in order to make them more sustainable, and to take off some of the pressure that some hikes have been suffering. Especially the PR 6, the Levada dos 25 Fontes, the PR1 Vereda do Areeiro, the PR 8 Vereda da Ponta de São Lourenço and the PR 11 Vereda dos Balcões are heavily used and parking your rental car may be a disaster.
We don´t really think the fees will help taking off the pressure off the busy hikes, but it is true that maintenance is expensive and, let’s be honest, if you would break a leg or get otherwise injured, you do expect to be carried back to safety. Anyway, for more expanation you can visit the ‘this is Madeira Island‘ site.
how to pay
You can only pay with your credit card. The official website used for the payments (and for a lot of other things) says you can pay with a credit or debit card, but once you click on that, it only allows Visa and Mastercard.
Start by scanning the QR-code. It will take you to https://simplifica.madeira.gov.pt/services/78-82-259. Alternatively, tap the above link.
Now tap in the hamburger menu top-left, choose a language and tap ‘to enter’ You will find that the translation of the Portuguese website has been done by a machine, and they did not bother to have a native speaker check. No matter, most of it is reasonably clear. Just enter the details asked, choose the PR walk you want to do end finalize your payment by credit card. It is quite straightforward. The government states that you risk a fine starting at €500 if you are found hiking on a PR trail without proof of payment. They have started patrolling the trails.
We suggest that you do the payment just before you start walking. You can then decide to do a different walk if you find the weather unsuitable or the trail too busy.
The non-PR walks, like the Levada Nova walks close to our house, or the circular walk from Fajã da Ovelha to Maloeira via the old footway and back via the Levada Nova, are free to use. Also, one of our favourites, the Lombada da Ponta do Sol walk, which takes you to a spectacular waterfall via the Levada Nova and back to Lombada via the Levada do Moinho, is still free. However, check befor you do the walk,as they might add trails to their system. For a list of all the official (paid) trails, you can go to the page here, which is maintained by the Madeiran ministry of tourisme. The website (visitmadeira.com) offers a lot of other information and is worth a good look.
Enjoy your hikes, be careful and don´t walk on closed hikes. There are ever more accidents and the fines are high. And never, ever cross a warning tape or gate. Only last week – as I write – a young German fell to his death while making a picture from the wrong side of a warning tape. It is not worth it.
