Flores

---

Please click here to view our walking holidays in the Azores

Flores is known by the Azoreans as the pink island due its mass of beautiful pink azaleas and hydrangeas; it is also the most westerly Azores Island. The volcanic origin of the island dominates the whole landscape as cones with smooth slopes rise out of the plateau and lakes which were once sharp craters glisten in the sun. You are able to see the intense green ocean where the native laurissilva forest still lives as well as striking waterfalls and natural streams. The Flores Museum can be found in the old São Francisco Convent in Santa Cruz and documents the relations of the people with the land and the sea. The collection also recovered the remains from the Slavonia, a curious ship wreck on the coast of Flores in 1909.

The Walking

Please see below for a brief description of some of our walks on Flores.

This is a gorgeous linear walk first along some interesting old ‘donkey trails’ up into the hills and down to the coast to a lovely sheltered lunch spot. You can either take the adventurous levada route, or the more sedate version up into the hills behind Santa Cruz and back down into the town with superb views over the town and the runway which bisects it!

This is a walk of contrasts from the crater lakes of the high moorland in the interior of the island down to the town of Faja Grande on the coast.  On a clear day the circular, somewhat eerie lakes are incredibly impressive, with good views up to the highest point of the island, Morro Alto at 911m.  When you reach the edge of the cliff and descend, there are jaw-dropping views down to the town of Faja Grande and the coast.