Madeira Fun Route Registry (MFRR)

One code for every trail on Madeira and Porto Santo. The registry lists 393 routes in five families, each with a short code that stays with it, like a house number for the mountains.

Also in: Deutsch · Español · Português

Identity, not access. A route listed here is not a recommendation, and being listed says nothing about whether it is open. Official signs, closures and IFCN rules always come first.

Five Families

Official Routes (43)
The Pequenas Rotas, marked and looked after by IFCN, Madeira’s forests and nature institute. The number is IFCN’s own, kept exactly as issued.
The list below
Royal Paths (7)
The Caminhos Reais: old stone roads that linked villages and ports long before cars. They keep their historic numbers.
The list below
Levadas (170)
Trails along the island’s irrigation channels that are not on the official PR list.
All levadas
Paths and Peaks (59)
Old footpaths, shepherds’ tracks, summits and waterfall trails: every trail that is not a levada.
All paths and peaks
Canyons (114)
Canyoning routes, for ropes, water and a guide. Each canyon has one number; its sections get a dot, in the order the water flows.
All canyons

How the Codes Work

The letters are the family. PR, CR, LEV, VER or CAN tell you what kind of route it is.

The first digit is the strip, west to east. For levadas, paths and canyons, the island is cut into eight strips from west to east, and Porto Santo is 9. The first digit of a three-digit code tells you which strip the route starts in. The line between strips 4 and 5 follows the Encumeada pass, from Ribeira Brava over to São Vicente.

Madeira in eight strips, west to east, and Porto Santo as 9.

Strip	Towns in it	Routes numbered
1 Far west	Ponta do Pargo, Porto Moniz, Calheta	46
2 West	Rabaçal, Madalena do Mar	30
3 West	Ponta do Sol, Seixal	36
4 Centre west	Serra de Água, São Vicente	46
5 Centre east	Campanário, Jardim da Serra, Ponta Delgada	35
6 East	Câmara de Lobos, Curral das Freiras, Boaventura	48
7 East	Funchal, Monte, Ribeiro Frio, Santana	51
8 Far east	Camacha, Porto da Cruz, Machico, Caniçal	47
9 Porto Santo	Porto Santo	4

Inside a strip, north to south. Numbers start at the north coast and count south in bands about 3 km deep; within a band they run west to east. A low number usually means a northern start.

Where it starts counts. A route belongs to the strip where it begins. For a canyon, that is where you climb in.

Stages and sections. A long trail split into stages gets one run of numbers and the last digit is the stage (Levada dos Tornos is LEV 751 to 756), even when later stages cross into the next strip. A canyon keeps one number; when it has sections, each gets a dot in the order the water flows (CAN 406.1 above CAN 406.2).

Official and heritage numbers stay theirs. PR routes carry IFCN’s own numbers, the same ones on the signs at the trailhead. Royal paths keep their historic CR numbers, as the Caminhos Reais association publishes them. One or two digits means an official or heritage number; three digits means an MFRR number.

A code stays with its trail. A number changes only if the trail itself changes, for example if its start moves. New routes take a free number in their own strip, so nobody else’s code has to move.

Official Routes (PR)

Numbers issued by IFCN, kept exactly as issued. Porto Santo’s read PS PR.

Royal Paths (CR)

Historic Caminho Real numbers, credited to the Caminhos Reais association.

Cite and Correct

Part of the Madeira Fun Route Registry, published and maintained by Madeira Fun (madeira.fun).

Madeira Fun Route Registry. Madeira Fun Route Registry, Madeira Fun, 2026. https://madeira.fun/routes

The registry records are licensed CC BY 4.0: reuse them with credit to the Madeira Fun Route Registry (madeira.fun). OpenStreetMap-derived facts stay under the ODbL, and IFCN and Caminhos Reais designations are credited to them.

Spotted something wrong or missing? Email mfrr@madeira.fun. A person reviews every correction before anything changes.