What IFCN’s register says today
Quoted from IFCN’s classified-routes register, updated July 24, 2026, and its notices feed, updated July 14, 2026. We read both on July 26, 2026.
Partially open
Passable on a revised line: a signed link to Ribeira das Cales runs by the Parque Ecológico interpretation centre, and the current route — Poço da Neve, Levada do Barreiro, Ribeira das Cales — is signed in both directions.
This is a dated quotation, not a live mirror. Closures here are set off by weather and by works, and they change between our checks — so the date above is the whole of the promise. Open the notices feed on the morning you walk.
What the register publishes
- 6.7 km, one way.
- Poço da Neve and Casa do Barreiro.
- Madeira
- Câmara Municipal do Funchal
The thing people get wrong about this route
It has been rerouted rather than reopened. IFCN describes a signed link to Ribeira das Cales by the Parque Ecológico interpretation centre, and the version signed in both directions runs Poço da Neve, Levada do Barreiro, Ribeira das Cales. Any GPX older than that sends you at a junction that no longer means what it used to.
What the register does not publish, for this route or any other
No difficulty grade, and no walking time. The official table has six columns — panel, code, name, distance, the places the route passes, its state and who manages it — and that is all of it. Durations exist on the physical panel at the trailhead; grades exist nowhere official at all. So a time or a “moderate” you read elsewhere came from a person, not from IFCN, and we do not repeat either.
IFCN publishes no difficulty grading for any Madeira trail. We checked three ways: the official register, the trail information panels, and the governing law — which contains no occurrence of the words for “difficulty” or “grade” at all.
Booking and fee
Outside the IFCN fee and booking regime, because Câmara Municipal do Funchal manages it rather than IFCN. Nothing to pay, nothing to book, and nothing to find on SIMplifica if you go looking.
Where every figure on this page came from
Distance, waypoints, state and managing entity are IFCN’s classified-routes register, updated July 24, 2026. Closure detail is IFCN’s notices feed, updated July 14, 2026. Fees are IFCN’s own fees FAQ. Nothing here is a blog’s summary of any of those.
IFCN classifies 42 routes: 39 on Madeira and 3 on Porto Santo. The numbering has gaps — there is no PR24, PR25 or PR26 — which is why counts copied from other sites disagree.