Lajes das Flores: the church, the lighthouse, the whaling museum and Fajã de Lopo Vaz

Lajes das Flores is the other town on Flores, on the south-east coast, and most visitors only drive through it on the way to the west-coast waterfalls. Give it a morning. You can walk the town end to end, and the Fajã de Lopo Vaz, one of the first places on the island where people settled, is a few minutes' drive west. If you want to see the whaling museum, plan the visit around it, because it opens three mornings a week.

Lajes was settled by about 1510 and became a vila around 1515, which makes it the oldest town in the Western Group. The parish had 562 residents at the 2021 census. It is also the seat of a municipality that covers the whole west and south of the island, seven parishes including Fajã Grande, Fajãzinha and Mosteiro, with 1,446 people in 2023.

The town sits on the only broad bay on the south coast, and its harbour is the island's cargo port: everything heavy that reaches Flores is landed here.

The Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Rosário stands in the centre, on the square where the Fort of Santo António used to be. The first church was on the site of today's cemetery. English privateers burned it on 25 July 1587, when five ships landed men and sacked the village. The present building went up between 1763 and 1783. It is a long rectangle, 39.5 metres by 12, with its two towers built into the façade.

Inside, look at the main altarpiece, installed in 1883 under the Lisbon artist Manuel d'Oliveira and first gilded in 1885. The church also keeps a silver oil lamp, an ossuary and a chalice sent by Pope Pius X. They were his thanks to the people of Flores for their help when the Cunard liner Slavonia ran aground in fog at Ponta dos Fenais, on Flores, on 10 June 1909.

There is no ticket. If the door is open and no service is on, go in quietly.

The Farol da Ponta das Lajes is at the south end of town, on the Avenida do Emigrante. A light first shone on the point in 1902, and the full lighthouse was working by 1910. The naval radio-telegraph station of Flores, planned together with the light, began working on 10 October 1910.

We could not confirm any visiting hours, so treat it as a view rather than a visit. From the road you look west along the cliffs of the south coast towards the Fajã de Lopo Vaz.

The Museu Baleeiro das Lajes is by the harbour and is run by the Clube Naval das Lajes das Flores. In October 2026 it was listed as open on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 09:30 to 11:30, and no entry price was published. The club keeps two of the island's old whaleboats, the São Pedro and the Formosa, and is converting its warehouse into a boat house where they will be on show and taken out on the water in season.

On any other day, or at any other time, you will see the harbour from outside. If whaling is the reason you came to Flores, the larger factory museum is in Santa Cruz; see Santa Cruz das Flores.

The port collapsed in Hurricane Lorenzo on 2 October 2019. A new one is being built under a contract worth €194.8 million plus VAT, which runs for 60 months, from April 2025 to April 2030. Until then, expect building work along the waterfront and keep to the signed paths.

At the western end of the bay, the Praia das Lajes, also called the Calheta, is a stretch of dark sand and stones. It is sheltered from the northerly weather that closes much of the coast. There is no lifeguard, no toilet and no café on the beach, so bring what you need down from the town.

About 3 km west of the centre by narrow lanes, a picnic area and viewpoint sit on top of the cliff. Even if you go no further, the view down onto the fajã is worth the drive. Parking is free but there are only a few spaces.

The fajã below is a terrace of landslide debris at the foot of cliffs more than 350 metres high, and it was one of the first places on Flores where people settled. It faces full south and gets so much sun that figs, araçá (strawberry guava), currants and bananas grow in walled plots. The official trail, PRC04FLO, takes the stone staircase that the settler Lopo Vaz is said to have built. It is 3.4 km there and back, graded medium, and takes about two hours. The fajã and the headland next to it, the Ponta da Rocha Alta, are geosites of the Azores Geopark, and the area is an important bird area where Cory's shearwaters and common and roseate terns nest.

The trail page warns about falling rocks. Stay away from the foot of the cliff, and leave it for another day after heavy rain. For the other trails on the island and their current status, see hiking on Flores.

• Go on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday and be at the whaling museum when it opens at 09:30.
• Walk up to the church, then out to the lighthouse.
• Drive to the Lopo Vaz viewpoint, and walk down to the fajã if you have two hours and dry weather.
• Swim at the Praia das Lajes on the way back if the sea is calm.

Without a car, the UTC bus from Santa Cruz runs on weekdays only. In the timetable UTC links in October 2026, the 10:00 from Santa Cruz (outside school term) reaches Lajes at 10:31, and the 16:00 from Lajes is back in Santa Cruz at 16:32. That leaves time for the town but not for Lopo Vaz on foot. For timetables and car hire, see getting around Flores.

Is Lajes das Flores worth a stop?

Yes, for a morning. The church, the lighthouse and the harbour are a short walk apart, and the Fajã de Lopo Vaz viewpoint is a few minutes away by car.

When is the whaling museum open?

It was listed in October 2026 as open Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 09:30 to 11:30. Check before you go, because small museums on Flores change their hours.

How hard is the walk to Fajã de Lopo Vaz?

It is 3.4 km there and back, graded medium, and takes about two hours. You come back up the way you went down. Watch for falling rock under the cliff.

Can I swim in Lajes?

At the Praia das Lajes in the bay, on a calm day. It has no lifeguard or facilities.