PR1 Sunrise Pico do Arieiro Self-Guided Hiking Transfer

Arrogant guide, no clear instructions and rushed us to start and did not log people on and off the trip and seemed to have no idea about who was on it. If you value your enjoyment and safety – use another company. There are numerous companies offering the same trip, so I’d suggest using one of those instead. We sent this complaint to the company and despite being told that it would be followed up, we heard nothing back, so we guess they just thought we’d go away. Firstly… the good points of our trip with them… We were kept informed very well prior to our trip via their messaging platform and Marco, who collected us was polite, informative and punctual, so a great experience. However, the behaviour of your employee Christiano, who we found to be rude, arrogant and passive aggressive. The briefing we received by Christiano was, we felt, very quick and a lot of information to take in (especially at 6am!). There was mention of crossing multiple trails on PR3, so that detail was very important. I asked a question during this briefing which was simply, “That’s a lot of information to take in. Is it written down somewhere? “. At this point he responded very aggressively in front of the whole group and berated me for interrupting, insisted on taking my name and told me to go wait over there whilst he continued. I’m not a child, so this sort of treatment for a simple and valid question was completely unacceptable. I refused to move away- otherwise I would not know the briefing details. Worth pointing out as well ,that although it was in English, not everyone in the group were completely fluent in English. Christiano then spoke quite aggressively and told us that he had been doing this for 3 years with no complaint. I responded by saying that it wasn’t a complaint, just a genuine request, but he was very hostile. He may have been doing this for 3 years, however the group had not done this before. My wife, asked if the trails were clearly marked (as we had to cross over more than one trail). Again, a valid question, but this was met with the response, “If you stop interrupting me and listen you would know the answer”, which is completely unacceptable!! He also told the group that we needed to get to the end by 12pm or they would leave us behind and we’d have to get a taxi. Wow, thanks for that. So you’ll just leave people then?! The only safety instruction we received was to call them if we had issues. Now, this assumes there was phone signal throughout, and not everyone has roaming call & data plans and may rely on a Wi-Fi connection so whilst on trail, that is unlikely to be the case and without a proper safety and emergency strategy, then they might not be able to call or text. At the end of the trail, there were 3 girls in our party who had not yet completed and Marco and Christiano asked if anyone knew where they were. Neither seemed to know what their names were or any contact details. Fortunately, they did eventually arrive, so everyone was back safely. In summary, we found Christiano’s behaviour and attitude throughout completely unacceptable and a very poor ambassador for them My wife and I are accomplished trail marathon runners, with 45 trail marathons we understand importance of a pre-trail briefing and safety instructions and of course logging people on and off and these risky practices and poor attitude are unacceptable. Don’t recommend.

Henrique our driver was top! Nice quiet explanation, on time.

Incredibly beautiful hike!!! It truly was the experience of a lifetime! Our guide/driver was so nice and helpful! Highly recommend!!!

Really friendly driver. Amazing hike. And very convenient, with drop off at the start of the hike, and pick up at the end. This was parcticuly useful given difficulty parking, being able to access the top car park without worry. Perfect timing for sunrise. Overall a wonderful experience.

Great service, Pedro was excellent. Arrived in xactly on time for pick up, he provided some great tips for the hike, and made sure we all got back to Funchal on time.

Firstly… the good points:- We were kept informed very well prior to our trip via your messaging platform. Marco, who collected us was polite, informative and punctual, so a great experience. The briefing we received by their guide, Christiano was, we felt, very quick and a lot of information to take in (especially at 6am!). There was mention of crossing multiple trails on PR3, so that detail was very important. I asked a question during this briefing which was simply, “That’s a lot of information to take in. Is it written down somewhere? “. At this point he responded very aggressively in front of the whole group and berated me for interrupting, insisted on taking my name and told me to go wait over there whilst he continued. I’m not a child, so this sort of treatment for a simple and valid question was completely unacceptable. I refused to move away- otherwise I would not know the briefing details. Worth pointing out as well ,that although it was in English, not everyone in the group were completely fluent in English. Christiano then spoke quite aggressively and told us that he had been doing this for 3 years with no complaint. I responded by saying that it wasn’t a complaint, just a genuine request, but he was very hostile. He may have been doing this for 3 years, however the group had not done this before. My wife, Catherine asked if the trails were clearly marked (as we had to cross over more than one trail). Again, a valid question, but this was met with the response, “If you stop interrupting me and listen you would know the answer”, which was so very rude and unnecessary as a response. He also told the group that we needed to get to the end by 12pm or they would leave us behind and we’d have to get a taxi. We think there are better ways to express the importance of completing on time than just saying we are going to leave you., The only safety instruction we received was to call them if we had issues. Now, this assumes there was phone signal throughout, which we didn’t know. Also, not everyone has roaming call & data plans and may rely on a Wi-Fi connection so whilst on trail, that is unlikely to be the case and without a proper safety and emergency strategy, then they might not be able to call or text. At the end of the trail, there were 3 girls in our party who had not yet completed and Marco and Christiano asked if anyone knew where they were. Neither seemed to know what their names were or any contact details. Fortunately, they did eventually arrive, so everyone was back safely. In summary, we found Christiano’s behaviour and attitude throughout completely unacceptable and a very poor ambassador for your company. People’s lives are at risk here if there are any issues, so he did not make us feel confident or prepared.

Very nice hike, very kind driver, lots of instructions, but make sure you have the right time on your park entrance ticket because you will have to wait your turn to check with the guide.

Great communication great day out - flexibility also on arrival times back to bus. Pedro was a great guy and got the group talking which was super …………….

Smooth transfer to the hike and back. Pedro our driver was really nice and friendly. Perfect for a stress free experience!

It’s self-guided tour but the driver offered excellent guidance prior to the trail. We did the partial hike as it wasn’t open and completed PR. 3 after.