Birdwatching on Faial: shearwaters, terns and when to go
Where to hear Cory's shearwaters after dark on Faial, the tern colonies, migrants at Pedro Miguel, guided trips from Horta (EUR 80-90, 2026) and SOS Cagarro.
Free Azores app with a 3D map of the islands, weather by place and trail statuses. See how it works
The island's highest-rated guided trips, boat tours and tastings, ranked by the people who took them.
Most booking links go to Viator: if you book through them we earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. Each card names the site it books on, and prices and availability are that site's.
Driving in PortugalRoundabouts in PortugalWatch the 1-minute animationWhere to hear Cory's shearwaters after dark on Faial, the tern colonies, migrants at Pedro Miguel, guided trips from Horta (EUR 80-90, 2026) and SOS Cagarro.
Blue marlin fishing out of Horta runs from July to mid-October, with the calmest sea from August. Where the boats fish (Azores Bank, Faial's north coast, Condor), the Azores records, a 2026 charter rate of EUR 3,000 a day for up to four guests, and what to ask about the licence.
For Faial weather, read IPMA's five-day forecast for Horta and the central-group warnings. Plus the beach for each wind, Caldeira fog, ferries and flights.
The Azores Geopark names six geosites on Faial, and all of them can be seen from a road, a viewpoint or a short path. What you are looking at in each, from the 400-metre-deep Caldeira and the stepped fault trench of Pedro Miguel to the tuff cone of Monte da Guia, the white trachyte dome of Castelo Branco, the 20 young cones of the Capelo ridge and the 1957-58 Capelinhos eruption beside the old cliff of Costado da Nau, with where to stand, the trails, and the one ticket, €10 in 2026.
Horta marina on Faial takes no bookings. Clearing in with EES fingerprints, VHF channels, where you may anchor, and 2026 rates: €15.13 a day for 10 to 12 m.
Azorean law lets you swim with dolphins but never with whales: two swimmers at a time, mask and snorkel only, within 50 m of the boat. What a dolphin swim from Horta involves (from EUR 75 in 2026), and the July to September blue shark snorkel on the Condor seamount.
Fishing, aquaculture and fish-processing companies can claim back part of the higher fuel costs they carried since February. Applications close on 30 November.
The 10:45 Horta to Madalena crossing will run without vehicle space from Monday to Saturday while the Atlânticoline ferry is in a Spanish shipyard.
BE/Açores urged the Regional Government to curb new Local Accommodation licences in high-pressure areas, rehabilitate vacant public buildings and expand public housing.
The Azores Government says housing policy will continue beyond the Recovery and Resilience Plan, while parties in the Regional Assembly pressed for more affordable homes and longer-term action.
The additional funding brings the total transferred since June to €5.25 million and is intended to support proposed increases in service funding.
The regional government says the contracts will link hospital leadership to objectives and indicators while protecting care quality.