Miradouro dos Balcões

The balcony over the Ribeira da Metade valley, a picture of monumental proportions dominated by the greens of the Laurissilva; on clear days, the central massif with Pico do Areeiro, Pico das Torres and Pico Ruivo, and Penha d'Águia. You reach it by the Vereda dos Balcões (PR 11), 1.5 km almost flat from Ribeiro Frio along the Levada da Serra do Faial — access €4.50 with SIMplifica booking — among endemic laurels (laurel, til, vinhático, folhado) and exotic broadleaves such as oak and plane. The endemic chaffinches readily come close to visitors. The lookout itself has no fee.