Caveira, Lomba and Fazenda: the east coast villages of Flores between Santa Cruz and Lajes

Everyone on Flores drives the east coast road, because it is the way from the airport at Santa Cruz to Lajes and on to the west. Few people stop. The three parishes on it, Caveira, Lomba and Fazenda, have about 540 residents between them, three village churches, and a valley that the Azores Geopark counts among the island's main geological sights. You can see all of it in a morning by car, and on a weekday the bus can carry you between them for a euro or two.

On the bus route it is 6.8 km from Santa Cruz to Caveira, 12.7 km to Lomba, 15.8 km to Fazenda and 18.6 km to Lajes. Caveira and Lomba each sit on a ridge between two deep stream valleys, and the road crosses the ravines between them.

Caveira belongs to the municipality of Santa Cruz das Flores. Lomba and Fazenda belong to Lajes das Flores. At the 2021 census Caveira had 76 residents, Lomba 200 and Fazenda 261. In the 19th century Lomba alone had more than 700 people, and the drop since then is mostly emigration to the United States and Canada, which peaked between the 1960s and the 1980s. Emigrant money paid for much of Caveira's church.

One thing to sort out before you look at a map: there are two Fazendas on Flores. The village in this guide is Fazenda das Lajes, just north of Lajes. Fazenda de Santa Cruz is a separate place 3.3 km north of Santa Cruz, and the Além Fazenda valley and its hydroelectric station are on the north-east coast too, on the way to Ponta Delgada. Our north of Flores guide covers that road.

Caveira is the smallest parish on Flores by area, 3.29 km², on a high ridge between the Ribeira da Cruz to the north and the Ribeira da Silva to the south. The Ribeira da Silva ravine is also the municipal boundary with Lomba.

The reason to stop is the valley on its northern side. The Azores Geopark lists the Ribeira da Cruz valley and Ponta da Caveira as geosite FLO 11. The valley floor is broken by several basalt volcanic chimneys, hard cores of old vents that were left standing when the softer rock around them wore away. A waterfall divides the upper and middle stretches of the stream, and above it is the Poio Moreno spring, mineral water that comes out at 24.8 °C. The Geopark recommends the Miradouro dos Arcos, a viewpoint on the road from Santa Cruz up to the lakes, as the place to see the whole valley at once. Combine it with a drive to the crater lakes.

The valley also has the island's oddest settlement story. In the late 15th century a small group of Flemish settlers under Willem van der Hagen came here hoping to find tin or precious metals. They lived in caves cut into the cliffs, then left for Topo on São Jorge.

The parish church stands in the upper village, on a raised platform above the road. A chapel to the Benditas Almas, the Blessed Souls, was built here in 1767 on the site of the present cemetery. Caveira became a parish by royal charter of King John VI on 19 December 1823, and by 1867 the chapel was described as almost in ruins. The first stone of the current church was laid on 13 June 1870 and it opened on 11 September 1880, paid for largely by parishioners and by Azorean emigrants in the United States. Look for the bell tower to the left of the facade, with its bulb-shaped top and a staircase on the outside. The parish asked in 1835 to change its patron to Nossa Senhora do Livramento and was refused, but the church has carried that name since it opened.

Below the village, Ponta da Caveira is a steep basalt headland. At sea level it holds the Gruta dos Enxaréus, a sea cave about 50 metres long and 25 metres high that you can only reach by boat, and at the mouth of the Ribeira da Cruz there is a triangular rock of basalt prisms called Fernão Jorge. Neither can be seen properly from the road. The headland is one of the protected areas of the Flores Nature Park. Cave tours leave from Santa Cruz; in 2026 Flores Fishing charged €60 a person, minimum two, for three hours. Our boat trips guide compares the operators.

Lomba means a hill or ridge, and the village sits on a headland above the sea between two valleys. Its old name was Lomba da Boa Vista. Settlement probably began early in the 16th century, not long after Lajes was settled around 1510, and it became the island's sixth parish around 1698. For a while it also looked after Caveira, which was attached to it in 1757.

The church of São Caetano is the parish's 1698 foundation, rebuilt from 1753 to 1759 and again in the 1870s and 1880s. It was consecrated again on 24 February 1886, and the date 1888 is carved over the main door. It stands behind a small courtyard, with a single nave, a wooden choir, a wooden pulpit on a big stone bracket, and gilded side altars. Next to it is the Casa do Espírito Santo, built in 1868 and rebuilt in 1892, one of the small houses used for the Holy Spirit festivities that stand in villages across the Azores.

The village's own festival of São Caetano falls on the second weekend of August, and Santa Teresinha on the second weekend of October. Up on the plateau above the parish is the Lagoa da Lomba, the crater lake that sits apart from the other six; our waterfalls and crater lakes guide puts it in a day with the others.

For something to eat, the Explore Flores directory lists a bakery in Lomba, Pastelaria Rosa, and little else.

Fazenda, the largest of the three with 261 residents, is the last parish created on the island, by law on 9 December 1919, when it was split from the north of Lajes. People had lived here since the 16th century, first at a place called Eirinha Velha.

Its church of the Senhor Santo Cristo is the newest of the three. The first stone was laid on 1 August 1896 and the building was blessed on 25 March 1906, with altarpieces made that year. In the garden in front is a 1963 monument to Dr António de Freitas Pimentel, a doctor and politician from the parish. The festival of the Senhor Santo Cristo dos Milagres takes three days on the first weekend of August, and the Holy Spirit festival runs for a week from Pentecost Sunday.

Fazenda is a dairy village. Its cooperative was founded on 4 April 1919, and in 1968 it became the first on Flores to make a São Jorge-style cheese, before it was merged into the island's union of cooperatives. Walk along Rua Senador Machado Serpa to see houses with bread ovens built out from the wall, and look out for the old water mills, which the council lists as of municipal interest. One building has a Cold War past: NATO installed a LORAN navigation station here in 1965, run by the Portuguese Navy, which closed after the system was switched off on 31 December 1977. It now houses the environment services.

Fazenda is also the place on this coast with a choice of food. The Explore Flores directory lists O Forno Transmontano and the Cana Roca pizzeria and bar. There is a health post on Rua da Caldeira (292 593 594). Lajes, with its harbour and the lighthouse, is only 2.8 km further on; see our Lajes guide.

The bus between Santa Cruz and Lajes runs on weekdays only, and the useful times depend on the season. From the timetable UTC linked in October 2026:

• All year, towards Lajes: Santa Cruz 16:50, Caveira 17:14, Lomba 17:21, Fazenda 17:26, Lajes 17:37.
• Outside school term only, towards Lajes: Santa Cruz 10:00, Caveira 10:12, Lomba 10:20, Fazenda 10:25, Lajes 10:31.
• All year, towards Santa Cruz: Lajes 09:00 and 16:00, reaching Fazenda at 09:08 and 16:05, Lomba at 09:12 and 16:12, Caveira at 09:17 and 16:20 and Santa Cruz at 09:33 and 16:32.

There are extra runs in school term and on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Times after the first stop are approximate, so be at the stop early. At the fares in force from 1 February 2026, Santa Cruz to Caveira cost €1.20, to Lomba €2.21 and to Fazenda €2.68; Lajes to Fazenda was €1.03 and Lajes to Lomba €1.20. Children aged 4 to 11 pay half. Outside school term, the 10:00 from Santa Cruz and the 16:00 back from Lajes give you a full day on this coast. Check the UTC timetable before you rely on it, and see our getting around guide for taxis and car hire.

By car, give it a morning. Start with a detour to the Miradouro dos Arcos on the road from Santa Cruz to the lakes for the Ribeira da Cruz valley, then take the coast road south to Caveira's church, through Lomba to Fazenda for lunch, and on to Lajes. The coast road crosses deep ravines, so after heavy rain ask locally whether it is clear, as you would anywhere on Flores. None of the three churches publishes opening hours; if a door is shut, the outside and the setting are still worth the stop. If you are on the island in early or mid August, Fazenda's festival falls on the first weekend and Lomba's on the second.

Is the east coast of Flores worth a stop?

Yes, for a morning. The Ribeira da Cruz valley from the Miradouro dos Arcos, the 1880 church in Caveira, the São Caetano church in Lomba and lunch in Fazenda fit easily between Santa Cruz and Lajes.

Can I get there by bus?

On weekdays, yes. UTC Line 2 stops in Caveira, Lomba and Fazenda; outside school term the 10:00 from Santa Cruz and the 16:00 back from Lajes make a day trip. In 2026 the single from Santa Cruz to Fazenda cost €2.68. There are no buses at weekends.

Can I see the Gruta dos Enxaréus from land?

No. The cave is at sea level under Ponta da Caveira and you need a boat. Cave tours leave from Santa Cruz.

Where can I eat on this stretch?

Fazenda has the choice: the directory lists O Forno Transmontano and the Cana Roca pizzeria and bar. Lomba has a bakery. Otherwise eat in Lajes or Santa Cruz.

• Azores Geopark: Ribeira da Cruz valley and Ponta da Caveira (FLO 11)
• UTC: Flores bus timetable
• UTC: Azores fare table from 1 February 2026
• Wikipedia: Caveira (Santa Cruz das Flores), in Portuguese
• Wikipedia: Church of Benditas Almas (Caveira)
• Wikipedia: Lomba (Lajes das Flores), in Portuguese
• Wikipedia: Church of São Caetano (Lomba)
• Wikipedia: Fazenda (Lajes das Flores), in Portuguese