Lagoa do Vento — Attraction in Calheta

Ok, want the real deal on where to go for this hike (Lagos do Vento) and the best way to do it? You’ve come to the right place…

Drive to the parking lot for the 25 fontes hike and find a parking spot. Yes, go here - don’t worry, it’s the right place You’ll see the parking slope down the hill to a paved road with a white barrier gate. The shuttle bus (5 euro one way, 8 euro return) stops here. Just before there (100 ft upill) you’ll see a map of hikes. You’ll see PR 6.3 hike, but it starts 2 km down the paved road past the barrier that the shuttle travels to Rabacal. You DONT want to do that, because you start at the bottom and go uphill much of the way (plus you walked 2km down a boring paved road for the privilege). Instead take the PR 6.2 hike, which starts at the barrier and paved road, but deviates almost right away to follow a lovely watercourse for 3.5km. That hike is easy, it’s shaded, pretty trees and foliage. At the 3.5km mark it will sign you for PR 6.3 (900m). Don’t follow 6.2 anymore, now you’re on the official shortcut to 6.3. The shortcut is downhill, is very well laid out with steps, but has a decent slope downward. It’s not difficult. When you see the faces of people coming “up” the shortcut, you’ll be very glad you’re going down. After 600m down you’ll cross the official 6.3 path down to the waterfall. Go down to the waterfall. It’s beautiful, not many people, lots of great places for photos. You can even swim (it’s cold!) You’ll have to walk up the 300m again to get to the trail, this is a bit t challenging, but just fine. Now, when you come back to the trail, you walk the official 6.3 path to Rabacal (about 1.5km). But it’s almost all the way downhill. (Again if you started at Rabacal, you’d be walk uphill). You’ll get to Rabacal and the cafe. Have a cold beer, gelato, pastel de nata, whatever… you’ve earned it! You could walk the 2km paved path back to the parking lot, but it’s uphill. Pay 5 euro for the shuttle, and you’re back at the barrier gate and your car!

Total route: Approx 5km or so, over a leisurely 3+ hours, but you’ve seen a ton, walked mostly downhill, and...

If you want maximum views for minimal effort (downhill instead of uphill hiking): Park your car at the carpark that is used for the 25 Fontes hike. Arrive in the afternoon and you will have no problem finding parking spots (no idea why everyone wants to hike per se in the morning). Go to the white barrier where the shuttle starts and take the 6.2 Hike. At first this is a flat hike by the levada. In a point go left and follow the signage direction 6.3 hike. This is steep downhill. Arriving down, go right to see the waterfall. Return and follow the 6.3 path leading you the the Rabacal café. Once arrived you can either walk back to your car by following the road, or take...

When we arrived at the parking lot we saw dozens of cars and we got scared, fearing the levada would have been too crowded. Thanks god most of hikers were directed to 25 fountains! Btw this hike is beautiful and not that much difficult if you look for the right information on the web: do not start from Rabaçal, please do the opposite path! While we were reaching the waterfall we saw several people climbing 300+ stairs towards us, experience that we didn't have ;))) we only had to go down these stairs, actually! When you reach Rabaçal, if you are tired you can hop on the comunal minibus (3 euros per person), that brings you back to the parking lot....