Vista do Rei - Sete Cidades - PR03 SMI

The official trail is linear, starts at the viewpoint Vista do Rei and ends in Sete Cidades. We did it a little different: We started in Sete Cidades at the café next to Lagoa Azul and went up to the edge of the caldera. The views get magnificent once you climbed up to the edge, around 300 meters above the lakes. On one side you look into the caldera, on the other to the Atlantic Ocean. We followed the trail in reverse direction to the Vista do Rei viewpoint. From there we went down an unpaved forest road to the ground of the caldera and back to Sete Cidades. And voilá, now it is a circular trail. Following our route, from the viewpoint Vista do Rei you need to go back around 50 m to where you came from. There the road down to Sete Cidades starts. Any bad to tell? Yes. We didn't mind about the farmer, who carried some milk churns on a trailer. There was only one. We got a little annoyed by several groups of tourists, who rode the trails with quads and left a lot of dust in the air. When we were there, a landslide had washed away the road down to Sete Cidades in one place, but it was possible to circumvent this part. Not sure whether it is possible to pass this part today. Someone should try to find out. Rui, are you there?