Payment for Walking Routes Starts 28th October

By 1st January, 2025, there will be a charge for everyone using the regionally recommended walking routes (with numbers prefixed by PR).

However, some routes are payable from 28th October. These are:

  • PR1 - Vereda do Areeiro
  • PR1.2 - Vereda do Pico Ruivo
  • PR 6.1 - Levada do Risco
  • PR 8 - Vereda da Ponta de São Lourenço (existing charge goes up)
  • PR 9 - Levada do Caldeirão Verde
  • PR 11 - Vereda dos Balcões
  • PR 18 - Levada do Rei 

A payment of 3 Euros per person, per route per day should be made in advance online via the SIMplifica portal. Your permit will only be valid on the date and route for which it was issued, though you can contact the call centre to change it to another date or another route  if you're unable to embark on the walk you have booked.

For a transitionary period, there may be staff available on site to take payments. Spot checks will me made to check people have paid the fee and penalties may be issued. Children of 12 and under are exempt, as are residents of Madeira - though proof of residence must be carried.

There is an upper limit on the number of tickets that may be issued for any particular route on a given day - it's currently set quite high but may be used to manage demand in the future.

At the time of writing, the process for booking seems very confusing. You can change the language of the page to English, but it doesn't really help. You need to scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the apparently-empty drop-down menu labelled Recurso (in Portuguese) or Resource (in English) whereupon the list of walks will appear (possibly in literally-translated English). Having selected a route, you can then select a date and the number of people for whom you require permits. You will be required to provide your contact details and acknowledge you take responsibility for accidents or damage that may occur.

A further confusion is that you will then be given a date by which payment must be made. This is because if you have a Portuguese bank account, you can choose to make your payment via an ATM once you have completed the online form. For most visitors, they will be paying via credit or debit card and if you choose this option you will pay immediately.