Calheta, São Jorge: the Francisco de Lacerda museum, Santa Catarina church and the harbour

Most visitors drive through Calheta on the way to the eastern fajãs and stop only for fuel or groceries. That is a mistake if you have a spare morning or a wet afternoon. The town is small enough to see on foot in two or three hours: a museum in an old tuna cannery, a baroque parish church, a harbour you can swim from, and a tuna cannery that still works just outside town. If the cloud is down on the ridge, Calheta is also the start of a marked walk that stays low.

Calheta is São Jorge's second town, on the south coast in the eastern half of the island. People settled here from about the 1480s, and King João III made it a municipality of its own, split from Velas, on 3 June 1534. The municipality had 3,773 residents at the 2011 census, spread over five parishes: Calheta, Norte Pequeno, Ribeira Seca, Santo Antão and Topo.

Like the rest of the island it was wrecked by the earthquake of 9 July 1757, which locals call the Mandado de Deus.

The supermarket, a chemist and the restaurants are on the square by the port, so this is an easy place to stock up before heading east to Topo or the Serra do Topo.

The museum sits on the slope above the harbour, on the ruins of a tuna cannery that traded as Marie d'Anjou. It covers three things: the island itself, music, and the tuna canning industry. Expect the ethnographic side of São Jorge (Holy Spirit crowns, straw baskets, the viola da terra, woven blankets) next to the rooms on fishing and canning. There is also a temporary exhibition room, a documentation centre and an auditorium.

The name comes from the island's best-known cultural figure. Francisco de Lacerda was born in Ribeira Seca, one of Calheta's parishes, on 11 May 1869. He went to Paris in 1895 on a state grant, studied at the Schola Cantorum under Vincent d'Indy and Charles-Marie Widor, and made his career as a conductor in France and Switzerland, including the Kursaal concerts in Montreux from 1908 to 1912. Ill health brought him back to the Azores in 1914, and he spent years at Fajã da Fragueira on São Jorge's south coast. He died in Lisbon on 18 July 1934.

The Azores museums network lists these opening hours, with no year on the page:

• 1 October to 31 March: Tuesday to Friday 09:30 to 17:00, weekends and public holidays 12:00 to 17:00.
• 1 April to 30 September: Tuesday to Friday 10:00 to 17:30, weekends and public holidays 12:00 to 17:30.

The listing gives no Monday hours, so treat Monday as closed. We could not find a published admission price, so ask at the desk or call +351 295 416 323 before you go. Groups of ten or more should book a guided tour in advance.

The museum also looks after the church of Santa Bárbara in Manadas, between Calheta and Velas. It is on the south-coast road, and the museum can tell you when it is open.

If Lacerda interests you, the short trail PR09SJO from Fajã dos Vimes climbs to the ruins of his house at Fragueira. It is 3.1 kilometres and about an hour and a half. Our guide to São Jorge hikes beyond Santo Cristo describes it.

The parish church is a short walk from the harbour. It was built on a new site in the last quarter of the 16th century. A fire destroyed the tabernacle, which was rebuilt in 1664, and the main chapel was finished in 1763 in a baroque style. Its altar is carved wood painted in blue and gold. The bell tower is attached to the façade, which ends in a triangular pediment.

The building has taken a lot of damage. A heavy swell hit it on 4 October 1945, and the earthquake of 1 January 1980 caused major damage again. It reopened in 1991 after the repairs. Inside are two images of Saint Catherine, one from the 16th century and one from the 17th.

Saint Catherine is the patron of the municipality, and her feast on 25 November is Calheta's local holiday.

The museum stands on the ruins of one cannery, but the trade has not gone away. Santa Catarina, Indústria Conserveira has run a tuna cannery at Fajã Grande, just outside the town, since the 1940s.

In 2017 Time Out Lisboa reported that the factory had a small shop at the entrance, cheaper and with more choice than shops elsewhere, open Monday to Friday from 08:30 to 17:30, and that guided visits were possible by appointment on the morning shift. That is nine years old, so check before you plan around it. A few tins of São Jorge tuna survive a suitcase better than most souvenirs.

Calheta's bathing area is the harbour itself: a concrete platform with ladders into deep, clear water, right next to the square. There is no sand and no shallow end, so it suits confident swimmers. It is sheltered, and you are two minutes from a café afterwards.

The other official bathing area in the municipality is Portinhos at Fajã Grande, near the cannery. Its official bathing season in 2026 ran from 1 June to 30 September. Do not count on a lifeguard at either. Our guide to swimming on São Jorge compares all the island's spots.

The marked trail PRC10SJO, Caminho das Fontes, starts at the port next to the museum and finishes there too. It is 8.1 kilometres, takes about three hours and is graded medium.

It climbs out of town on the Ladeira Velha, an old path paved in the 19th century, and passes a viewpoint with Pico and Faial across the channel. At Biscoitos, the highest point, there is a church dedicated to Nossa Senhora do Socorro. From there it follows the old route villagers walked to the Fontes da Rocha springs to fetch water and wash clothes, past the washing basins, the ruins of a water mill and plots of water yam.

The way back runs down to Fajã Grande, past a chapel, an old windmill and the cannery, and returns along the coast to the harbour, past Santa Catarina church. The route stays below 350 metres, so it is the walk to choose when the island's ridge is in cloud.

By road, Calheta is about 28 kilometres from the airport and the drive from Velas follows the south coast through Urzelina and Manadas. The island's buses are built around commuters, so a car or a taxi is the realistic way to fit Calheta into a day. Our guide to getting around São Jorge covers the options.

In summer you can also arrive by sea. In 2026 Atlânticoline's Linha Lilás called at Calheta on Tuesdays and Saturdays from June to September, linking it with Horta, Madalena and Angra do Heroísmo. Outside that season, São Jorge's ferry port is Velas. Timetables change every year, so check the current one.

If you are on the island in July, the town's Festival de Julho puts on concerts in the vila. In 2026 it ran from 9 to 12 July.

• Start at the museum when it opens, and give it an hour.
• Walk over to the church of Santa Catarina.
• Coffee on the square by the harbour.
• On a calm day, swim from the harbour platform; in cloud or drizzle, walk the Caminho das Fontes loop instead.
• Pick up tins of tuna at the cannery on the way out, if the shop is open.

Is Calheta worth a stop on São Jorge? Yes, for two or three hours. The museum, the church and the harbour are all within a short walk of each other, and the town is on the way to Topo and the Serra do Topo trailhead.

When is the Francisco de Lacerda museum open? Tuesday to Sunday. From October to March, 09:30 to 17:00 on weekdays and 12:00 to 17:00 at weekends and on holidays; from April to September, 10:00 to 17:30 on weekdays and 12:00 to 17:30 at weekends. There are no Monday hours listed. Confirm on +351 295 416 323.

Can you swim in Calheta? Yes, from the platform in the harbour, with ladders into deep water, or at Portinhos in Fajã Grande. In 2026 the official bathing season at Portinhos ran from 1 June to 30 September.

Who was Francisco de Lacerda? A conductor and composer born in Ribeira Seca, near Calheta, in 1869. He made his career in Paris and other French and Swiss cities, came back to São Jorge in 1914 and died in Lisbon in 1934.