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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

Rabaçal's levada for everyone. Under the "Um caminho para todos" (a path for all) label, this route was laid out to be usable by everybody, including people with reduced mobility: 1.2 km almost perfectly flat (1,279 – 1,280 m) along the Levada do Paul II, from the Rabaçal loading chamber on the ER 105 to the Estrada do Rochão, so 2.4 km round trip in about thirty minutes — hence the "easy" grade used here. To the south, the view takes in the characteristic relief of the municipality of Calheta with its lombos, lombinhas and lombadas, the long ridges that cut up the slope. The Levada do Paul II rises at the Ribeiro do Juncal, in the Ribeira da Ponta do Sol basin; with the Levada do Paul I (the Levada do Alecrim) it feeds the loading chamber, from which a pipe takes the water down to the Calheta hydroelectric plant. An exposed plateau: little shade, so bring a hat and water.

Highlights

  • Wheelchair accessible
  • Rabaçal loading chamber
  • Calheta ridges
  • Flat
Difficulty
Easy
Length
1.2 km
Elevation gain
1 m
Duration
30 min
Price
€4.50 (over 12) · SIMplifica booking · free for residents and under-13s
Municipality
Calheta
🎟️ Book on SIMplifica🗺️ See the route on the map📍 Start🏁 End

Track for guidance only.

Places within 2 km of the route

  • 🌿 Nature

    Rabaçal

    On Paul da Serra, the Pico da Urze balcony opens onto the island's largest valley covered in Laurissilva — a UNESCO World Heritage site, a Natura 2000 site, classified as an area of rest and silence by the Parque Natural da Madeira. From the ER 105 car park set off Madeira's most famous trails: the Levada das 25 Fontes (PR 6), the Levada do Risco (PR 6.1), Alecrim (PR 6.2), Lagoa do Vento (PR 6.3) and, below, Casa do Rabaçal, the meeting point with its reception centre on the history of the levadas; the Túnel do Cavalo (1863–1877) and the Túnel das Estrebarias (1855) tell of the first crossing of the northern waters to the south. All trails require SIMplifica booking (€4.50).

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  • 🌿 Nature

    Cascata do Risco

    At the end of Levada do Risco, at Rabaçal: a fall that drops vertically and draws a white line on the dark rock. It is reached by PR 6.1, an easy 1.5 km path one way from the ER 105, about two hours there and back, at some 1,000 m of altitude. The path shares its start with Levada das 25 Fontes (PR 6). The Risco viewpoint closes the route.

    €4.50 per visitor over 12, SIMplifica booking (PR 6.1)
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  • 🌿 Nature

    Lagoa das 25 Fontes

    A pool at the foot of a wall from which the waters coming down off Paul da Serra emerge: the official page counts twenty-five springs, hence the name. The site is classified geosite C01 – 25 Fontes for its scientific value, and it is this underground circulation that made the building of the levadas possible. It is reached by PR 6, 4.3 km one way from the ER 105 at Rabaçal, about three hours, moderate, between 964 and 1,288 m.

    €4.50 per visitor over 12, SIMplifica booking (PR 6)
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  • 🔭 Viewpoint

    Rabaçal (Calheta)

    A viewpoint at Ponto, municipality of Calheta. It stands 1,214 m above sea level; the DROTe 2023 orthophoto shows a platform or a parking area there.

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