Monte to Bom Successo

This 4km walk takes you from Monte to the remains of the Levada do Bom Successo, close to the Botanical Garden. It is an almost continuous descent of around 380m of which the majority is on irregular and rather slippery steps which can be awkward to navigate.

The initial part of the trail is shared with the walk that goes across to Curral dos Romeiros.

From the Monte cable car terminal (to Funchal), walk towards the other terminal (for the Botanical Garden). The path will split with part going downhill - this is the route you should follow (on the right in the picture below).

Shortly after you've passed over a stone bridge, the trail forks again and you need to take the downward path signposted towards Bom Successo.

Note the weather warning - in dry weather the dusty path is slippery enough, in wet weather it can be slippier still and parts may be washed away or impassable.

The subsequent path of the trail can be seen on the map below.

The path begins with a deceptively level and even path, but rapidly turns into an almost continuous and uneven staircase which is surprisingly hard on the leg muscles!

The trail is almost entirely within woodland with very little to see apart from the cable cars passing overhead and the João Gomes Bridge of the Via Rápida in the distance.

As you approach the end of the walk, the remains of the Levada do Bom Successo come into view - and the noise from the Via Rápida becomes more apparent.

The path now follows the former levada and is quite narrow in places.

Originally constructed in the 1850s, only the very final section remains in use for its original purpose, the rest is entirely abandoned, the lower section being buried under the Estrada Visconde Cacongo,formerly known as the Caminho da Levada do Bom Sucesso.

From the levada, you can get a good view of the Riberia de João Gomes, one of Funchal's three principal rivers.

The scale of the concrete barriers demonstrates the potential volume of flood water the river can experience.

As the trail comes towards an end, Funchal comes into view.

Now with flowing water, the path runs behind some houses before joining the Rua Doutor António Costa which joins the main road where you will find buses or can walk down into Funchal.

Getting there

To get to the start of this walk, see the page on Monte.

Apart from the parking close to the Botanical Garden, the only parking in the immediate vicinity of Bom Successo is on-street - and the streets are very narrow!

A large number of both urban and inter-urban buses stop on the main road.

The end of the trail is at an elevation of 200m and the walking distance to the cable car terminal in Funchal (Avenida do Mar) is around 2.2km.