Santa Cruz das Flores: the whale factory, the convent museum and a walk round town

Most visitors see Santa Cruz das Flores twice: the afternoon they land and the morning they leave. The island's only airport sits on the edge of town, and the waterfalls and crater lakes are on the other side of the island, so the town tends to get skipped. That is a pity, because it holds the two things on Flores that explain how people lived here: a whaling factory with its machinery still in place and a 17th-century Franciscan convent. Both are in town, within walking distance of each other. Half a day covers them, and the town pools are next door when you are done.

The best time for it is the first or last half day of your stay, or a day when cloud sits on the plateau and the lakes are not worth the drive.

Santa Cruz is the island's main town, a parish of 1,552 people in the 2021 census. It runs along the east coast between two small harbours. Porto das Poças, at the southern end, is where the fishing boats work from. Porto do Boqueirão, at the northern end, was the whaling station and is now part of the museum. The runway is on the northern edge of town. Everything in this article is within walking distance of everything else, and you can leave the car at your accommodation.

This is the stop to plan around. Construction of the factory started in October 1941, and the machinery was in by March 1943. Whales towed in by the island's boats were hauled up a slipway into the yard and processed here until whaling on Flores ended in the early 1980s. The busiest year was 1963, with 103 whales.

The building reopened as a museum in 2015, and it keeps the factory as it was. You walk past the stoves where the blubber was rendered into oil and the machines that ground and dried the flesh and bone into meal. There are harpoons, boats, carved bone and a film of one of the last catches. Outside stands a life-size model of a sperm whale, cut open to show what the factory dealt with.

It is part of the Flores Museum, which also runs the convent described below, so the same phone number (+351 292 592 159) answers for both.

Next door, at Rua do Boqueirão 2-A, the tanks that once held the factory's whale oil now house the Boqueirão Environmental Interpretation Centre, run by the island's nature park. Where the factory is about killing whales, the centre is about the living sea around Flores: resident and migratory birds, what lives in the rock pools and the open water, whales and dolphins, and the hydrothermal vents on the seabed. The building made the 2011 Architecture Guide to the South and Islands of Portugal, and it is worth a look for the conversion alone.

Give it 30 to 45 minutes. Hours change with the season and between sources, so phone the centre on +351 292 542 447 before you walk over.

The convent stands in the middle of town. Franciscan friars began building it in the 1640s, in the Baroque style. The orders were dissolved in 1832 and the building passed into private hands two years later. It has been classified as a property of public interest since 1980.

Today it is the main seat of the Flores Museum. The convent church holds sacred art, and the collections cover island life from the 18th to the 20th century: fishing, whaling and seaweed gathering, a set of scrimshaw, cattle and dairying, spinning and weaving. The third building of the museum is the Pimentel de Mesquita museum-house. The museum lists all three under the one contact, so ask when you phone which of them are open that day.

Opening days differ between listings, with some showing a weekday pattern and others Tuesday to Saturday. Phone ahead or email museu.flores.info@azores.gov.pt rather than relying on any one schedule.

A short walk from the convent is the parish church, the Igreja Matriz de Nossa Senhora da Conceição. Work on it began in the late 18th century, and it was only finished in 1859, after years of running short of money. If the door is open, go in.

The Piscinas Naturais do Altio, on the Avenida dos Baleeiros, are the island's main bathing place and one of only two on Flores that the regional programme monitors as bathing water. The season runs from mid-June to mid-September, with a lifeguard in season, plus showers, toilets and free parking. The pools are held in by lava rather than concrete, so how calm they are depends on the sea outside.

They face east. Swim in the morning: the ridge behind the town puts them in shade early in the afternoon.

• Start at the whale factory when it opens, while it is quiet.
• Walk next door to the environmental centre.
• Walk to the convent and the Flores Museum, and look in at the parish church nearby.
• Finish at the Altio pools if it is summer and still morning, or at a café near the harbour if it is not.

On a departure day, check your flight before committing to the full route. Flights from Flores move with the weather, and the airport is close enough that you can do one museum, check again, and decide on the rest.

Is Santa Cruz das Flores worth a visit?

Yes, for half a day. The whale factory museum and the convent are the two best places on the island to understand its history, and you can walk between them.

How long do I need for the whale factory?

About an hour for the factory, and another 30 to 45 minutes if you add the environmental centre next door.

Are the museums open every day?

Not reliably. Published hours disagree and change with the season, so phone the Flores Museum on +351 292 592 159 and the environmental centre on +351 292 542 447 before you go.

Can I swim in Santa Cruz?

Yes, at the Piscinas Naturais do Altio, which have a lifeguard from mid-June to mid-September. Go in the morning, before the pools fall into shade.