Kings Levada - São Jorge

We decided to book a levada walk with "Madeira Free Spirit Walks" company after reading great reviews both on Google as well as TripAdvisor. And we had a fantastic experience today walking along the King's levada PR18. Pick up was nice and early and punctual at 8.10am. Drive to the start of the walk was safe and smooth with our guide Alvaro and driver Gorge. Alvaro's fabulous sense of humour is something to be mentioned as it served so well as an ice-breaker and all throughout the walk to keep everyone's spirits high and remind of few safety rules along the way. The walk was not rushed, with frequent stops allowing the slower walking participants to catch up and listen to lots of interesting information about the different plants, trees, birds and history. We returned to our hotel at about 4pm so it truly felt like a full day outing. Highly recommended and we'd definitely book another walk with them. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

We had a wonderful time on our levada hike with Maria - she was a friendly, engaged and knowledgeable guide, and our seven-year-old daughter absolutely loved her [and has already requested that we go back to Madeira so we can go on more hikes with Maria]. The hike was easy enough, and well paced considering the terrain - there was no incline, but the path is quite narrow in parts. Maria set a good pace that made it easy for the group to stay together [our daughter is an experienced hiker and would have run ahead if we'd let her, but Maria did a great job of gauging energy levels and keeping a bit in reserve for the return journey], and knew so much about the flora, fauna and history of the walk - it never felt like we were there to just get to the spring and tick the box; we got to really experience this beautiful levada! Thank you so much to Maria and our driver - we hope to see you again when we come back!

We had Alvaro who was both our driver and our guide. Very engaging and experienced and we felt we were in good hands.

Very well organised with an excellent guide who gave most interesting information during the walk. Can highly recommend.

I went in a group of 8-10 participants and our highly knowledgeable guide Suzana. She knows a lot about the area, nature and the people who live there. In addition, she is very linguistic and switches rapidly between French and English. It was a lovely trip - worth all the money.

Alvaro was an excellent tour guide and had lots of interesting facts that he shared during our walk. We really enjoyed the hike and will absolutely try one of the other trips the next time we come to Madeira. The Walk it selv was quite flat and you’d have to siffer from severe vertigo or be in really bad shape if you have trouble with this Walk.

A day trip where we expected more. For a regular walker there is not much to challenge you. The scenery is random when the weather is poor, but that could a off-season problem? Like the rest of the Island there is not a lot of wildlife but the engineering of the levada remains impressive even if this particular walk is underwhelming. Shame really.

An easy, green route with voluptuous vegetation and some springs. The levadas present trouts swimming around! Suits for all people who like walking.

We had a fantastic day tour to Kings Levada with Alvaro - from start to finish everything was excellent. Pick up from our hotel was exactly on time and the journey from Funchal was about 45 minutes to Sao Jorge. We had some time before the start of the walk for a quick coffee and toilet stop, before starting the levada walk. It was raining when we started so we were very grateful for the use of Alvaro’s spare waterproof coats! Next time in Madeira we will pack our waterproofs! Along the walk Alvaro told us about local plants and wildlife, as well as ensuring we were safe and having a good time. It is 5.7km to the source of the levada where we had a stop for lunch (bring a drink and snack with you or buy from the cafe at the start), before heading back. It is about 4 hours walking in total and although fairly flat you do need to be fit.

Excellent day with Alvaro, our guide. His guiding was brilliant, even for my partner who "doesn't do guided trips". He was funny and informative in just the right amount. The walk was very enjoyable. Thank you.