Pico da Vara Hiking Tour

Sightseeing  :  Portugal  :  Ponta Delgada  :  Ponta Delgada  :  Hiking & Camping

See the entire island touching the sky. This trail begins in Graminhais, a platform on the north rim of the biggest caldera of the island. Set in a protected and sensitive area in terms of biodiversity, you might see an endangered species, the Azorean bullfinch. After the stop on the highest point of the island, time to decent and appreciate a cedar forest. This walk starts in Graminhais platform (750 m), stops in Pico da Vara (the highest point on the island of São Miguel: 1.103m) and after climbing the peak,we descent to Algarvia. The whole trail takes about 4h. Early islanders to reach the woods where they produced charcoal and grazed their livestock used these trails. The trail begins on a beaten earth track surrounded by pastureland and after about 400m comes to a drinking trough, where you head straight on through a wood of Cryptomerias.

After about 1 km you come to a fork in the path we'll reach a more open area with a wide-reaching view over Vale da Ribeira do Guilherme. Here the track becomes narrower and follows the summit all the way to Pico da Vara. The area is covered in bushes where the predominant native species are juniper (Juniperus brevifolia), heather (Erica azorica), Azores blueberry (Vaccinium cylindraceum), holly (Ilex perado), laurel (Laurus azorica) and Portuguese laurel (Viburnum subcordatum) and lily-of-the-valley tree (Clethra arborea) which is the main exotic variety.

This trail goes through a Special Protection Area due to the presence of the Azores bullfinch (Pyrrhula murina) (an endangered species). Level: Hard / Extension: 7 Km / Time: 4h 00m / Alt: Máx: 1103m / Alt. Min: 320m.
Lunch – picnic bag included