There's a short, easy and very dramatic route up to Pico Ruivo's summit from the big car park at Teixeira, 3km east, where there's also an excellent new restaurant and cafe Abrigo da Heidi which serves great coffee and delicious Austrian-style cakes. Teixeira is an easy drive up mainly good roads from near Santana. The route up to the summit is almost entirely stone-paved and it's an easy and wide path with gentle gradients but some very dramatic views to both sides, particularly if the clouds are coming and going as they often do up in the mountains., and the views from the summit itself, in every direction, are truly stunning. There's even a government rest house just a few hundred metres from the summit for further refreshments if you need them, with a large sheltered terrace outside as well as seats inside. And from the summit or just below it there are also some much more challenging and rougher routes both west (to Encumeada) and south (to Pico Ariero) though both take 4-5 hours one-way and are not for the faint-hearted or those who suffer from vertigo..! A great walk and a huge pay-off for remarkably little effort

This is usually a stop on the tour of the west of the island and, cloud permitting, affords great views of the coast. I also understand that it is on a levada walk as well. If the cows are still in the vicinity be aware that they can be a bit grumpy