Baía de São Lourenço on Santa Maria: the vineyard bay, its viewpoints and how to spend a day there

The Baía de São Lourenço is a steep half-bowl of small walled vineyards dropping to a strip of pale sand, with white houses at the bottom and a rock island offshore. It is on the north-east coast, a short drive from Vila do Porto, and it is easy to see in twenty minutes from the road. It is also worth a whole day, if you look at it from both rims, walk down into it and give the swim and the vineyards some time.

The slope around the bay is terraced into small plots, each closed by low walls of dark basalt or by hedges. Locally these plots are called quartéis de vinha, and from above their walls draw a grid across the hillside.

The area has been protected since 1987, when it was classified as a natural reserve of about 113 hectares. Today it sits inside the Santa Maria Island Natural Park, set up in 2008, under two labels: a protected landscape and a protected area for resource management.

At the bottom are a beach of pale sand, a natural rock pool, a small harbour, a scatter of white houses and two old chapels. The bay faces east, which decides a lot about when to come: it is sheltered when the usual westerly wind blows, and exposed when the wind turns east.

You get two different views of the bay depending on which rim you stand on. See both.

The Miradouro das Voltas de São Lourenço is a series of stopping places on the verges of the road that comes down from Santa Bárbara, which the municipality counts as one viewpoint. Because you look straight across the terraces as you descend, this is where the grid of walled vineyards is clearest. There is a picnic table with benches and a small car park beside it.

The Miradouro do Espigão is on the opposite side, on the Estrada da Azenha in the parish of Santo Espírito. From here you look back across the whole protected area, with the vineyards on the far slope and the Ilhéu do Romeiro in the water below. It has a picnic area with a barbecue space, which makes it the better stop if you are carrying lunch.

Light matters here. The bay faces east, so the terraces catch the sun in the morning and fall into shade in the late afternoon. For photographs, the morning is the safer bet.

The rock island at the southern end of the beach is the Ilhéu do Romeiro, also called the Ilhéu de São Lourenço. It is roughly conical and rises to 92 m. It belongs to the same reserve as the bay, and it has a cave with stalactites and stalagmites that shelters the Azores bat, the archipelago's only endemic mammal. Cory's shearwaters and roseate terns live around it. For a visitor it is something to look at from the shore and the viewpoints.

The road into the bay is a series of hairpins and the parking is up on the terraces, so even drivers end up walking a steep stretch. Two marked trails make a proper walk of it.

• PR06SMA Areia Branca crosses the island from Praia Formosa on the south coast to the Baía de São Lourenço. It is 11.7 km, linear, graded medium, and takes about four and a half hours, climbing past Pico Alto, the island's highest point, and down through the village of Santa Bárbara. Because it is one way, you need a taxi or a second car at the end.
• PRC03SMA Entre a Serra e o Mar is a 9.3 km loop from near the church in Santa Bárbara, graded medium, about two and a half hours. A signed detour leads to a viewpoint over the bay. On the way you pass the chapel of Nossa Senhora de Lurdes, the only one in the archipelago whose door faces north, and the old Poço da Pedreira quarry.

The loop is the better choice if you want the view without arranging a pick-up. The linear route is the better story: you start on one pale-sand beach and finish on the other.

The beach is one of Santa Maria's four official bathing areas and holds a Blue Flag for 2026. In 2026 the lifeguard season at São Lourenço ran from 15 June to 14 September; the dates are set each year by the regional government, so check them for your trip. Apart from the sand, there is a natural rock pool, and the small harbour, the Portinho de São Lourenço, has a quay with steps. In summer people use the quay platform to sunbathe and to get into the water.

Choose the day by the wind. With a westerly the bay is usually calm. With an easterly, swell rolls straight in and the other side of the island is the better choice.

Two chapels stand in the bay. The Ermida de São Lourenço dates from the 17th century and was altered in the 19th, when its front porch was added. The Ermida de Nossa Senhora do Desterro is close by.

People still make wine from these terraces. The traditional grapes here are American hybrids such as Jacquet, Herbemont and the aromatic grape the islanders call uva de cheiro. From these comes vinho de cheiro, an everyday aromatic wine, and the one from the São Lourenço slopes has a name across the Azores.

Since October 2018, a project led by the Vila do Porto municipality with partner organisations has been working to keep the terraces from being abandoned. It planted trial plots of European varieties such as Arinto, Verdelho, Terrantez, Castelão and Touriga Nacional in the São Lourenço and Maia bays between December 2018 and March 2019, and runs a small winery, the Santa Maria Wine Lab, through the island's farming cooperative. The first Santa Maria wines certified under the Açores geographical indication were presented on 18 May 2024 under the name Céptico. The project's long-term aim is UNESCO listing for the vineyard landscape, on the model of Pico.

If you are on the island in early September, the grape harvest festival in São Lourenço is the easiest way to taste the local wine. The exact dates change each year; check them locally before planning around it.

A plan that works in summer on a westerly day:

• Morning: Miradouro das Voltas on the way down from Santa Bárbara, while the terraces are in sun.
• Late morning: park on the terraces, walk down, swim at the beach or the rock pool.
• Lunch: bring it, or look for what is open in the bay that season.
• Afternoon: drive round to the Miradouro do Espigão for the view back across the bay and the islet.

With more time, walk the PRC03SMA loop in the morning instead and swim afterwards.

Where is the best view of the Baía de São Lourenço? From two places: the Miradouro das Voltas de São Lourenço on the road down from Santa Bárbara, for the terraces up close, and the Miradouro do Espigão on the Santo Espírito side, for the whole bay with the Ilhéu do Romeiro.

Can you swim at São Lourenço? Yes. It is an official bathing area with a Blue Flag in 2026 and lifeguards from 15 June to 14 September 2026. Go when the wind is from the west; an easterly brings swell into the bay.

Can you walk to the bay? Yes. The PR06SMA trail crosses the island from Praia Formosa to São Lourenço in 11.7 km, and the 9.3 km PRC03SMA loop from Santa Bárbara includes a detour to a viewpoint over it.

What is vinho de cheiro? An everyday aromatic wine made from American hybrid grapes. The one from the São Lourenço slopes is known across the Azores, and the harvest festival there in early September is the easiest place to try it.