Towns & villages · 461 m above the sea
Curral das Freiras
A village folded into a collapsed volcanic crater, chestnuts on every menu.
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The place
Legend says nuns from a Funchal convent sheltered in this valley from pirate raids, and the name — Nuns' Refuge — stuck to a village so enclosed by peaks that it wasn't reachable by road until the 20th century. The chestnut groves that cling to the crater walls now define the local table.
When to come
Weekday midday, after the Eira do Serrado tour-bus crowd has moved on; October-November for the chestnut harvest.
Worth knowing
- Reached via a narrow one-lane tunnel road (ER107) down from Eira do Serrado
- In-village parking is limited and fills on weekends
- Bakeries sell chestnut bread and cake (bolo/pastel de castanha) — bring cash for the small ones
- Roads in are narrow and switchbacked — go slow, not a route for speed
- Two experiences: the viewpoint above, and the village below
- The road down is a series of tight hairpins and tunnels
- Chestnut festival in November