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Plan
Plan your trip Best time to visit How many days 3-day itinerary Pico or Faial Practical info
The cone of Montanha do Pico rising across the channel, seen from Faial

38.4686° N, 28.3992° W

Pico Island, Azores

The mountain, the whales and the lava-walled vineyards. An independent guide, every figure checked against its source.

Plan your trip Ferry timetable Best time to visit

Montanha do Pico from Faial, across the channel. Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0

2,351 m Montanha do Pico, Portugal's highest point · source
447 km² Island area · source
13,834 People on the island · source
2004 UNESCO World Heritage vineyards · source

Right now

Sea between Faial and Pico
1.96 m swell Wind 10.5 kt from 288°
Most recorded this month
Sperm whale Recorded in 12 of 12 months · season calendar
01

Start with the reason you came

Montanha do Pico rising above the island, seen from lower ground The Cosmonaut · CC BY-SA 4.0 Montanha do Pico Montanha do Pico is 2,351 metres and the highest point in Portugal. The ascent starts from Casa da Montanha above Madalena, is registered and... The waterfront at Lajes do Pico, the south-coast town where whale watching boats depart The Cosmonaut · CC BY-SA 4.0 Whale watching on Pico Whale watching off Pico is regulated by Azorean regional law, which licenses every operator and sets how close a boat may come. The grid of basalt-walled vine plots at Criação Velha, running inland from the shore Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL · CC BY-SA 2.0 Pico wine country Pico grows vines directly on lava, inside small walled plots called currais built to shelter them from Atlantic salt wind.
02

Explore the island

All things to do
The shallow lake on Pico's interior plateau at Lagoa do Capitão Luis Afonso · CC BY-SA 4.0 Things to do on Pico Four things carry a visit outside the mountain and the boats: the Gruta das Torres lava tube, the whalers' museum at Lajes, the crater lake at... The parish church at Piedade, at the eastern end of Pico Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL · CC BY-SA 2.0 Pico's villages Pico is one island split into three municipalities: Madalena on the west coast, where the Faial ferry berths, São Roque on the north coast, and... Swimming pools cut into black lava rock at the water's edge at Cais do Pico Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL · CC BY-SA 2.0 Natural swimming pools on Pico Pico has almost no sand. Swimming here means natural pools cut into the lava along both coasts, usually with ladders, concrete edges and a sea... The exit of the Gruta das Torres lava tube, with daylight on the basalt Ulrich Thumult · CC BY-SA 4.0 Gruta das Torres The Gruta das Torres is a lava tube on Pico, the longest known in Portugal, formed by the same volcanism that built the island. Small stone cottages, the Azorean adegas, in the fields at Candelária Ruben JC Furtado · CC BY-SA 3.0 Where to stay on Pico Base yourself by what you came for, because the island is long and the coast roads are slow. The curved timber and stone structure of the Cella Bar at Madalena Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL · CC BY-SA 2.0 Eating on Pico Eating on Pico runs on the season and on the size of the island. Madalena and Lajes have the most choice, many places close one day a week, and...
03

Before you book

Plan your trip
Best time to visit Pico There is no single best month, only trade-offs between weather, crowds and what is open. How many days do you need on Pico? Four full days is the honest minimum if you want the mountain and the sea. 3-day Pico itinerary Three days works if you accept that one of them belongs to the weather. Pico vs Faial They face each other across a short channel and most visitors do both. Flights to Pico Pico has its own airport, IATA code PIX and ICAO code LPPI, on the north coast at 34 metres above sea level. Renting a car on Pico Yes, in practice. Pico has no bus network worth planning a trip around, and the island is long enough that the two coasts are a real drive apart.
  • Rent a car before you fly. There is no useful bus network, and August cars go early. Car rental
  • The ferry is the easy way from Faial. Check today's sailings, then confirm at the terminal. Ferry timetable
  • Leave a spare day for the weather. The mountain and the boats both depend on it. How many days
04

This week

From the guide

Two black and white orcas leaping out of the sea together Robert Pittman · Public domain Orcas off Pico Yes, but rarely. OBIS holds 67 orca records for the waters around Pico, against 11,027 for the sperm whale.