Praia on Graciosa: São Mateus beach, the seabird islet, a 1793 organ and the queijadas

Most visitors drive through Praia twice: once on the way from the ferry, once on the way back to it. If you have half a day to spare, stop. The village on Graciosa's east coast has the island's only sand beach, a small islet offshore that holds one of the most important seabird colonies in the Azores, a church with an organ built in 1793, and the bakery behind the island's best-known sweet. All of it is within a few minutes' walk.

This guide covers what to see, what you can and cannot do on the islet, and how to fit Praia into a day.

Praia is the everyday name of São Mateus, one of the four parishes of the single municipality of Santa Cruz da Graciosa. It sits in the south-east of the island, below the slopes of the Caldeira. It was the seat of the municipality until 1867, when the job passed to Santa Cruz, and emigration has thinned it since; the 2011 census counted 836 residents.

It is also Graciosa's ferry port. In 2026 Atlânticoline called at Praia only between 1 June and 28 September, so outside that window you will arrive by air at the airport near Santa Cruz and drive over, a short trip on an island this size. Check the current ferry timetable before you plan around it.

Praia de São Mateus runs along the front of the village. It is dark volcanic sand, and the only proper sand beach on Graciosa; everywhere else you get into the sea from rock pools or ladders. In season it has lifeguards, showers, toilets, a café and a ramp for wheelchair access, and it is on the Blue Flag list for 2026.

If you are travelling with small children, this is the place to swim on the island.

The islet out in the bay is the Ilhéu da Praia, about 1.5 kilometres off the village. It is small, around 10 hectares with a highest point of 52 metres, and it is protected several times over: it is a regional nature reserve, a Natura 2000 Special Protection Area for birds, an Important Bird Area, and part of the core zone of Graciosa's UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, declared in 2007.

The reason is the birds. Cory's shearwaters, roseate and common terns, Barolo shearwaters and band-rumped storm petrels nest there. So does Monteiro's storm petrel, a bird found nowhere in the world except a few islets off Graciosa and Flores. It was only described as a separate species in 2008, after the biologist Luís Monteiro showed in the 1990s that it differed from its close relative. It is the smallest seabird in the Azores, about 50 grams, and can live more than 20 years, most of it at sea. SPEA, the Portuguese bird society, made it Bird of the Year in 2021 after a public vote.

The islet also has a coastal meadow of vidália, a plant that grows only in the Azores.

Usually not. Under the reserve's rules, published in 2018, access is limited to visits led by guides from the Azores Natural Parks service with nature wardens present. Those visits keep to a marked area on the east side of the islet, take very few people, and run only on some days of the week in certain months. The rules do not give a timetable that a visitor could book against, and we could not find one published this year. If you want to try, ask the Graciosa Natural Park service well ahead of your trip, and treat it as a bonus rather than the plan.

You do not need to land to see the colony. At the entrance to the ferry port there is a small viewing hut with a fixed telescope pointed at the islet. Summer and autumn are the best seasons for it. Bring binoculars if you have them, and keep your expectations for the storm petrels low: you are looking at the colony from a kilometre and a half away.

For a higher view, the Grande Rota da Graciosa, the round-island trail, passes a viewpoint over the Praia islet and the Caldeira on its first stage. Our guide to walking on Graciosa has the route.

The parish church is worth stepping into for its organ. It was built in 1793 by António Xavier Machado e Cerveira, a Portuguese builder whose list of instruments runs past a hundred. This one is number 38 on his list, with six stops for each hand. Concerts are sometimes held on it; the regional events listing at whatson.azores.gov.pt is the place to check.

Churches on Graciosa are not always open outside service times. If the door is shut, try just before or after a Mass.

The star-shaped queijadas, crisp pastry around a filling of milk and eggs, are the sweet people take home from Graciosa, and they are made in Praia. The bakery is on Rua Infante Dom Henrique, a couple of streets back from the beach. Its own website gives hours of Monday to Saturday, 08:00 to 18:00, but other listings disagree, so phone +351 295 712 911 if you are making a special trip. More on the queijadas and the island's wine in our guide to what to buy on Graciosa.

The village windmills stand behind the beach, on your way from the sand to the bakery.

Praia works best as a base or as half a day combined with the Caldeira above it:

• Morning: the Furna do Enxofre, the sulphur cave inside the Caldeira, which is a short drive uphill.
• Lunch: in Praia, then a look through the telescope at the islet.
• Afternoon: a swim at São Mateus beach, and a box of queijadas before the bakery closes.

If you are arriving or leaving by ferry, the same loop fills the hours around the boat.

Is Praia de São Mateus good for swimming?

Yes. It is Graciosa's only sand beach, it has lifeguards, showers and a café in season, and it holds a Blue Flag for 2026. It is the easiest place on the island for children.

Can I visit the Ilhéu da Praia?

Only on a guided visit run by the Azores Natural Parks service, which happens on a few days in certain months and takes very few people. Ask the park on Graciosa well in advance. Everyone else watches from the shore, where a fixed telescope at the port entrance is pointed at the islet.

When is the best time to see the seabirds?

Summer and autumn. The fixed telescope at the port entrance is the closest most visitors get to the colony.

Where do I buy queijadas da Graciosa?

At the bakery in Praia, on Rua Infante Dom Henrique, and in shops across the Azores. Check opening hours by phone before you go, as published times differ.