São Miguel insider tips: 15 hidden treasures on the Azores island

📝 About the Author: Matthias

Matthias is an experienced travel expert and founder of travel-du.de. He has been exploring various countries around the world for 20 years and shares many valuable tips from his travels here, accompanied by authentic pictures and videos based on personal experience and thorough research.

Because São Miguel is so great, I have already visited this jewel of the Atlantic twice and therefore had the time to discover some places that not every visitor necessarily knows and that aren’t in every travel guide.

Most of the São Miguel insider tips can be found in the more remote north and north-east of the island, but there are also a few hidden highlights in other areas of São Miguel.

You won’t meet many people at the Praia do Violo beach near Lomba da Maia, as you first have to walk 2 kilometres along the coast to reach it – and then of course back again. Not many people do that.

Drive through the small village of Lomba da Maia past the Miradouro do Tio Domingos and back downhill to the car park with the appropriate name “Parking to Viola Beach” (on Google Maps).

From there, a hiking trail leads past a waterfall and a few old ruins along the coast. You can also park at the top at Miradouro do Tio Domingos. From there, however, you have to walk down the tarmac path to the starting point of the hiking trail itself.

On arrival, a rugged beauty with clear turquoise water and grey pebbly sand awaits you. There are no changing cabins or toilets directly on this natural beach.

If you are ever in the area near Lomba da Maia, I recommend exploring the coastal hiking trails here. In my opinion, one of the most beautiful hiking trails in São Miguel leads along the car park at Miradouro do Tio Domingos. These are actually 2 so-called Trilho Municpal (municipal paths), but you don’t have to walk both of them completely, just the most beautiful sections.

You start at the Trilho da Barquinha path, which first leads you along the steep coast, past the Miradouro do Eira, and then back down into the valley. You will pass a few ruins along the way until you reach a crossroads by the river. Here, instead of continuing along the Trilho da Barquinha, you walk along the coast up the mountain.

At the top, pass a few curious cows along the church road until you reach a crossroads, which then leads you back into the jungle and down into the valley in a serpentine path. There you will pass an old mill (signposted “Moinhos Watermills”). This is a great place for a picnic

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Follow the path from the start back to the car park. The whole route takes about 2 to 3 hours.

This avenue along a dirt track is probably the most beautiful street in Portugal.

Seemingly countless olive-white spotted trees line the path here. Their arching crowns almost make it look as if a green tunnel is cutting its way through the landscape. Blue-flowering hydrangeas grow between them in summer.

The trees are platans, whose green-yellow leaves are reminiscent of maples. There are around 600 of them on the Alameda dos Plátanos. This type of tree can grow up to 30 metres high and live for several hundred years.

A small, inconspicuous road branches off at the bridge that crosses the Ribeira do Guilherme river. You should also take this turn-off to visit the botanical garden under the bridge. There is no entrance fee and the many Strelizias flowers next to the waterfall are a feast for the eyes.

Next to the park is also an old ruin with an old lime kiln (Forno de Cal) overgrown with green ferns and mosses, which is well worth exploring.

To speed across the north of the island, you can drive along the EN1 motorway. If you have more time, however, I recommend taking the curvy route along the EN4-2. It starts at the Ribeira dos Caldeirões botanical garden and then leads through many idyllic Azorean villages and jungle sections to Lomba da Maia.

Along this leisurely route, you will also pass many of the sights on this list.

The Cascata das Lombadas is one of the most beautiful waterfalls on the island for locals, but also probably the most difficult to reach. If you don’t have a whole day to spare, it’s best to just take a look at it from a distance – from the Miradouro Lombadas e Cascata das Lombadas.

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The path there is very difficult and dangerous if you are not experienced in climbing and physically fit. It is also easy to get lost here as there is no real path. From the car park in Vale das Lombadas at the end of the road, it’s an easy 60-minute descent through the jungle to the waterfall.

It’s no secret that there are pineapple plantations on São Miguel. Nor is it a secret that you can visit them as a tourist. But not everyone knows that you can get a free pineapple schnapps and pineapple jam to try at one of the 3 plants open to tourists – at the Plantação de Ananás dos Açores.

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Even at the famous botanical garden Ribeira dos Caldeirões, there is still a spot that is not visited by too many people.

To reach the Cascata dos Caldeirões, you don’t have to enter the garden at the main entrance, but walk past the first waterfall opposite the road, always following the narrow path upwards.

The Poço Azul is a beautiful blue lagoon where you can swim if you’re not afraid of cold water. If it has rained a lot, there is also a small waterfall here.

A natural bridge has formed over the Poço Azul, through which the light shines like a laser on sunny days. The Poço Azul is located near Achadinha. You can leave your car in the village and follow the hiking trail through the jungle.

North of Ponta Delgada, on a rather lonely road, this huge dish suddenly appears on the horizon – it’s the satellite dish of the CPRM Satellite Control Centre.

Between the 17th and 18th centuries, this aqueduct, now overgrown with moss and ferns, was built on São Miguel to channel water from the higher regions to Ponta Delgada. There are several areas where you can still discover the remains of this historic construction.

Don’t forget your swimming trunks or bikini if you’re travelling to this beautiful, wild sandy beach on the steep east coast. Take the signposted turn-off all the way down to the car park. From there, walk through the jungle to the beach.

Everything here is a bit overgrown. Small lizards crawl along the rocks everywhere and the local sanitary facilities have certainly seen better days. But that’s exactly what gives this beach its special flair. What’s more, you won’t encounter many other visitors – especially not during the week.

Before you say goodbye to Praja do Lombo Gordo, shake out your shoes again. The little lizards here on the beach are really curious fellows.

By the way: the sun no longer shines here in the late afternoon, as it has already disappeared behind the steep cliffs. You should therefore visit the beach in the morning.

The Salto do Prego near Faial de Terra, and especially the hike there, is one of the highlights on Sao Miguel. However, there is another waterfall nearby that few people visit.

Just before Salto do Prego, there is a small branch off in the direction of Salto do Cagarrão. This is also worth a hike, but it is another 1.9 kilometres there and back, for which you should plan an extra 1.5 hours.

The Praia da Pedreira is another great beach on the island. It is somewhat hidden between two steep cliffs in the village of Água de Alto. To the east of the beach, next to the car park, a road leads south. From there, a steep staircase leads down to the beach.

At the start of the PR 39 hiking trail to Lagoa do Fogo at the car park, a narrow path leads down into the jungle. After a few minutes, you will reach the old water pump power station Fábrica da Cidade, which was in operation until 1974

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As you can see, even on an island as well-developed by tourism as São Miguel, there are still a few São Miguel insider tips to discover. Which ones are still missing from the list? Let us know in the comments.