São Miguel
If you are heading to São Miguel in the Azores, you are in for an epic trip of natural beauty. Though the most iconic sites on the island are the lakes, there are some pretty incredible waterfalls that are stunningly beautiful. This is a little guide of the top waterfalls to visit.
Salto do Prego
This waterfall is one of the top ones on the island and includes a nice hike. We used google maps to get us to this hike. We realized that was not the official trail start when going down a narrow road with no signs of trail or parking. We were, however, lucky enough to find a small parking lot that brought us down and connected with the main trail going through the town of Sanguinho which is an abandoned small town. We had read a blog about cats in this area but saw none. The actual trailhead is in Faial Da Terra. The typical route is 2.8 km and considered moderate. From where we went, the total trail was 3.27 miles (5.26 km) and was moderate in nature. We gained 991 feet in elevation and it took 1 hour 40 minutes. If you are up for some more hiking, you can add on the hike to Salto do Cagarrão Waterfall which is another 1.9 km off the path of the Salto do Prego hike.
Cascata da Ribeira Quente
This waterfall is unique in that it is a hot water waterfall and it is the highest on São Miguel. The unfortunate part is that the view of it is between two tunnels. Currently, in 2022, there is major construction around this area so prior blog posts mentioning pulling off and walking between is completely impossible with construction vehicles and workers. The good news is with the construction is that they have the tunnel going with one way traffic. Therefore, we got to drive by it slowly and capture pictures going both ways. It was really impressive even from the view from the car.
Cascata Salto do Cabrito
Salto do Cabrito waterfall is another top rated waterfall. I read about a million blog posts about how to do it as it is between EN 5-2A and where the Termas das Caldeiras Thermal Spas. It seems the parking lot off EN5-2A is steep and dirt so after enough thought we decided it was worth the extra hiking for better parking. We parked at the Baloiço da Matriz. Honestly, I loved this hike! You got to walk along the hydroelectric pipe and through the previous plant, through the gorge and down into the waterfall. The total was 3.08 miles (4.95km) and it took 1 hour 35 minutes with 432 elevation gain. (Time includes time spent at the waterfall enjoying and taking pictures) We were lucky to catch the end of a canyoning tour going down the waterfall which looked awesome. Canyoning is a great way to truly experience a waterfall up close and it is totally exhilarating rappelling down it.
waterfalls
There are some other incredible waterfalls to check out including Ribeira dos Caldeirões and Caldeira Velha. Caldeira Velha you need to reserve tickets in advance. If you just wish to walk the grounds it costs 3 euros but it costs 10 euros to enter and use thermal pools as well. You must book a day in advance on this website: https://parquesnaturais.azores.gov.pt/bilheteira/caldeiravelha/. Hiking these waterfalls is only one way to enjoy the waterfalls. Canyoning is another great way to experience these waterfalls. Some companies that do canyoning include: Azorean Active Blueberry (https://www.azoreanactiveblueberry.com/en) and Azores Epic Adventures (https://www.azoresepicadventures.com/canyoning/),
