Fanal Forest

Fanal is a hollow on the north-western edge of the Paúl da Serra plateau at around 1,150 metres, grazed as pasture and studded with til trees - Ocotea foetens, one of the laurisilva species - that are among the oldest on the island, several centuries old, with broad crowns, hollow trunks and branches contorted by wind. They stand well apart on open grass rather than in closed forest, which is why they photograph the way they do. The plateau catches cloud almost daily, and when fog rolls through the hollow the trees appear and vanish, which is the image that made Fanal well known through photography and social media. It is reached by road and there is a car park, a campsite and short marked trails. On a clear day it is a field with old trees and cows; the fog is the point, and it cannot be booked.

The landscape

• The til trees - centuries-old laurels with hollow trunks and contorted branches.
• The fog - cloud rolling through the hollow, which is what people come for.
• The pasture - open grazed grassland rather than closed forest.
• The plateau edge - the north-western rim of Paúl da Serra at about 1,150 metres.

When to go

Year-round; fog is most likely early in the morning and in the cooler months. One to three hours. If it is clear, the effect people come for is absent.

Good to know

Entirely weather-dependent - on a bright day it is simply a field. Cold, wet and exposed when the cloud is in. The access road across Paúl da Serra is often fogged to a few metres, which is dangerous driving. Cattle graze freely; close gates.

Nearby

Porto Moniz and its pools are down on the north coast; Paúl da Serra runs east.