The Government of Madeira today started charging non-residents a fee of three euros on seven classified walking routes, a measure that will cover all recommended trails from January 2025.
“We have a two-phase process. Today we start charging on seven walks and as from the 1st of January 2025 all the other classified walking routes, under the management of the Regional Government, through the Institute of Forests and Nature Conservation will be a paid for experience,” explained the Regional Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Environment.
Rafaela Fernandes went to Pico do Areeiro, to mark the entry into force of the new ‘waste tax,’ charged from today to all tourists over 12 years old.
From January 2025, only residents are exempt from paying the fee, which will then be charged on the more than 30 classified routes under the management of the Institute of Forests and Nature Conservation (IFCN) of Madeira.
For now, the Pico do Areeiro footpath, the Pico Ruivo footpath, the Levada do Risco, the Caldeirão Verde Levada, the Balcões footpath, the Levada do Rei and the Ponta de São Lourenço footpath are on the list. With regard to the latter, all non-residents will be charged the new price of 3 euros instead of the previous 2 euros fee.
Rafaela Fernandes explained that the funds will be used to clean and maintain the routes and considered that the measure is well accepted by tourists, indicating that fines of up to 50 euros will be applied to those who do not pay.
“We are currently informing people of the new fees and two dozen collaborators will patrol the walks to inform walkers that they will now have to pay a fee.
Payment can be made through the Simplifica platform, managed by the Regional Government, or directly at the places where there are IFCN stations.
The Secretary of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Environment recalled that the Simplifica platform is already widely used by tourists to schedule various activities, such as diving.
The Simplifica platform can be accessed via: Portal de serviços – SIMplifica
You then need to go to ‘Ticketing’
Then choose the walk you wish to undertake, book your date (there seem to be 2,000 places per day) and the number of people in your party. Then press confirm. This will take you to another page which asks you to confirm group or single tickets, and personal information including your Residency number. From then on you will be taken to the payment page. (I cancelled my order on the personal information page). But the process seems simple enough.
The site is available in five different languages – Portuguese, English, French, German and Spanish. I only tried the English version.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
