A rainy day on Faial: the Botanic Garden, the scrimshaw museum and Horta's other indoor sights

When the cloud sits on the Caldeira and the rain comes in sideways off the channel, the question on Faial is simple: what is open, and can you reach it without a car? Most of the answer is in Horta or a short taxi ride from it. The catch is the calendar. In winter several of these places close on Sundays or Mondays, and Faial's buses do not run on Sundays at all, so the day of the week matters more than the weather.

All opening hours below are the ones published for 2026. They change from season to season, so check before you set off.

The garden is the best wet-weather choice on the island because part of it is under glass. It sits in Flamengos, the village in the valley just inland from Horta, at Rua de São Lourenço 23, and it has been open to the public since 1986. A second, higher section lies in Pedro Miguel, but the Flamengos site is the one you visit.

Outside are beds of the rarest Azorean plants, the old crops islanders grew, medicinal and aromatic plants, and a collection of the invasive species that compete with the native flora. Indoors there is a permanent exhibition on the natural history of Azorean vegetation.

The Orchidarium opened in June 2019. It has two warm greenhouses for tropical orchids and two shaded areas for orchids from temperate zones, so you can spend most of a downpour inside it. The garden also runs the Azores Seed Bank, which Botanic Gardens Conservation International picked in August 2015 as a case study for conserving rare seeds.

Hours for 2026:

• 1 April to 31 October: daily, 10:00 to 18:00.
• 1 November to 31 March: Tuesday to Friday 10:00 to 17:00, Saturdays and holidays 14:00 to 17:30, closed Sunday and Monday.
• Last entry 30 minutes before closing.

Under-7s and Azores residents get in free, and there are reduced tickets for children aged 7 to 14, seniors and families. The adult price differs between the sources we checked, so confirm it at the desk or with the Faial Nature Park.

Getting there: only one bus a day runs each way on the Flamengos route, on weekdays, and it is timed for commuters. A taxi from Horta is the practical choice. It is a short ride.

The town museum occupies the old Jesuit college on Largo Duque d'Ávila e Bolama, a large building that was never finished because the Jesuits were expelled from Portugal in 1760. It covers Faial's history and its port, with furniture, ethnographic pieces and religious art, plus paintings by António Dacosta, Sousa Pinto and Vieira Lusitano.

Look for the carvings of Euclides Rosa, a Faial artist who worked in fig-tree pith and gave his pieces to the museum before he died in 1979.

The museum is closed on Mondays. One listing gives Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 17:00; others differ, so check on the day.

On the top floor of Peter Café Sport, opposite the marina, is the private scrimshaw collection the family started showing in 1986: sperm whale teeth and bone engraved or carved by whalers, along with photographs, maps, manuscripts and whaling documents. The café is downstairs if you want to wait out a shower over lunch. Our guide to Horta has more on the café itself.

Published hours: Monday to Friday and Sunday, 10:00 to 12:00 and 14:00 to 16:00. It is closed on Saturdays, and note the two-hour lunch break.

Across the bay at Porto Pim, the old whaling factory is now a museum run by the Azores Sea Observatory (OMA). It reopened in October 2018 and still has the original machinery that extracted oil from sperm whales and milled the meat, bone and blood. The 10-metre skeleton of a female sperm whale is on display.

On the slope of Monte da Guia above it is the Dabney House. John Bass Dabney became US Consul General in the Azores in 1806, and for about a century John, Charles and Samuel Dabney held the post one after another. Charles William Dabney bought this summer house in 1854, and the exhibition on the family is in what was its winery.

A combined Monte da Guia ticket covers the whaling factory, the Dabney House and the small Porto Pim aquarium. The published 2026 hours for the factory are daily 10:00 to 18:00 from April to October, and Monday to Friday 10:00 to 17:00 from November to March, closed at weekends and on holidays.

Both are walkable from the centre of Horta, but the walk round Porto Pim bay is exposed. In heavy rain, take a taxi there and walk back if it clears.

The Capelinhos Volcano Interpretation Centre at the far western tip is built underground, which makes it a good rainy-day trip even though the landscape around it is the reason to go. The exhibitions cover the 1957 to 1958 eruption, how the Azores formed and the history of the islands' lighthouses. In 2026 a full adult ticket was €10, with €5 for children aged 7 to 14 and seniors, and €20 for a family. From November to March it is closed on Sundays and Mondays. Our Capelinhos and Caldeira guide has the hours and the walks.

• Summer (April to October): almost everything is open every day. Start at the Botanic Garden in the morning, eat in Horta, then do the Horta Museum and the Monte da Guia sites in the afternoon.
• Winter weekday: the same plan works, but the scrimshaw museum closes at 16:00 and the whaling factory at 17:00.
• Winter Saturday: the Botanic Garden opens only in the afternoon, the scrimshaw museum and the whaling factory are closed, and the Horta Museum is the safest morning.
• Winter Sunday or Monday: the hardest days. The garden and Capelinhos are shut on both. On a Sunday there are no buses and the whaling factory is closed, which leaves the Horta Museum and the scrimshaw museum. On a Monday the Horta Museum is closed, but the scrimshaw museum and the whaling factory are open.

Our guide to getting around Faial covers taxis and the bus timetables.

What can you do on Faial when it rains? The Faial Botanic Garden in Flamengos, with its Orchidarium under glass, the Horta Museum, the scrimshaw museum above Peter Café Sport, the whaling factory and Dabney House on Monte da Guia, and, with a car, the underground Capelinhos centre.

Is the Faial Botanic Garden open in winter? Yes, but with shorter hours. In the published 2026 schedule it opens Tuesday to Friday 10:00 to 17:00 and Saturdays 14:00 to 17:30 from November to March, and it is closed on Sundays and Mondays.

When is the scrimshaw museum at Peter Café Sport open? Monday to Friday and Sunday, 10:00 to 12:00 and 14:00 to 16:00. It is closed on Saturdays.

Can I get to these places without a car? Everything in Horta and on Monte da Guia is within walking distance of the centre. For the Botanic Garden a taxi is easier than the single weekday bus, and Capelinhos needs a car or a taxi.