Hiking in the AzoresSão Miguel and Terceira trails, fees, closures and safety (2026)

Trail status read on 14 October 2026. Closures change without notice: check trail status before you go on the Azores Trails alerts page [1].

The short answer: hike the official network, check the alerts page the morning you go, and swap days around the fog. São Miguel and Terceira have dozens of signed trails, coded PR or PRC (for example PR03SMI, PRC04TER), listed with distance, time, difficulty and a GPS track on Azores Trails, the regional tourism office’s site [2][4]. We found no general trail fee or booking on the official pages we read; paid sites along some routes (such as the Furnas caldeiras) charge their own entry. The exceptions are Pico da Vara, São Miguel’s highest point, which needs a permit [5], and paid sites near trails, such as the Mount Pico climb on Pico island [7].

Fees and permits in 2026

What	Fee or permit	Source
Regular PR/PRC trails on São Miguel and Terceira	No fee or booking shown on the trail pages we read; sites along a route may charge (the Lagoa das Furnas loop passes the caldeiras ticket booth, €3 for non-residents) [28]	[4][11]–[24]
PRC07SMI Pico da Vara (São Miguel)	Permit: “Access to this trail is conditioned. Please complete the following form to get your permission.” No fee stated	[5][6]
Lagoa do Fogo	No trail fee. The published 2026 road restriction and shuttle ran 1 August–30 September; walkers can use the PR02SMI trail from the south. Check Lagoa do Fogo for future road and fare updates	[9][13]
Caldeira Velha	Paid site (hot stream and pools), not a trail	[8]
Algar do Carvão (Terceira)	Cave ticket, run by Os Montanheiros; visits suspended from late October or November 2026	[10]
Mount Pico (Pico island)	€5 to Furna Abrigo, €15 to the crater, €25 to Piquinho, €10 overnight; Azores residents free	[7]

Closed trails (14 October 2026)

The official alerts page listed these as temporarily closed [1]:

• São Miguel: Atalho dos Vermelhos (PRC33SMI), Nascentes de Santo António (PR17SMI), Pedra Queimada – Degredo (PRC36SMI), Pico da Praia (PRC44SMI), Quatro Fábricas de Luz (PR39SMI), Ribeira do Faial da Terra (PR11SMI), Rota da Água – Entre Túneis e Condutas (PR42SMI), Rota da Água – Pedras Brancas (PR41SMI).
• Terceira: Serreta (PRC03TER). Check any Grande Rota stage separately before setting off.

Two things blogs often get wrong:

• Salto do Prego (the Faial da Terra waterfall) is on the closed PR11SMI, but also on PRC09SMI Sanguinho, a 4.6 km circular route from the Faial da Terra bus stop, which was not on the list [20][21].
• Algar do Carvão: the operator expects the cave to close for works from late October or November 2026 until about the middle or end of the first quarter of 2027 [10]. The PRC10TER trail from its car park (6.2 km, medium, with an optional 600 m detour to the Furnas do Enxofre fumaroles) was not on the closed list on 14 October [23].

A closed trail is closed: the portal says promoters close trails for safety or maintenance and mark it at both ends [2].

São Miguel trails by difficulty

All figures from the trail register [4]. Linear trails end somewhere else, so plan a lift, a taxi or a bus back.

Trail	Code	Km	Time	Difficulty
Pico das Camarinhas – Ponta da Ferraria	PRC43SMI	3.6	2 h 30	Easy
Praia da Viola	PR27SMI	4.9	2 h	Easy
Vigia de São Pedro	PR01SMI	6	2 h	Easy
Vista do Rei – Sete Cidades	PR03SMI	7.5	2 h	Easy
Rota da Água – Janela do Inferno	PRC37SMI	7.6	2 h 30	Easy
Lagoa das Furnas	PRC06SMI	9.4	3 h	Easy
Sanguinho (Salto do Prego)	PRC09SMI	4.6	2 h	Medium
Serra Devassa	PRC05SMI	9.1	3 h 30	Medium
Lagoa do Fogo	PR02SMI	10.2	4 h	Medium
Mata do Canário – Sete Cidades	PR04SMI	11.7	3 h	Medium
Pico da Vara	PRC07SMI	7.3	3 h	Hard

Notes, in the same order:

• Pico das Camarinhas – Ponta da Ferraria (circular): lava coast and the Ferraria hot sea pool [17]
• Praia da Viola (linear): north coast, stone steps to a cove; a rough-sea alternative is signed [18]
• Vigia de São Pedro (linear): coastal; the register warns of a fall risk at the São Pedro hole [19]
• Vista do Rei – Sete Cidades (linear): crater-rim views, steep slippery road at the end [11]
• Rota da Água – Janela do Inferno (circular): tunnels and aqueducts near Lagoa [16]
• Lagoa das Furnas (circular): from Furnas village round the lake and the caldeiras [14]
• Sanguinho (Salto do Prego) (circular): waterfall, old village being restored [20]
• Serra Devassa (circular): upland lakes, Grota do Inferno viewpoint [15]
• Lagoa do Fogo (out and back): the only certified trail to the lake shore; muddy levada; nesting gulls April–May [13]
• Mata do Canário – Sete Cidades (linear): crater ridge; “very slippery and inclined” descent [12]
• Pico da Vara (circular): Permit needed; forestry work on the first stretch in October 2026 [5]

Terceira

• Monte Brasil (PRC04TER): circular, 7.5 km, medium, about 2 h 30, on the crater headland next to Angra; see Monte Brasil [22].
• Algar do Carvão – Furnas do Enxofre (PRC10TER): circular, 6.2 km, medium, about 2 h 30, through protected upland, with an optional 600 m detour to the Furnas do Enxofre fumaroles [23]. No public transport reaches the caves [10].
• Mistérios Negros (PRC01TER): circular, 5.2 km, rated hard, starting near Lagoa do Negro and the Gruta do Natal [24].

More on the island: Angra do Heroísmo.

Hiking with kids

These are our picks from the register’s ratings, not trails we have walked with children:

• Short and easy: Pico das Camarinhas – Ponta da Ferraria (3.6 km) [17], Praia da Viola (4.9 km) [18]. At Ferraria, read the hot-spring warning before anyone gets in the water.
• Easy but long for small legs: Vista do Rei (7.5 km one way) [11], Janela do Inferno (7.6 km, through old water tunnels, the last one 50 m long: bring a torch) [16], Lagoa das Furnas (9.4 km; flat dirt road along the lake shore, with a climb to Pico do Milho first) [14].
• Watch the edges: Vigia de São Pedro has a fall risk at the São Pedro hole [19]; Mata do Canário and Vista do Rei end on a steep, slippery road [11][12].
• Turn back early when cloud comes down: a view your children waited for may not appear.

More family planning: Azores with kids.

Weather and safety: the official rules

From the regional tourism portal’s ethics and safety code and the Azores Trails safety page [2][3]:

• Check the forecast and avoid trails on days with forecast rain, wind, thunderstorms or fog, especially in the mountains. IPMA publishes warnings for the Azores [25]. Rain rises steeply with altitude on São Miguel (Azores weather by month).
• Tell someone which trail you’re doing and when you expect to be back.
• Layers, proper shoes, a hat and sunscreen (UV gets through cloud), water (stream and lake water is not safe to drink), food, a torch and a first-aid kit.
• Finish before dark. Stay on the marked trail and don’t take shortcuts.
• Numbered posts every 500 m. In an accident, call 112 and give the number of the last post you passed; the posts are georeferenced for the rescue teams (the PRIS plan).
• Mobile coverage may be missing except at the start and end of many trails. Install the civil protection app Prociv Azores and fill in your profile before you set out.
• Cattle, gates and seeds: leave gates as you found them, give cattle space, and clean seeds off your boots to avoid spreading invasive plants.
• Report problems to SOS Ambiente, 800 292 800.

Getting to the trailheads

• By bus: Lagoa das Furnas starts in Furnas village. In the AzoresBus PDF, line 318 runs directly from Ponta Delgada (Alfândega) to Furnas (Águas Quentes) on business days, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, with some June–September departures only [14][26]. Mata do Canário and Vista do Rei end in Sete Cidades village; line 208 reaches Sete Cidades (Lagoas) on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, but the weekday pattern is different [11][27]. Sanguinho starts at the Faial da Terra bus stop [20]. Check both directions and your travel date in the Azores without a car.
• By car: most upland starts (Vista do Rei, Mata do Canário, Pico da Vara, Lagoa do Fogo) are easier by car or taxi; lock it and leave nothing on show, the code says [3]. Hiring one: car hire on São Miguel.

Fitting walks into a week: São Miguel itinerary.

Sources

Numbered references match the source list on this page. Read on 9 and 10 October 2026.