Capelas, São Miguel: Morro das Capelas, the sea pools and the north-west coast

Most people cross São Miguel from Ponta Delgada to the north coast on the way to Ribeira Grande, or head west for Sete Cidades. Capelas sits between the two, about 12 km north of the capital, and it gets far fewer visitors than either. It has a volcano that rose out of the sea and joined the island, a sheltered sea pool by an old whaling harbour, a private museum built by a retired teacher, and a string of roadside viewpoints west towards Bretanha. It fills a half day, or makes a stop on the way to Mosteiros.

By car, Capelas is about 12 km from Ponta Delgada over the middle of the island, roughly 20 minutes. Driving on from Capelas along the north coast to Mosteiros is about 25 km, a good half hour.

Without a car, note that one of the four night bus circuits the regional government lists from Ponta Delgada runs to Capelas. The night buses run every day of the week, with departures between 21:15 and 23:15, so you can come back late from dinner in town. No official daytime timetable for the line was online in October 2026, so ask at your hotel or the bus station.

The headland on the east side of the bay is the Morro das Capelas. According to the Azores Geopark, it began as a submarine volcano, a basaltic tuff cone that formed in shallow water. As it grew it joined the high cliffs of the north coast and became a peninsula. It and the Rosto do Cão volcano near Ponta Delgada are the only two submarine eruptions in the Picos volcanic complex, the island's youngest geological area, between Sete Cidades and Fogo.

The sea has cut the outer side into steep cliffs, gullies and caves, which boats can visit when the sea is calm. The top is fields and pasture, with a crater you can only just make out. The Geopark recommends two places for the view: the road down to the harbour and the small light on top of the cone. The edges are unfenced, so keep children close and stay back from them in wind or rain.

The Morro is one of the Azores Geopark's listed geosites, rated of national importance.

The bay west of the Morro holds the Capelas fishing harbour, which the Geopark notes was a landmark of whaling on São Miguel. A little further west, on the boundary between Capelas and São Vicente Ferreira, is Poços, where the first settlers built their houses. Across the road from the pools are the ruins of a factory that rendered whale oil and also milled flour.

The official bathing area is called Poços de São Vicente Ferreira / Capelas. The regional bathing-water profile describes it as a seawater pool, filled by the sea and enclosed by basalt rocks, with concrete steps, and next to it open-sea bathing over a basalt slab. Exposure to the sea is high, and the profile gives an average water temperature of 22 °C in season. The water was rated excellent every year from 2015 to 2023, and the area held the Blue Flag every year from 2017 to 2024. It lies inside the protected area for resource management of Porto das Capelas to Ponta das Calhetas.

The 2026 bathing season, when the area is supervised, ran from 1 June to 30 September. Outside those dates there is no lifeguard. On the north coast the swell can build quickly, so look at the sea before you get in and do not swim alone.

The official trail PR01SMI starts by the Poços pools and follows the coast east to Calhetas. It is 6 km, linear, graded easy and takes about two hours. On the way you pass Fenais da Luz, the Chapel of São Pedro from the 16th century and a geological feature called the hole of São Pedro, where the trail page warns of a risk of falling. It finishes at the church of Nossa Senhora da Boa Viagem in Calhetas, built in 1728. As it is linear, arrange a lift or a taxi back. We cover the trail with others in our São Miguel hiking guide.

A second official trail inland, PR17SMI Nascentes de Santo António (2.8 km, graded medium), was listed as closed on the official trails site in October 2026.

In the village, at Rua do Loural 56, is the Oficina-Museu, a workshop museum that the retired teacher Manuel João Melo founded in 1998. The regional crafts register describes it as an ethnographic museum built around his private collection of objects from traditional Azorean trades. Rooms open off one another like the streets of an old town, each set up as a shop or workshop: a blacksmith, a pharmacy, a record shop, a pottery, a carpenter, a weaving room. Artisans still work there, making figurines and weaving, and you can buy their work in the shop.

No official source gave opening hours or an entry price in October 2026. Email oficinamuseu@gmail.com before making a special trip.

West of Capelas the regional road runs through Santo António, Remédios and the two Bretanha parishes before it drops to Mosteiros. The regional government's viewpoint register lists a stop every few kilometres:

• Santo António viewpoint, 133 m, by the regional road: a view over the sea, Capelas, the north coast, Pico da Vara and the Lagoa do Fogo massif. It has access for wheelchair users.
• Remédios viewpoint, 183 m, in Remédios da Bretanha: a picnic area with parking, looking along the north coast to Pico da Vara.
• Pico Vermelho viewpoint, 172 m, in Ajuda da Bretanha: a picnic area with parking over the parish. Close by stands a red and white windmill, worth a look from outside.
• Melos viewpoint, 170 m, in Pilar da Bretanha: parking and a view of Pico de Mafra and Mosteiros.

The old parish of Bretanha was split in two in 2002, into Ajuda da Bretanha and Pilar da Bretanha, which is why the names on the road signs keep changing. From Melos it is a short drive down to Mosteiros, where our beaches guide picks up.

• Half a day from Ponta Delgada: the Morro and the harbour, a swim at Poços in season, then the museum.
• A full day on the north-west: Capelas in the morning, the viewpoints along the regional road, lunch in Mosteiros, and back by Sete Cidades if the crater rim is clear.

How far is Capelas from Ponta Delgada? About 12 km, roughly 20 minutes by car. There is also a night bus to Capelas from Ponta Delgada every day, with departures between 21:15 and 23:15.

Can you swim at Capelas? Yes, at the Poços de São Vicente Ferreira / Capelas sea pool. The 2026 supervised season ran from 1 June to 30 September; outside it there is no lifeguard.

What is the Morro das Capelas? A submarine volcano that grew in shallow water and joined the north coast, now a headland and an Azores Geopark geosite.

Is the Oficina-Museu open every day? No official 2026 hours were published. Email oficinamuseu@gmail.com before you go.

• Morro de Capelas geosite sheet, Azores Geopark
• Portaria n.º 204-A/2026/1, bathing seasons 2026 (Diário da República supplement)
• Poços de São Vicente Ferreira / Capelas bathing-water profile, Azores government
• PR01SMI Vigia de São Pedro, Trails Azores
• PR17SMI Nascentes de Santo António, Trails Azores
• Oficina-Museu das Capelas, Azores crafts register
• Azores viewpoints register: Santo António, Remédios, Pico Vermelho, Melos
• Public passenger transport, Azores government
• Capelas, Wikipedia
• Ajuda da Bretanha, Wikipedia