I am going on the PR1 hike at Sunset on May 17th, which is also the day of the flower festival. We will be staying in the old town part of Funschal and plan on going to the festival. I believe it starts at 430pm, but not sure what time it goes to and what time we would need to leave to PR1 for the short round trip hike and if traffic will be a mess and or the roads are closed.
I noticed that when I am searching for timeslots on any hike, it shows as completely available for nonresidents, but only when I click in do I see they are booked out (at least in the AM hours) for several weeks in advance. I'm happy to pay the fee, but why did they have to make this so challenging and take all of the fun out of hiking 🫠. Based on what I've read online, it seems like as long as you book a ticket for the day of, you should mostly be good (worse case they might turn you away).
Leaving for Portugal in a few weeks and will be staying in Tomar for a night in-between Lisbon and Porto. However, I did not realize so much is closed. Is it worth keeping our reservation or should we switch to Obidos? I would've liked to stop in Obidos on the way to Tomar now that there isn't much to do, but there is nowhere to keep luggage securely. Any advice?