Pico do Arieiro to Pico Ruivo Tour - I booked a hike from Pico do Arieiro to Pico Ruivo and Achada do Teixeira with Nature Meetings and can fully recommend this tour provider! One day before the tour, I received a detailed message with my pick-up time, what to bring, contact details etc. The next day, Nature Meetings picked me up at the agreed time directly at my hotel and we drove straight up to Pico do Arieiro. There, we met our very cool guide and received detailed information about the route, rules and what to expect. As the hike is challenging, Nature Meetings offered to take less confident hikers to Achada do Teixeira by minivan to allow them to hike to Pico Ruivo from there. From Pico do Arieiro, we walked about three hours to Pico Ruivo. The hike is very challenging (you will cover about 1.000m in altitude) so you may want to go on a few easier routes to test your stamina beforehand. But our experienced local guide made sure that the group was made aware of especially challenging passages and gave us time for breaks and pictures, while giving plenty interesting information about the area, birds and plants/flowers that grow up on the mountains. Once we arrived at Achada do Teixeira, we hopped back on the minivans and were driven back to our hotels. While my legs tell me that I should never go on such a tour ever again, my heart is so full from the experience that I will surely never forget, the pain was completely worth it. I wholehearted recommend Nature Meeting and would choose them again if my legs forget that experience and my wanderlust kicks back in.

A challenging hike, but very much worth the hike. - We really enjoyed our trip with Rueben to Pico Arieiro and over to Pico Ruivo. Our driver and guided picked us up as planned and on time (All details were done through the Get My Guide app). Rueben was a wonderful host and very knowledgeable of our choosen hike (which does rquire a moderate to high level of fitness due to the steep climbs and the large amount of steps you climb) From native flowers, the burnt heather trees, the red-legged partridges and their chicks, spectacular views above the clouds, walking through tunnels carved through the mountains (have a torch ready, your phone torch will do the job, as there are lots of puddles and can be low in height), and the great sence of achievement once you reach the summit of Pico Ruivo is fantastic. Just a short distance before the summit there is a small shop/cafe and toilets (you need 50 cents to use the toilets at the beginning of your walk and at tnis rest stop) where you can purchase a cold drink and snacks. We sat and had our picnic at the summit and then walked back down to the cafe for a drink before heading off to return to our driver. We would highly recommend using a tour guide as they know the routes well and if you were to get into any difficultes they know how to deal with them. Make sure you have a good shoe/boot (a good pair of trainers is fine), a jumper/jacket (it can get very windy) a picnic and light snack, water, change for the toilets, sunlotion, sunhat/glasses, camera, tissues and handwipes, and most importantly, enjoy yourself - it's tough going in parts, but well worth the challange!

Beautiful walk, amazing guides! - Too windy to hike Pico de Aireiro to Pico Ruivo but still had an amazing day with Diago and Geronimo. They took us to Machico and we did a beautiful costal walk to Porto de Cruz. 100% recommend it was unreal. Obrigada Diago and Geronimo!

Challenging Walk through Madeira's highest mountains - Took a walk with Nature Meetings. We went from Pico do Arierio To Pico Ruivo then to Achada do Teixeira to our van, about 11 km. The guide was knowledgeable, organized and often funny. When the blurb says its a very challenging walk, they are not kidding. On our day, we were walking in the clouds for a lot of the time, and it was drizzling a good amount of the time. It was September, but it was often cold and windy, glad I had long pants, although I didn't use my jacket from my backpack. There is a lot of up and down in our walk, with the rain it was usually muddy and slippery on the rocks and pathways. The air is thin in the mountains, so what might be a difficult climb up a hill became that much more difficult here. My body sincerely hated me, but I'm very glad I did it.

Amazing experience - Highly recommend. Knowledgeable tour guide who took good care of the group. A strenuous hike but manageable for anyone with a decent level of fitness.

Great experience! - Amazing views, our guide (Narciso) made sure to take a lot of breaks and the whole group was together throughout the tour. Highly reccommend!

Hiking - We had a very good day Be careful, the hike is still quite difficult but it’s so pretty that it’s worth it. I enjoyed doing it accompanied by a guide

Better than Solo - The beginning was a bit slow - though the latter half the guide had us walk at our own pace, so it was nice getting a combo of both that and staying with the group. I felt much more confident knowing there was a guide and other people a part of the group than I would have felt going alone. Walking through the tunnels was really cool as well. Could have done without the poncha at the end, after such a long day would have rather just gone right back to the hotel, unless the tour covered the drinks as part of the experience

Fantstic view - We did the hike in lovely sunny weather 15. nov., and loved it. At times there was a queue on the path, this particularly applied to the ladders and some of the stairs. The guide was knowledgeable, but it was disappointing that he didn't inform us that we would not walk to the top of Pico Ruivo! We also think that the 20 minutes to enjoy an "after walk" drink is a little short time, and was surprised that the guide did not gather the group and take a summary of the trip.

You don't need a guide - I've started the morning by waiting 30 minutes to the pickup, I've called the office and got the answer: "they on their way just keep wating" not even an appology. The hike is well paved and we'll signed, there is no need of a guide, as I knew it already, I decided to join a guided tour for the knowledge I might gain from the guide, alas the guide was very unpleasant, his English was not good enough and not as expected from an English tour guide, I might even say the guide damaged my experience and enjoyment of the hike, the scenery was beautiful and the hike is well worth it. To conclude: the company is not recommend at all, the hike is extremely recommended