Curral das Freiras - Empenas

Empenas – One of Madeira's Most Demanding Hidden Hikes If you're looking for one of Madeira's most challenging and rewarding mountain adventures, Empenas is hard to beat. This is not just another hike to a viewpoint. It's a journey through forgotten mountain terrain, steep historical paths, and one of the island's most spectacular natural formations. It demands experience, good judgement, and respect for the mountain. But for those who are properly prepared, it offers an unforgettable adventure far away from Madeira's better-known trails. Let me show you what's actually up there. A valley you've probably already looked into If you've been on Madeira for more than a few days, you've stood at Eira do Serrado and looked down into Curral das Freiras. Everybody does it. The little village sitting at the bottom of a basin, peaks over 1,800 metres closing in on every side, clouds spilling over the rim in the afternoon. It's one of those views that makes people go quiet for a second. What almost nobody does is look up and wonder what's on those walls. Curral was cut off for centuries. The only way in or out was on foot, over steep passes that shepherds and farmers used to move animals and goods across the island. Some of those old traces are still there if you know where to look. Empenas sits in that world, above the village, in terrain that the tour buses and the levada crowd never see and were never meant to see. The climb The route leaves from one of the last roads in the valley and goes straight up. No warm-up, no gentle contour to ease you in. You're in the eucalyptus within a minute and breathing hard within five. The first couple of kilometres are just relentless uphill, and you'll be sweating through your shirt before you get your first proper look back down at the rooftops shrinking below you. Then the forest thins out and the trail (well, if you can still call it that) gets honest with you. Overgrown bushes that grab at your arms, loose ground underfoot, drop-offs where you really don't want to lose your footing. The line fades in and out. Sometimes you're following an old trace, sometimes you're just reading the mountain and picking the least-bad way through. Higher up, the route slips into a steep stream bed. Usually there's barely any water in it, but the rock is polished and slick, and you spend a long time zig-zagging up, choosing your hands and feet carefully. The whole upper section is loose. This is the part where it stops being a walk and becomes proper scrambling. One thing has changed, and it matters: as of June 2026, the fixed ropes are gone. Older trip reports describe using ropes on several sections to climb or descend safely. Don't plan around them. They're not there anymore, the terrain has shifted with erosion and growth, and a few sections don't look the way they used to. The Window The thing everyone comes for is the Window: two enormous rock walls leaning into each other high on the ridge, with a gap underneath you can actually walk through. Photos don't do the scale any justice. It really is a window, opening from one valley straight into the next, and standing under it with Curral dropping away below you is one of those moments Madeira keeps in its back pocket for people who put the effort in. It sits at roughly the halfway point of the full loop. From there the route carries on up toward the base of Pico Grande, and on a good afternoon the light pouring across that section is some of the best on the whole island. The way back down to the valley is long, steep and slippery—slow going, hard on the knees, but part of it follows the official PR route down from Pico Grande. Stand there once and you'll understand the name. For the numbers people: it's around 13 km for the loop and well over a vertical kilometre of climbing—roughly 1,150 metres up. Moving time isn't huge, but you won't be moving much of the time. Between the route-finding, the scrambling and the careful descent, a full day is normal. The Madeira We Actually Love I came here from Germany in 2021, and the longer I stay, the more I realise the island the brochures sell is only a small part of Madeira. The bigger part is the forgotten veredas, the passes the shepherds wore into the rock, the places with no café at the top and no queue for the photo. Empenas is one of those places. No infrastructure, no crowds, no signpost telling you you've arrived. Just a mountain that makes you work to understand it. There are easier hikes on Madeira. There are safer ones, and more famous ones, and we love plenty of them too. But very few leave you feeling like you actually earned the view the way this one does. Important Notes for This Hike This is one of Madeira's most demanding mountain hikes and should not be underestimated. You should have solid mountain hiking experience, feel comfortable on exposed terrain, and be confident with scrambling and route-finding. The terrain is steep, loose in places, and conditions can change quickly. A GPX track is a useful navigation tool, but it should never replace experience, good judgement, and respect for the mountain. As of June 2026, the fixed ropes described in older trip reports are no longer in place. Please do not rely on outdated information, and always assess current conditions before attempting this hike. This is a hike that deserves respect. If you're unsure, we strongly recommend joining a guided tour instead. If you prefer not to go alone, you can also book this and many other hikes as guided tours with Madeira Hiking via the website link. With Madeira Unlocked, you’ll even get 30% off.