São Jorge's geosites: the Morros of Velas, lava and landslide fajãs, and the ridge

São Jorge is a long, thin ridge of volcanoes with cliffs on both sides and flat shelves of land at their feet. The Azores Geopark picks out eight places on the island as geosites, numbered SJO 1 to SJO 8, and most of them can be seen from a road or a viewpoint. Taken together, they explain the shape of the island. This guide goes through them west to east: what you are looking at, and where to stand to see it.

You do not need to know any geology. Two words do most of the work. A fajã is a flat strip of land at the foot of a sea cliff. On São Jorge some fajãs were made by lava running down to the sea and spreading out, and others by the cliff collapsing and the rubble piling up below. The tourism board counts 74 of them on the island. A mistério is a lava field from an eruption that people saw happen.

The Geopark's own list, with the numbers it uses:

• SJO 1: the cliff between Fajã dos Vimes and Fajã de São João
• SJO 2: the central volcanic ridge
• SJO 3: Fajã do Ouvidor and Fajã da Ribeira da Areia
• SJO 4: Fajã dos Cubres and Fajã da Caldeira de Santo Cristo
• SJO 5: Morro de Velas and Morro de Lemos
• SJO 6: Ponta dos Rosais
• SJO 7: the Mistério da Urzelina
• SJO 8: Ponta do Topo and the Ilhéu do Topo

The pages for the last three still read "in development" on the Geopark website, and its downloadable list stops at seven, without Topo. All eight are free to look at.

The western tip ends in cliffs about 200 metres high. It has been a natural monument since 2011. The lighthouse at the end, opened on 1 May 1958, was evacuated on 1 January 1980, when the earthquake that day brought down parts of the cliff around it. It is a ruin now: look at it from outside and stay back from the edge. The last stretch of road is narrow and partly unsurfaced. Our guide to Ponta dos Rosais covers the drive and the whale lookout on the hill behind.

The two hills on either side of Velas are tuff cones, built by eruptions in shallow sea water, the kind geologists call Surtseyan. They are of different ages and it shows. Morro de Lemos is the older one, and the sea has eaten most of it. Morro Grande de Velas still has a round cone and a crater, with a smaller cone inside the crater from a later phase of the eruption. In the cliffs above the bay between them, the Baía de Entre-Morros, you can see the layers of ash.

Velas itself sits on a lava fajã. The flows came from the Pico dos Loiros cone and were later covered by ash from Morro de Velas.

Where to look: the Canavial viewpoint on the regional road above Velas shows both hills side by side. The viewpoint on Morro Grande looks down over the harbour and the town to Pico and Faial, and the Miradouro de Velas on the east edge of town gives the reverse view of the cone.

On 1 May 1808 an eruption began on the central ridge above Urzelina. Lava from the Bocas de Fogo craters ran down to the sea and through the village, and buried the church except for its bell tower. The tower still stands in the lava field, which is the easiest way to see what a mistério is. Our article on Urzelina and Manadas has the story of the eruption.

São Jorge was built by many basaltic eruptions along fractures that run west-north-west to east-south-east, which is why it is long and narrow. The Geopark counts 280 small volcanic centres along the ridge, mostly cinder and spatter cones and eruptive fissures. Some cones hold small lagoons that come and go. Others have pits: the Algar do Montoso, also called Algar do Morro Pelado, is 140 metres deep, the deepest in the Azores, and only for experienced cavers with the right equipment.

The high point is Pico da Esperança, at 1,053 metres. From the top you can see the other islands of the central group on a clear day. You can travel along the ridge by car, by bike or on foot. The trail PR04SJO runs 16.9 kilometres along it, from the foot of Pico do Pedro to Fajã do Ouvidor, mostly between 800 and 1,000 metres, with a signed detour to the summit. It is graded medium and takes about four hours. In cloud, which is common up there, you will see little, so pick a clear day. Our São Jorge hikes guide has the details.

These are lava fajãs on the north coast. Fajã do Ouvidor formed about 2,530 years ago, from lava that came down from Pico do Areeiro, a cone about 3 kilometres inland. Together with Fajã das Pontas, they are the only lava fajãs on the north coast. The lava cooled into columns, which you see in the low cliffs, and the sea has cut caves into it: the longest, the Furna do Lobo, is over 50 metres. Ribeira da Areia, just east of Ouvidor, has lava arches.

Ouvidor has the best harbour on the north coast and several natural pools, the largest being the Poça de Simão Dias.

Where to look: the Fajã do Ouvidor viewpoint is on the road down from Norte Grande. Stop there first. The pool faces north, and if you see white water breaking at the tip of the fajã, a swell is running and the pool will be closed. There is no lifeguard.

Further east along the north coast, the fajãs are made of rubble instead of lava. These two formed from landslides off the cliffs above them, and both grew larger after the earthquakes of 1757 and 1980. They hold the only coastal lagoons in the Azores, each closed off from the sea by a beach bar. At Santo Cristo a channel to the sea is kept open by hand, so that clams can be farmed in the lagoon.

Where to look: the viewpoint above Fajã dos Cubres, on the road down from Norte Pequeno. Stop before the hairpins. On a clear day you see Cubres with its lagoon below you and the Santo Cristo lagoon about 3 kilometres further east. Santo Cristo has no road; you reach it on foot, from Cubres or down from the Serra do Topo. The road down to Cubres has been closed by landslides several times since October 2025, most recently after rain on 25 September 2026, so check that it is open before you drive it. Our guide to the fajãs of São Jorge covers the walk.

On the south-east coast the cliffs are the ones most affected by landslides on the island, and the rubble has built wide, flat fajãs such as São João and Vimes. Heavy rain sets the slides off, and so do faults; the Urze-São João fault nearby is 25 kilometres long.

Where to look: the Pessegueiro viewpoint and picnic area in the parish of Santo Antão looks down the slope to Fajã de São João, with Pico across the water. It has tables, barbecues and parking. Fajã dos Vimes, the next fajã to the west, is worth the descent for other reasons: hand-loom weaving has gone on there since the 16th century, and coffee is grown for local use.

The island ends in the east at the Topo lighthouse, with the low Ilhéu do Topo just offshore and, on a clear day, Terceira beyond it. The first stage of the long-distance trail GR01SJO starts at the lighthouse. Our guide to Topo covers the village, the harbour and the islet's seabirds.

From Velas to Topo is about 51 kilometres by road, through villages most of the way. Two days by car is comfortable:

• Day one, the west: Ponta dos Rosais in the morning, the Morros from the Canavial viewpoint, then Urzelina's bell tower. If the ridge is clear in the afternoon, cross it to the north coast and Fajã do Ouvidor.
• Day two, the east: the Cubres viewpoint in the morning (check the road first), then across to the south coast for the Pessegueiro viewpoint and Fajã de São João, and on to Topo.

In one day, pick a side. The west has more geosites closer together.

How many geosites does São Jorge have? The Azores Geopark website numbers eight, SJO 1 to SJO 8. Its downloadable list gives seven and leaves out Ponta do Topo and the Ilhéu do Topo.

Do the geosites cost anything? No. They are open landscapes, viewpoints and a lava field, with no entry fee.

What is the difference between a lava fajã and a landslide fajã? A lava fajã formed when lava ran over the cliff and spread out into the sea, like Fajã do Ouvidor. A landslide fajã is rubble from the cliff above, like Fajã dos Cubres or Fajã de São João.

Can you visit the Algar do Montoso? Not as a tourist. At 140 metres it is the deepest volcanic pit in the Azores, and the tourism board says only experienced cavers with the right equipment should go in.