Empenas Hike In Nun’s Valley To The ‘Window’

The Empenas hike is a challenging ascent in Nun’s Valley to reach a small passageway between two huge rock walls, which is known as ‘The Window’. The route involves lots of bouldering, using safety ropes, and over a vertical kilometer of climbing as you navigate your way up the steep, crumbly cliff-side.

HOW TO GET TO THE EMPENAS HIKE

The Empenas hike begins deep within Nun’s Valley basically at the final part of the road there is a parking lot. You can find that on my map link above but because this route is very dependent on local knowledge, there isn’t a possibility to name every turn for you. I did this hike with Madeira Lés a Lés, which is a hiking group that does off-the-beaten-path adventures every Saturday.

My hiking guide: Also on this hike was my local guide (also a great friend) called João. He’s lived in Madeira his whole life and knows all of the unique trails (not just the popular ones). This trail requires some local knowledge for the directions so I recommend a guide. Want to contact João to be your guide for this hike or any of the hikes I’ve done on Madeira? You can contact him on Instagram here: João Let’s Hike or by email: [email protected]

MY EXPERIENCE ON THE EMPENAS HIKE

So many of the great hikes on Madeira begin in the depths of Nun’s Valley. There seem to be endless possibilities to rise out of Curral das Freiras and join incredible ridges or reach remarkable viewpoints. Today was no different although we had a specific landmark in mind for or target of the day. The Empenas hike leads you up a difficult series of steep ravines to reach ‘The Window’ at the top of the ridge. The window is two huge rock walls that lean on each other, giving hikers a chance to pass underneath.

The trail begins from the road in Nuns’ Valley and immediately heads straight up the hill through the Eucalyptus trees with an aggressive slope. You will be out of breath quickly as the first couple of kilometers is a relentless climb.

After emerging from the plantations, you will now have to contend with overgrown bushes and an off-the-beaten path experience. Narrow pathways, sharp bushes, unstable ground, and high drop-offs confront you in this section before you meet the first of many rocky sections that require a rope for a safer descent.

That is the ‘warm-up’ done and it’s time to get into the real action. After a few kilometers, the trail joins a very steep stream, which is usually only with a slight amount of water unless it’s raining or after a big storm. The trail is therefore slippery, rocky, and at times quite hard to move at a good pace. There were many decisions to be made as we zig-zagged our way up the cliff by following the path made from water. Every now and again, we used the ropes to help safely climb up a rocky wall but for the most part, it was old-fashioned scrambling.

The higher we climbed, the more unstable the rocky surface became. In our big group, we had to take extreme care not to dislodge any rocks and have them fall on our team members below us. This was very hard when the terrain at times was almost entirely loose rocks.

The final push up the cliff-side gave us some incredible views looking back towards Nun’s Valley. The clouds swirled around us but every so often they would clear enough to show us Pico Ruivo in the distance. From the drone, I could see ‘The Window’ clearly on the ridge above us, but we still had some work ahead of us to get there.

Reaching ‘The Window’ was a bit surreal. It was much bigger than I expected and was truly a window to the next valley. A slippery final section was all that remained before we could stand under the archway, at what was the halfway point of the journey. It’s a unique rock formation and definitely something unique to visit on Madeira Island.

After passing through the window, the journey now leads us up to the base of Pico Grande. With incredible late afternoon light flowing onto the trail, it was one of my favorite sections of the route.

The final section of the trail leads you back down from Pico Grande to the base of Nun’s Valley. Along the way, you will pass a section of trail I like to call the Machu Picchu of Madeira. With ancient stone walls and an incredible backdrop of mountains surely you can see how it got this name.

The loop is completed once you make it down back into Nun’s Valley and that is the Empenas hike done. I hope you enjoyed that one and stay safe out there on the trails.

WONDERING ABOUT WHERE TO STAY ON MADEIRA?

Throughout my six months on Madeira Island, I stayed in multiple accommodations. My favorite regions to stay in were Funchal and Canico de Baixo. I’ve created several guides to help you find the right region for you and a great hotel or apartment.

• The ultimate guide: WHERE TO STAY ON MADEIRA: WHICH REGION IS RIGHT FOR YOU?
• If you want luxury: BEST 5-STAR LUXURY HOTELS ON MADEIRA ISLAND
• To feel at home: TOP 10 BOUTIQUE HOTELS ON MADEIRA ISLAND
• If you want to base in Funchal: WHERE TO STAY IN FUNCHAL: 15 TOP-RATED HOTELS

HAVE YOU READ MY OTHER MADEIRA BLOGS?

I spent six months exploring Madeira and the nearby island of Porto Santo. These are some of my most popular guides about the region that you may be interested in.

• My favorite hikes: 65 AWESOME HIKES ON MADEIRA
• My favorite levada walks: 25 BEAUTIFUL LEVADA WALKS ON MADEIRA
• The best waterfalls on the island: 25 EPIC WATERFALLS ON MADEIRA
• Guide to the best Accommodation: WHERE TO STAY ON MADEIRA
• Hardest hike: THE MADEIRA ISLAND ULTRA TRAIL IN 4 DAYS (115KM)
• Longest hike: CAMINHO REAL 23: MADEIRA’S ROYAL PATH (180KM)