Santa Maria Island Azores Vila do Porto, Portugal
10
Cruises availables
At departure or passage at this port
Lindblad Expeditions (6 Cruises)
National Geographic Orion
6 Cruises
Ponant (4 Cruises)
Frequently Asked Questions
At the port of Vila do Porto, the island's capital, a town perched on a spur of rock above its harbour. The quay lies about 2 km from the town centre.
On foot, climbing gently for about 2 km, or by the bus linking the port to the village. The climb is real: anyone who walks with difficulty should take the bus or a taxi.
It is the oldest settlement in the archipelago, founded in the years after the first colonists arrived. Its main street climbs between white houses trimmed in basalt to the 16th-century church of Nossa Senhora da Assunção, among the oldest in the Azores.
Yes, in 1493, returning from his first voyage to America. His crew came to pray in the modest chapel of the hamlet of Anjos, on the northwest coast, which still stands facing the ocean. A statue of the navigator marks the episode.
Yes, and it's the island's signature: Praia Formosa spreads a stretch of pale sand, rare in the archipelago, edged by clear water. Santa Maria is the southernmost island and the sun lingers here longer than elsewhere.
An old crater open to the sea, lined with terraced vines held by volcanic stone walls, with a beach and white houses at the bottom. It is one of the most striking landscapes in the whole archipelago.
A circuit of the main viewpoints by taxi or excursion: the island is small and it can be done without rushing. Add Praia Formosa or São Lourenço bay as you prefer, and keep an hour for the town of Vila do Porto.
A red clay desert at the heart of the island, evoking a Martian landscape in the middle of the Atlantic. It is the most unexpected counterpoint to the vines and beaches, and the sort of detour that surprises passengers who thought they knew the Azores.
Yes. Natural pools cut into the lava take bathers at Anjos when the sea allows, and Maia bay combines a natural pool with vineyard slopes. Santa Maria's waters are among the clearest in the Azores for snorkelling.
The euro and Portuguese. Cards work in the restaurants and shops of Vila do Porto; keep cash for the hamlets and taxis. English is understood a little, a legacy of the airport that once served as a technical stop for transatlantic flights.
