Sunrise Pico do Arieiro Hike on Madeira

One of the "must-do" hikes on Madeira is always cites as Pico do Arieiro Hike at sunrise, so of course we did it when we visited!  We jumped in the car at 4am and hit the road - be warned, it is a typical Madeira road!  It's dark, windy and super steep!  Plus, as it is a popular hike it can be quite busy (and therefore nerve wracking). 

One top tip, is don't follow the road all the way to the "official" car park right at the top of the peak UNLESS you just want to stay for the 30mins around sunset.  This is the restricted car parking, instead there is a dirt/rough car park at the bend below the peak which is where the hikers have to park! 

So the sunrise was really quite lovely, there are a number of view points and the views are crazy good!  Sunrise was absolutely lovely.  

However... I'm going to let you in on a secret... sunset is actually better!  As we have the "too much" gene, we had an inkling that sunset would be better so we decided to come back and hike more along the Pico to Pico route a few days later - stay tuned!