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📡 Today's status

The IFCN's official status, read every day. Green only when the IFCN writes « aberto » with no reserve.

● Open · ABERTO

The family loop of Chão dos Louros: 1.9 km, about 45 minutes, graded easy, between 830 and 890 m, around the forest park of the same name below Encumeada. Being circular, it can be joined at several points and walked in either direction. The whole loop runs through native Laurissilva, a Natura 2000 site dominated by evergreen laurels: the laurel and the til. A natural viewpoint opens onto the imposing São Vicente valley, and a connector leads to the Caminho do Norte (PR 21) towards Ribeira Grande. By tradition, Chão dos Louros is where the pilgrims returning from the Senhor Bom Jesus festivities in Ponta Delgada gather on the first Sunday of September. Total shade, the park's picnic tables within reach: ideal with children or in hot weather.

Highlights

  • Loop
  • Forest park
  • Laurel and til
  • View over the São Vicente valley
Difficulty
Easy
Length
1.9 km
Elevation gain
60 m
Duration
45 min
Price
€4.50 (over 12) · SIMplifica booking · free for residents and under-13s
Municipality
São Vicente
🎟️ Book on SIMplifica🗺️ See the route on the map📍 Start🏁 End

Track for guidance only.

Places within 2 km of the route

  • 🌿 Nature

    Parque Florestal do Chão dos Louros

    In the heart of the Laurissilva, a World Heritage site since December 1999, on the ER 104 that drops from Encumeada to São Vicente: laurels often bearing the "madre-de-louro" caused by a fungus, tils, rarer vinháticos, folhados, sanguinhos, faias-das-ilhas, heaths and uveiras whose berries go into jams; the endemic firecrest, chaffinch and trocaz pigeon. Tables and benches, fountains, fireplaces and lawns make it one of the forest leisure spots most sought after by Madeirans; the PR 22 Vereda do Chão dos Louros loop (1.9 km) goes round it, with a lookout over the São Vicente valley and a link to PR 21. Free parking, paid toilets.

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  • 🔭 Viewpoint

    Miradouro da Encumeada

    The pass that separates — and links — the island's two sides: at 1,007 m on the crest of the central range, Boca da Encumeada shows at once the Ribeira Brava valley to the south and the São Vicente valley to the north, both carpeted with forest, and the peaks that often rise out of a sea of clouds. It is a junction of classified trails: PR 1.3 to Pico Ruivo (final section closed in 2026), PR 17 to Folhadal, PR 21 to Ribeira Grande, PR 22 at Chão dos Louros. Serra d'Água, below, completes the visit. By the ER 228; no fee shown.

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