Where to swim on an island with almost no sand: imported beaches, black pebbles, lava pools and municipal lidos.
The Azores are volcanic islands, so the coast is cliffs and boulders rather than sand. What they have instead is three different kinds of swimming place, and knowing which is which decides the afternoon: bays of black volcanic sand, natural pools that the Atlantic fills and refreshes, and built lidos with ladders into the open sea. A coast facing the swell closes often; the sheltered side of the same island is calm on the same day.
The dark stone beach in the bay of Lajes, beside the island's southern harbour.
Lajes sits on the only broad bay on the south coast, and the beach is the stretch of dark sand and stones at its western end, a few minutes from the harbour where the inter-island ferry ties up. The bay is sheltered from the northerly weather that shuts the rest of the coast, which is why the boats are here and not elsewhere. It is a swim rather than a day out: there is nothing built on the beach itself.
Worth knowing: The village and its cafés are up the hill, not by the water, so bring what you want with you.
A stone beach on a landslide terrace under the south cliff, reached only on foot.
The fajã lies at the bottom of a cliff over 350 metres high and the stone staircase of the PRC04FLO trail is the only way in; there is no road and nothing built. Full south exposure gives the terrace a microclimate warm enough for figs and bananas, and the shore below it is grey stone rather than sand. Nobody watches it and nothing is sold there.
Worth knowing: Allow two hours for the round trip from the picnic area above, and do not start it if rock is coming off the cliff after rain.
The town pools at Santa Cruz, cut into the lava on the Avenida dos Baleeiros.
This is the island's main bathing place and one of only two on Flores that the regional programme monitors as a bathing water, with a season from mid-June to mid-September. The water is shallow, clear and held by the rock rather than by concrete walls, so how it behaves depends on the state of the sea outside. Steps and a small terrace sit above it, and the whole thing is inside the town.
Worth knowing: It faces east into the morning sun and loses it early in the afternoon, when the ridge behind the town puts the pools in shade.
A cobble bay below Cedros with a campsite and picnic park behind it.
Alagoa is where the north-east coast opens into a bay of grey stones between cliffs and sea stacks, and the Grande Rota walks straight past it. The municipal campsite and the Parque de Lazer da Casa da Guarda are on the slope above, which is where the toilets and the parking are. Entry to the water is over round stones and there is no ladder.
Worth knowing: Shoes you can swim in, or you will pick your way out over the cobbles; the bay is fully exposed and there is no lifeguard.
José Luís Ávila Silveira/Pedro Noronha e Costa · CC BY-SA 3.0
Zona Balnear da Fajã Grande
Lajes das Flores
Natural pools
The bathing front at Fajã Grande, under the fossil cliff and its waterfalls.
Rock pools and a concrete apron on the western fajã, with the 300-metre cliff and its falls standing behind the village. It is the island's second monitored bathing water, with a shorter season than Santa Cruz — July and August only. There are umbrellas, a bar and a car park a few steps away.
Worth knowing: The western swell decides the day here; on a calm morning it is the best swim on Flores, and on a rough one it is not a swim at all.
Facilities and lifeguard cover follow the municipal bathing season, which runs roughly from May to October and varies by council. A red flag is a closure, not a warning: it means the sea is beyond what the lifeguards can cover.
