PR8 - Verada da Ponto de São Lourenço in Madeira

Hiking PR8 – Verada da Ponto de São Lourenço in Madeira

My personal favorite hike on Madeira is the PR8 – Verada da Ponto de São Lourenço. During the hike you will be surrounded by blue water and have a spectacular view from begin to the finish. The hike can be challenging from time to time because of the steep, stone stairways, but it’s totally worth it.

Chapters

Madeira is known for its Levadas and Veradas. Levadas are water irrigation canals that lead from one side of the island to the other side. Along the water canals there is a path that you can follow. Madeira also has a lot of Veradas. This is basically the same without the water irrigation and is a hiking path.

The Levadas and Veradas is what makes Madeira a populair hiking destination. During your time there, you will have so many options on which hike to do. Down below I will tell you more about hiking PR8 – Verada da Ponto de São Lourenço in Madeira.

How to get there

When hiking the PR8 – Verada da Ponto de São Lourenço in Madeira, you need to make sure you start at the right point. So how do you get there?

There are two options. One, you can take a group tour. A bus will pick you up and brings you to the starting point. Two, get a rental car and drive yourself to Ponta de São Lourenço Parking. Here you can park your car for free and take a one-minute-walk to the starting point.

In my opinion, getting yourself a rental car is the best option because it gives you the freedom to come and go at your own time.

Entrance fee

Hiking PR8 – Verada da Ponto de São Lourenço in Madeira is completely free of charge. You just have to get to the starting point, and from there you can follow the path and see everything this Verada has to offer you.

How to get around

So, now you know all the basics about getting there. But once you are at the starting point of PR8 – Verada da Ponto de São Lourenço, you will need to figure out where to go.

Lucky for you, PR8 is one of the most famous veradas in Madeira, and the path is really clear. You just have to follow the road and it will guide you to the end point.

Halfway through the hike, there is a splitsing point. You can choose to follow the path left or right. It doesn’t matter which direction you choose, they both end up at the say path. However, if you go left it will take you to a small restaurant. If you go right, it will lead you to a path that gets really close to the ocean.

Extra information

How long does the hike take

Hiking PR8 – Verada da Ponto de São Lourenço will take about 3 and a half hours. On the way to the end point, it took us two hours because we made so many stops to take pictures along the way. Every point offers a new but spectacular view. And of course we took a quick break to get something to drink and get some energie to reach the final point.

On the way back we did it way quicker. Within one hour and fifteen minutes we were back at the parking space.

If you are a fast hiker and don’t take to many pictures I think it is possible to do this hike in two and a half hours. So try to find what pace suits you the best.

Breaks & toilet

Like I told before, at one point during the hike, you can choose to go left or right. If you go left, it will bring you to a restaurant called Casa do Sardinha. The restaurant is located about an hour in and you can get something to drink, take a rest and help yourself to the toilet.

There is also a toilet at the parking space. Here you can find some food trucks and one of them has a portable toilet.

What to bring to Verada da Ponta de São Lourenço

So when you decide to go on this wonderful hike I recommend to bring the following stuff:

Enough water
Snacks
Layers of clothes -> (rain)jacket/ sweater/ etc.
Hiking shoes or good shoes you can hike on
Camera
Money (for the toilet)

Best time to visit

Madeira is an island with many different types of weather. And these different types can all struck at one day. I remember walking PR8 and we experienced them all. One moment we were walking in the bright sun sweating our asses of, and the next moment we took out our rain jackets and were greeted with an rainbow.

However, this hike can be done all year round. And you know why? Because the weather on Madeira is lovely all year round. Of course, there is a chance you get struck in the rain, but 5 minutes later the sky is clear again and you almost don’t believe that the rain fell before.

Photo inspiration – PR8 – Verada do Ponta de São Lourenço