The Nuns Path hiking route (end)

It's not hard hiking but bit hard to find parking space form the bottom.
Its great path, you should do!
Great viewing.
Lizards is every where and its waiting for your food 😆.

Great view over this valley and town lots of great scenery.Short walk fron parking area. If drive down from viewpoint into village. Nice church to visit plus other buildings usual cafes and shops.

Very beautiful trail and surprisingly not crowded at all. It's pretty steep and quite exposed at times without any guardrail, but nothing to worry too much about. As others suggested, it's probably best to start at the bottom and leave the descent for the end. Max 2 hours for a round trip. Don't skip the viewpoint at the top.

This is the lower starting point of the Nun’s Path hiking route. There are several options for stopping by car nearby. The hiking route is well-developed, not too difficult. We did a round trip to the top and back (there is a bar and souvenir shop at the top). The hike took 70 minutes up and about 50 minutes down, at a comfortable pace, we stopped several times to take photos. The view is stunning, absolutely worth the walk. The only negative is that the name is misleading. We didn’t meet a single nun during the entire hike. 😁

The nuns went to the valley — which was later named after them — in 1566 to escape pirate marauders. I guess the nuns figured that if they can’t have any “fun”, they could at least have a great view. As for the pirates, you would have to “want” a nun really badly to follow them there. It’s not so easy to get there in the 21st Century. Imagine how hard it would have been in the 16th? It’s easier to get there today (bus or taxi) but I believe it is now a NFZ (nun-free zone). Sorry pirates. 🏴‍☠️ I’ve read a lot of incomplete, inaccurate, or unclear information about hiking down to the village from the bus route. The village is called Curral das Freiras. Here is how we did it. We took the 81 bus at 11am, which leaves from the cable car station in Funchal. It costs a few Euros, in cash, one way. Make sure the bus you take will be stopping at Eira do Serrado, which is a hotel, restaurant, and spa. If so, the bus will make a left turn off of the main road just before going into the tunnel leading to Curral das Freiras. The bus will go down the road a short distance until the road dead ends into the parking lot of the hotel. There’s a great gift shop there. There is also a scenic overlook, which you can reach by taking the developed path to the LEFT end of the hotel (if you are facing the hotel in the parking lot). It’s only a short distance. When you are ready to hike down to Curral das Freiras, walk to the RIGHT end of the hotel, where you will see a sign that says “Curral das Freiras”, with a symbol of hikers. The hiking path starts out as small cobblestones. It degrades along the way, but it is a clear path. Follow the switchbacks all the way to the bottom. It can be slippery but it is easy. There are a couple of overlooks along the way. The scary road you may see from the hotel, which hugs a cliff face, is NOT part of the path. It took us a little over an hour to hike to the village but Sarah’s bad knee was slowing her down. At the bottom, you will be on a paved road. Follow the road to the right, a short distance into town, where you will find lunch, a shop or two, and not much else. After lunch, we took the 81 bus back to Funchal, but you could also take a taxi, especially if you miss the last bus (check the schedule and plan accordingly). Note: we saw only one taxi waiting. The bus schedule is posted on a kiosk in the middle of town. If you don’t want to hike, just stay on the bus after the stop in Eira do Serrado, or take an 81 bus that doesn’t stop there at all. As for lunch, see my review of Sabores do Curral. YouTube’s Chef’s Apprentice