Azores Sete Cidades Loop from Ponta Delgada

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Ponta Delgada

   Ponta Delgada is the main town of the Azores, on the south coast of São Miguel, a green volcanic island in the middle of the Atlantic. The town is laid out along the sea, with black basalt and white limestone pavements in patterns that make the streets look like a drawing, and three big arches, the Portas da Cidade, mark the old entrance from the harbour. Fishing boats, whale-watching boats and ferries come and go, and the island's wealth once came from oranges, then pineapples, which are still grown in glasshouses and are sold in the market with a sweetness you will not forget.

   Read the complete Ponta Delgada write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Ponta Delgada is where the day begins. Next is Vista do Rei.

2. 2. Vista do Rei

   Everyone who rides on São Miguel eventually ends up at this lay-by, and they all take the same photograph. Vista do Rei looks down into the caldera of Sete Cidades from its western rim, and what you see is a giant green bowl with two lakes lying side by side in the bottom, one blue and one green, a pretty village between them and a neat white church with its spire. The viewpoint takes its name from King Carlos I, who is said to have admired the view on a royal visit at the start of the twentieth century.

   Read the complete Vista do Rei write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Vista do Rei comes up about 18 km into the recorded legs. Next is Sete Cidades.

3. 3. Sete Cidades

   Down at the bottom of the caldera, the view from the rim turns into something more intimate. The village of Sete Cidades sits on a narrow strip of land between two lakes, the Lagoa Azul and the Lagoa Verde, which are joined by a short channel and a little bridge. A neo-Gothic church, São Nicolau, stands among small houses, with a lane leading off to the water, and the whole place smells of wet grass, woodsmoke and cows.

   Read the complete Sete Cidades write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 27 km into the recorded legs you reach Sete Cidades. Next is Mosteiros.

4. 4. Mosteiros

   Mosteiros sits at the very western tip of São Miguel, where the road runs out of island and the Atlantic takes over. It is a small village of low houses, a harbour, a church and an old basalt shoreline, and the reason people come is the group of sea stacks standing just off the coast. They are black, jagged and covered with the green of lichen and salt-hardy plants, and they look like the ruins of something. The name means monasteries, and one story says that the stacks resemble the shapes of monks' cowls, though the origin of the name is not entirely clear.

   Read the complete Mosteiros write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Mosteiros, late in the day. Next is Ponta Delgada.

5. 5. Ponta Delgada

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Ponta Delgada write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Ponta Delgada. That is the ride.