Altitudes 1Introduction and lower altitudes
Altitudes
A list of heights above sea level of many points in the Madeira archipelago, from streets in Funchal to the summit of Pico Ruivo (1861 m), arranged in ascending order to show the island's rugged relief.
1Introduction and lower altitudes
Below we give a brief account of the heights above sea level at which various points in this archipelago lie. As this work proceeds, we hope to give other altitudes not mentioned here, as the needs of each subject require. Of the altitudes ranging from close to the ocean up to the highest summit in Madeira, Pico Ruivo (‘russet peak’), we give a note of the principal high points in ascending order. This shows how rugged the ground that makes up the soil of this island is, over an area of less than 800 square kilometres, and the capricious relief that the orographic conditions present across the whole length and breadth of the island.
Avenida – City 10; Rocha de São Lourenço – Porto Santo 11; churchyard (Adro) of the Colégio – C. 16; Avenida de João de Deus – C. 23; Campo de Miguel Bombarda – C. 25; Ponte Nova – C. 26; church of São Pedro – C. 35; Largo de São Paulo – C. 44; beginning of Rua do Pina – C. 47; Rua de Severiano Ferraz – C. 47; parish (freguesia) church of São Vicente 48; Furilhão – a small islet near Ilhéu Chão (‘flat islet’), in the Desertas 49; Torreão factory – C. 58; Calçada do Pico (Quinta (country estate) das Cruzes) – C. 59; beginning of the Caminho do Monte (old church of the Incarnação) – C. 59; the church of St Lucy (Santa Luzia) – C. 70; entrance to the lazaretto – C. 70; Quinta do Vale Paraíso (Torrinha) – C. 70; church of São João – C. 76; Ilhéu da Fonte da Areia – Porto Santo 82; Ilhéu Chão – Desertas 93; Ilhéu de Fora – Porto Santo 100; Quinta do Descanso – Santa Luzia – C. 100; Ribeiro Seco – Caminho de São Martinho 102; Caminho da Achada – Beco do Paiol – C. 105; Ilhéu de Fora – Ponta de São Lourenço 107; Ilhéu das Cenouras – Porto Santo 109; Ilhéu de Cima – Porto Santo 111; Cruz do Carvalho – C. 111; chapel of Our Lady of Pity (Piedade) – Caniçal 114; Ilhéu de Ferro – Porto Santo 115; Ribeiro Seco, on the Caminho do Pilar – São Martinho 117; Garajau 128; Quinta Blandy – Rua de Santa Luzia – C. 134; Caminho da Achada – Azinhaga de São Pedro 148; Pico de São João 158; Quinta do Pico de São João – Caminho de Santo António 162; Levada de Santa Luzia – next to Avenida Pedro José de Ornelas 165; Levada de Santa Luzia, Caminho de Ferro 170; Ilhéu de Baixo or da Cal – Porto Santo 173; Quinta do Faial – Caminho do Palheiro 174; Levada de Santa Luzia – next to Rua do Arcebispo D. Aires 180; Pico do Calhau da Malhada – Porto Santo 182; Caminho do Meio – next to the Levada do Bom Sucesso 185; Terra do Batista – parish of Porto da Cruz 230; old parish church of São Martinho 233; Pico do Funcho – São Martinho 255; Pico da Cruz – São Martinho 263; Pico do Facho da Malhada – Porto Santo 265; Pico de Ana Ferreira – Porto Santo 278; parish church of Santo António do Funchal 287; parish church of São Jorge 310; parish church of Sant’Ana 312; Ponta do Tristão – Porto Moniz 326; Pico do Facho – Machico 329; parish church of São Roque do Funchal 344; Capela das Neves – São Gonçalo 380; Ilhéu do Bugio – Desertas 411; Pico das Favas – Ponta do Pargo 420; Pico Branco – Porto Santo 423
Parish church of Estreito de Câmara de Lobos 434; Pico do Cardo – Santo António do Funchal 438; Pico do Castelo – Porto Santo 441; Pico de Juliana – Porto Santo 455; parish church of Ponta do Pargo 460; Deserta Grande – in the Desertas 490; Pico da Gandaia – Porto Santo 492; Pico da Relva – Porto Moniz 493; Pico do Facho – Porto Santo 507; Capela de Santa Madalena – Porto Moniz 620; parish church of Achadas da Cruz 521; Pico do Cortado – Sant’Ana 527; parish church of Prazeres 533; parish church of Fajã da Ovelha 549
2Higher altitudes up to Pico Ruivo
Mirante das Macelas – Santo da Serra 582; Penha de Águia – Porto da Cruz 584; Cruz da Caldeira – Câmara de Lobos 589; Cabo Girão 589; parish church of Monte 598; Portela – Santo da Serra 610; Raposeira do Lugarinho – Fajã da Ovelha 619; Pico do Castanho – north of Caniçal 627; Quinta do Palheiro Ferreiro 630; springs of the Tornos 700; parish church of Santo da Serra 701; parish church of Camacha 715; Lamaceiros – Santo da Serra 716; Ribeiro Frio 750; Jardim da Serra 750; crater of Santo da Serra 755; Pico de Larano – Porto da Cruz 765; Pico da Maia – Serra do Porto da Cruz 765; Quinta do Jardim da Serra 769; bridge on the descent to Ribeiro Frio 830; Pico do Arco de São Jorge 837; Terreiro da Luta – Monte 850; Pico da Cruz – Câmara de Lobos 936; Pico da Cruz – Campanário 1000; Rabaçal tunnel – near the Ponte do Lordelo 1004; Eira do Cerrado – Curral das Freiras 1026; Pico do Suna – Porto da Cruz 1040; Encumeada de São Vicente 1045; bridge over the Ribeira das Cales – Monte 1098; crater of the Fanal 1113; Rabaçal – Public Works house 1132; Pico dos Bodes – overlooking Curral das Freiras 1135; Pico do Arrebentão – Monte 1171; Pico da Silva – above Choupana 1183; Pico Gordo – not far from Monte das Estrebarias 1199; Pico dos Bodes – Serra da Ribeira da Janela 1302; Cova da Cevada – near Jardim da Serra 1311; Boca dos Côrregos – between Curral das Freiras and Serra de Água 1349; Poiso 1390; Pico do Poiso 1393; Pico dos Terreiros de Fora 1405; Pico da Urze – not far from the springs of Rabaçal 1406; Pico das Abóboras – Serra da Camacha 1453; Boca das Torrinhas – between Curral das Freiras and Boaventura 1451; Pico da Lagoa – near Poiso 1457; Pico do Poço da Neve – not far from Pico do Areeiro 1478; Casa da Queimada – the Paul da Serra 1543; Pico da Fonte do Norte – the Paul da Serra 1546; Pico da Fonte da Bica – the Paul da Serra 1565; the Paul da Serra (average) 1580; Pico dos Estanquinhos – on the Paul da Serra, not far from the mountain shelter 1,588; Pico Ruivo do Paul da Serra 1587; Pico Grande – in the uplands of Serra de Água 1643; Pico do Canário – not very far from Pico Ruivo 1661; Pico do Cidrão – to the south of and not far from Pico das Torrinhas 1676; Pico de Santo António – near Curral das Freiras 1739; Cumeada Alta – near Pico Ruivo 1768; Pico do Areeiro – not far from and to the east of Pico do Cidrão 1796; Pico das Torrinhas – near Pico Ruivo 1840; Pico das Torres – not very far from Pico Ruivo 1848; Pico Ruivo 1861
In this article
Place
Places mentioned · 13- Bugio
Santa Cruz · Desertas. Listed at 411 m.
Bugio is the southernmost of the three Desertas islands: high (411 m), waterless and uninhabited, with good pasture and the rare plant Chrysanthemum haematomma. The Elucidário notes the Porto da Alagoa, the Ponta da Agulha, sub-fossil snail deposits on its summit and its private ownership in the nineteenth century.
- Cabo Girão
Câmara de Lobos. Sea cliff listed at 589 m.
Sheer sea cliff about 600 m high (listed at 589 m) and a recommended viewpoint. Its cliffs contain dykes, and it is one of only two places where C. dissectum grows. A rockfall from it killed Henrique Alemão in his boat.
- Deserta Grande
Santa Cruz · Desertas. Listed at 490 m.
The largest island of the Desertas, 490 m high, seasonally visited by hunters, fishers and orchil gatherers. The steamer Lagos ran aground there in 1902, and it was visited by the Prince of Monaco in 1888 and by the Dana scientists. Its landing at Carga da Lapa is 21.5 miles from Funchal.
- Encumeada
São Vicente. Pass listed at 1045 m.
Mountain pass at 1045 m on the southern boundary of São Vicente parish, where the São Vicente stream rises. It is crossed by roads 25 and 26 and the new north road, and was to be the eastern end of the projected Paul da Serra road. A meteorological station was set up there in June 1941.
- Ilhéu Chão
Santa Cruz · Desertas. Listed at 93 m.
The Ilhéu Chão is the smallest, flattest and northernmost of the three uninhabited Desertas islands, 93 m high and 19 miles from Funchal to its landing at the porto de Santa Maria. It is the only known home of the endemic grass Lolium lowei, and it once belonged to the captains of Funchal.
- Paul da Serra
Ponta do Sol. Plateau with mean altitude 1580 m.
The Paul da Serra is the only extensive plateau on Madeira, lying at about 1,500 m across four municipalities, where temperatures can fall to freezing. The Rabaçal and Risco springs, the Ribeira da Tabua and the Ribeira da Janela rise at its edges, and it feeds the main levadas. The Elucidário records its vegetation, agricultural trials, shelter houses, sheep-shearing gatherings, common-land use and an unfinished road project.
- Penha de Águia
Santana. Listed at 584 m.
Truncated-pyramid sea cliff nearly 600 m high on Madeira's north coast, praised for giving its name to a valley of unrivalled beauty. Stuebel considered it the remnant of a destroyed secondary crater, and its seaward face shows double dykes. It is a breeding site of the boieiro and gave its name to an entail.
- Pico do Areeiro
Câmara de Lobos. Listed at 1796 m.
The Pico do Areeiro is a peak in Madeira's central mountains, listed at 1,796 m, with snow pits surviving nearby. It was the site of Guilherme Teles de Meneses's observations, of the 1895 mountain house and of the later, eventually abandoned, Areeiro meteorological station. It is also a breeding site of the boieiro (Puffinus anglorum).
- Pico do Facho
Porto Santo. Porto Santo's peak listed at 507 m.
This Pico do Facho is the highest mountain on Porto Santo, at 500 m, in the north of the island.
- Pico Ruivo
Santana. Highest point of Madeira, 1861 m.
Highest peak of Madeira, standing on the rim of the main crater and given as 1,861 m in one list and 1,950 m in another. Its height was measured by several expeditions, including those of Ross and Hochstetter. It is the source of the Ribeira do Faial.
- Poiso
Santa Cruz. Listed at 1390 m.
The Poiso is an upland site in Madeira's interior, listed at about 1,390–1,414 m, on road 24 and near Chão das Feiteiras, the Alagoas plateau and the Areeiro. It was an interior astronomical station, and weather observations were made there, including by Guilherme Teles de Meneses and of the winds in 1894. The Ribeira de João Gomes and the Ribeira do Porto Novo rise in its area.
- Ribeiro Frio
Santana. Listed at 750 m.
Ribeiro Frio is an inland locality at 750 m, about 15 km from Funchal, famed for its scenery, laurel and heath woodland and rare plants, including holly and Euphorbia mellifera. Its stream is a tributary of the Ribeira do Faial and feeds the Levada do Furado and the state levada irrigating Porto da Cruz. It lies on road 24 and has a rain-gauge post.