Flores waterfalls and crater lakes: how to see them in one or two days

Almost everyone who flies to Flores wants to see the waterfalls and the crater lakes, so the planning question is how much time to give them and in what order. The west cliff, with its falls and pools, and the central plateau, with its seven lakes, share one island but not one weather system: the plateau can sit in cloud while the coast below is in sun. One day is enough when the sky is clear. Two days, or one day plus a spare morning, is the safer plan.

Flores is a high plateau pitted with old explosion craters, and the water that collects up there drains west over a fossil sea cliff. Behind the villages of Fajãzinha and Fajã Grande that cliff is about 300 metres high. The regional tourism board counts almost twenty waterfalls on it, and the tallest, the Ribeira Grande fall, drops the full 300 metres.

At the foot of the cliff the water gathers in permanent pools that locals call poços. Two of them are the reason most people come:

• Poço do Bacalhau, a small pool under a waterfall of about 90 metres in Fajã Grande. You can swim in it.
• Poço da Ribeira do Ferreiro, also called Poço da Alagoinha or Lagoa das Patas, a pond under a wall of green rock with many thin falls running down it.

Up on the plateau are the Sete Lagoas, the seven crater lakes: Negra, Comprida, Seca, Branca, Funda, Rasa and Lomba. On the south-west side, between the lakes and the sea, is the Rocha dos Bordões, a hillside of more than 200 vertical basalt columns and one of the island's natural monuments.

This is the one to plan the day around. The walk starts at the bridge over the Ribeira do Ferreiro on the road into Fajã Grande and is about 700 metres, 10 to 15 minutes each way. You cannot drive to the pond itself. The path is uneven and often wet, so wear shoes with grip rather than sandals.

The cliff faces west, which decides when to go. The sun reaches the face in the afternoon and lights up the falls and the moss. If you are only passing once, make it after lunch.

Treat this pond as a place to look. If you want a swim, Poço do Bacalhau is the pool the tourism board names for it.

Poço do Bacalhau is in Fajã Grande, a short walk from the village centre, which makes it the easiest waterfall on the island to reach. The official PR03FLO leaflet sends walkers from the main road towards the sea and then right to the pool.

Two practical points:

• This is the pool for swimming. The tourism board's page describes it as a place where you can swim.
• The official trails register gives the fall as 100 metres and the tourism board's own page gives 90. Either way it is tall, and best seen from the rocks at the edge of the pool.

Fajã Grande also has a sea bathing area with lifeguards in July and August, so a warm afternoon can take in a swim in fresh water and then one in the sea.

The Rocha dos Bordões stands near the road between Lajedo and Mosteiro, on the way from the south of the island to the west coast, and there is a viewpoint for it. Ten minutes is enough. The columns look their best with the sun on them and flat when the cloud is low.

Carry on north and stop at the Miradouro do Portal, the viewpoint above Fajãzinha. From there you see the western fajã at once: the two villages, the cliff and its falls. It is the view that explains everything you walk to afterwards, so stop on the way in rather than on the way out.

The lakes are on the plateau along Regional Road 2-2, the road that crosses the interior. The viewpoint between the Lagoa Negra and the Lagoa Comprida sits beside that road, and there is another viewpoint over the Rasa and Funda pair, so you can see a good part of the group without walking.

Two things confuse people:

• Two different lakes get called Funda. The Lagoa Negra is also known as Caldeira Funda, and there is a separate Lagoa Funda slightly to the south, next to Lagoa Rasa. That pair sit close together but at different heights.
• The Lagoa Negra is the deep one. The trails register gives 108 metres and calls it the deepest lake in the archipelago; other official pages round it to 100 or 105.

The Lagoa da Lomba lies apart from the others and is easy to miss.

The catch is altitude. The plateau is high enough to sit inside its own cloud when the coast is clear, and on those days the viewpoints show you nothing but white. You go back when the cloud lifts, which is why the lakes belong on the day with the better forecast.

If you want to join the lakes and the waterfalls on foot, the official trail PR03FLO, Miradouro das Lagoas to Poço do Bacalhau does exactly that. It starts at the viewpoint between the Negra and Comprida lakes, passes the Seca and Branca lakes, crosses pasture with a view down to Fajã Grande, and then drops down the cliff by a stone staircase to finish at Poço do Bacalhau.

• Length and time: 7 km, about 3 hours, one way.
• Grade: hard, mostly because of the descent of about 650 metres. Your knees do the work.
• Weather: the start is high ground with rain and fog. The official leaflet warns that in fog it is easy to lose the waymarks.
• Logistics: it is linear, so you need a taxi or a second driver to get back up to the car.

With a car and a clear forecast, a single day works like this, starting from Santa Cruz:

• Morning: drive up Regional Road 2-2 and stop at the lake viewpoints.
• Late morning: carry on to the south-west for the Rocha dos Bordões, then stop at the Portal viewpoint above Fajãzinha.
• Lunch in Fajã Grande, then Poço do Bacalhau.
• Afternoon: Poço da Ribeira do Ferreiro when the sun is on the cliff.

That is a full day but not a rushed one, and none of the stops needs more than fifteen minutes of walking.

Make it two days if any of these apply:

• You want to walk PR03FLO from the lakes down to the waterfalls. That takes a morning on its own.
• You are travelling outside summer. The airport records about 18 days of rain in December against about 8 in July.
• The forecast is mixed. Keep the lakes for whichever day looks clearer and do the waterfalls on the other. The pools at the foot of the cliff are still worth seeing in drizzle; the lakes are not worth seeing in fog.

After heavy rain the streams on the west coast rise quickly and the rock on the paths turns slippery. The falls carry the most water just after rain, but wait for the next dry spell before walking to them.

Can you swim at the Flores waterfalls?

Yes, at Poço do Bacalhau, which the tourism board describes as a place to swim. Poço da Ribeira do Ferreiro is better treated as a place to look. For a lifeguarded swim, Fajã Grande's sea bathing area is staffed in July and August.

How long is the walk to Poço da Ribeira do Ferreiro?

About 700 metres from the bridge on the Fajã Grande road, 10 to 15 minutes each way on uneven ground. Go in the afternoon, when the sun reaches the west-facing cliff.

Can you see the seven lakes without hiking?

A good part of them. The viewpoint between the Negra and Comprida lakes is beside Regional Road 2-2, and there is a separate viewpoint over the Rasa and Funda pair. The obstacle is fog.

Is one day enough for the waterfalls and lakes?

With a car and clear weather, yes: lakes in the morning, Rocha dos Bordões and the Portal viewpoint around midday, the two pools in the afternoon. Add a second day if you want to walk PR03FLO or if the plateau is in cloud.