Pico's vineyards: the UNESCO currais, Criação Velha, Lajido and where to taste the wine

Most visitors give Pico's vineyards half a day, and the question is which half. You can walk the stone walls at Criação Velha, just outside Madalena. You can drive to Lajido on the north coast, where an interpretation centre explains how the whole system worked. Or you can sit down and taste the wine. The three fit together in a day, but if you only have time for one, the sections below should help you choose.

The landscape itself is the Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2004.

The protected site covers 987 hectares, with a buffer zone of 1,924 hectares around it, most of it in the municipality of Madalena and the rest in São Roque do Pico. Long walls of black basalt run inland from the shore and parallel to it, and between them sit thousands of small rectangular plots called currais. The walls are there to keep wind and salt water off the vines. Nothing about them is decorative.

Vines have been grown here since the 15th century. Production peaked in the 19th century, when Pico's Verdelho was shipped to England and the Americas and was drunk, so the island's history says, in the palaces of the Russian tsars. Then it fell away, and UNESCO names the causes plainly: plant disease, and desertification in the form of lost soil and less rain.

That history is still visible. UNESCO describes the site as two landscapes at once: abandoned walled plots, many of them colonised by invasive plants, alongside plots that are still in production. The working part is concentrated next to Criação Velha, just south of Madalena, where the currais are farmed with techniques that have not changed much since the 19th century. The other area singled out for its wine is the lajido, the lava field, of Santa Luzia on the north side of the island.

The easiest way in is the PR5PIC Vinhas da Criação Velha, a marked linear trail of about 7 kilometres from Candelária to Areia Larga, on the edge of Madalena. It is rated easy and takes around two hours, and since it is linear you will need to arrange a lift or a taxi back to your car.

Much of it runs close to the sea, and it is worth walking slowly, because the details are the point:

• Tide wells at Porto do Calhau and Porto do Pocinho, where islanders drew brackish water for the house and the vines
• Relheiras, grooves worn into the rock by the wheels of ox carts
• Rola-pipas, slopes cut into the lava so barrels could be rolled down to the boats
• The red-capped Moinho do Frade windmill, rebuilt in 2003 and 2004, with the mountain behind it
• The manor houses of Solar dos Limas and Solar dos Salemas near the end

The path also passes the bathing area at Laja das Rosas, which makes a summer walk easier to justify. The official trail notes ask walkers not to pick fruit, and that applies to grapes in late summer too. These are working vineyards and somebody's harvest.

The honest drawback is shade: there is almost none, and on a hot afternoon the black rock makes it feel hotter still. Go early, or on a cloudier day.

Criação Velha shows you the walls. Lajido explains the system around them. The Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture Interpretation Centre sits in Lajido de Santa Luzia, in São Roque do Pico, and it exists to explain the landscape rather than to sell wine.

According to Visit Azores, a visit includes:

• A short documentary about the vineyard landscape
• A guided walk through vine and fig plots
• The inside of a wine warehouse and a traditional distillery that is still in use
• The lajido itself, where you can see small ledges left by flowing lava, now colonised by endemic plants

If you want to arrive on foot, the PR10PIC Santana - Lajido trail ends in the centre of Lajido near the interpretation centre. It is about 8.7 kilometres, rated easy, around two and a half hours, and passes an old whale lookout near its start. Opening times are seasonal, so check with the Pico Natural Park before you drive across the island for it.

Pico's wine rests on three native white grapes: Arinto dos Açores, Verdelho and Terrantez do Pico. They grow low, the island cooperative says below 100 metres, in the currais, and every job in the vineyard is still done by hand.

Historically the island's reputation was built on a white liqueur wine, and fortified wines are still made. The cooperative's range today also takes in still whites, a red, sparkling wine and rosé, and its entry-level tasting is two whites and a red. If you only try one thing, try a white blended from all three grapes, then one made from a single variety, and compare them.

The simplest place to taste is the Cooperativa Vitivinícola da Ilha do Pico, which sells as Picowines, in Madalena. Its Frei Gigante, first released in 2003, is made from the three native grapes.

The cooperative's tastings, as listed on its site in 2026:

• From 20 euros per person for three wines, about 30 to 40 minutes
• From 25 euros for five wines paired with local products
• From 35 euros for five wines in its most detailed tasting

Bookings are made through the Picowines site and have to be confirmed by the cooperative, and payment is taken on the day. Prices and slots change by season, so check before you go. Madalena was named Portuguese City of Wine in 2018, and the cooperative is the easiest place to start.

If you are staying in Madalena or coming over from Faial for the day, this works well:

• Morning: walk the PR5PIC from Candelária to Areia Larga before the heat builds
• Lunch in Madalena
• Afternoon: a booked tasting at the cooperative

Lajido needs its own half day, or pair it with the rest of the north coast around São Roque do Pico.

Where are the UNESCO vineyards on Pico?

Mainly on the west coast around Madalena, with the most active area at Criação Velha just south of the town, and on the north coast at Lajido de Santa Luzia in São Roque do Pico.

What are currais?

Small rectangular plots enclosed by walls of loose black basalt. The walls shelter the vines from wind and salt spray, and there are thousands of them on the protected site.

Can I walk through the vineyards?

Yes. The PR5PIC Vinhas da Criação Velha is an easy, marked, linear trail of about 7 kilometres from Candelária to Areia Larga, around two hours. Stay on the path and do not pick the fruit.

How much is a wine tasting on Pico?

At the island cooperative in Madalena, tastings started at 20 euros per person for three wines in 2026, rising to 35 euros for five. They have to be booked and confirmed in advance.