Pico do Arieiro: the peak you drive to, and what it now costs

What is up there

A road ends at 1,818 m, next to a radar station, a café with toilets and a viewpoint over the ridge. The Freira centre, named after the island's rarest seabird, sits on the same summit.

You'll see both spellings. Areeiro on the road signs and the forest service boards, Arieiro on most maps and tour listings. Same mountain.

Parking now costs money

The top car park has 70 spaces and charges €4 an hour, with the first 15 minutes free. The car park further down is €2 an hour. Residents pay the same as visitors.

For sunrise that's the cheap part of the morning. Get there before the sky lightens, because the 70 spaces go first and the rest of the queue parks along the road below.

Sunrise, and the cloud

The point of coming at dawn is the cloud layer, which usually sits below the summit and turns the ridge into islands. When the cloud sits above instead, you drive an hour and see grey.

The reading at the top of this page is the live observation from the summit station, next to Funchal's. A gap of ten degrees between the two is normal. The wind up here makes it feel colder still.

Our sunrise trips exist because the drive in the dark puts people off. If you have a car, you don't need one.

The walk to Pico Ruivo

PR 1 leaves the car park and runs 6.1 km along the ridge to Pico Ruivo, the highest point of the island. The board allows 3 hours by the west path and 3 hours 30 by the east.

It is not a flat ridge walk. You start at 1,857 m, drop to 1,491 m and climb again to 1,862 m, through tunnels and up steps cut into the rock.

The fee is €10.50 for the full route, or €4.50 as far as the Pedra Rija viewpoint. Under-12s and Madeira residents go free. Everyone books online on the SIMplifica portal. Check the status below before you drive: parts of this path close for repairs more often than any other on the island.

When to come

Early or late. The summit is at its emptiest before sunrise and after five, and the light is better at both ends.

Take a jacket whatever the forecast in Funchal says. It's a different climate up here, and the two numbers at the top of this page usually prove it.

Tours that stop here, and for how long

The trips we've published that stop at Pico do Arieiro, longest stop first. The time is how long that trip stays here, not how long the day is.

24 more published trips stop here for 45 minutes or less. Prices and ratings as of 21 September 2026. Ratings combine Viator and Tripadvisor. All 4x4 jeep tours of east Madeira → · All east Madeira day tours from Funchal → · All sunrise tours and guided hikes at Pico do Arieiro → · All Madeira tours that pick up outside Funchal →

Marked routes that start here

Status from the IFCN table of classified routes, re-read at every build and again in your browser. All routes with today’s status.