Getting around Santa Maria: car hire, taxis and the island bus

Distances on Santa Maria are short. The island covers about 97 km², and from Vila do Porto every beach and trailhead is a short drive away. What limits you is how rarely anything runs. The island has five bus routes, one of them an hourly link between the town and the airport and most of the others built around school hours, plus a taxi service and several car-hire desks at the airport. For most visitors that means hiring a car for the days you plan to explore, and using the bus and taxis where they fit.

A car is the only way to see the whole island on your own timetable. No bus route goes down to São Lourenço or Maia, the villages in the east see a bus twice a day at best, and the walks that make Santa Maria worth the trip mostly start and finish in different places.

The desks are at the airport, just outside Vila do Porto:

• Rent-a-Car Mariense is based at the airport (+351 296 886 250).
• Sol Brava Rent-a-Car hands cars over at the airport or at its office in Vila do Porto, and also works on Terceira.
• International brands, Sixt and Europcar among them, list Santa Maria airport as a pick-up point.

Book the car when you book the flight, not on arrival, especially for July and August. Around the Maré de Agosto festival in the second half of August, rooms and flights to the island go months ahead, and a car is part of the same booking problem.

If you only want a car for part of your stay, spend the first day in Vila do Porto on foot and pick the car up for the days you drive east or walk.

Public buses are run by TSM, Transportes de Santa Maria, a consortium of the three bus companies of São Miguel (+351 296 882 115, office at Rua Teófilo Braga 55 in Vila do Porto). Its website lists five routes:

• 1: Malbusca - Vila do Porto, a one-hour loop through the east of the island, via Santo Espírito, Santa Bárbara and São Pedro.
• 2: Santa Bárbara - Vila do Porto, in the school term only.
• 3: Vila do Porto harbour - Paul, through the town and past the airport.
• 4: Vila do Porto harbour - the hotels, tied to the inter-island boat.
• 5: Praia Formosa - Anjos, the summer beach bus.

Two of them are useful to a visitor. Route 3 is the town bus: in the timetable TSM published in September 2026, it left the harbour in Vila do Porto every hour on weekdays from 07:30 to 17:30, passed the airport and the Hotel de Santa Maria, and reached Paul 25 minutes later, with the return trips leaving Paul at 05 past the hour from 08:05 to 18:05. On Saturdays it ran in the morning only, 07:30 to 12:30 from the harbour. Some trips detour through Valverde.

Route 5 is the summer beach bus. It ran every day from 1 July to 15 September, weekends included, three times a day. Buses left Praia Formosa at 10:30, 14:00 and 18:30 and reached Anjos, on the north coast, 40 minutes later, passing through Vila do Porto and the airport. A branch, 5A, ran from Paul to Praia Formosa at 09:45, 13:15 and 17:45, and 5B from Anjos to Quatro Canadas at 11:15, 14:45 and 19:15.

The other routes suit residents. Outside the school term, route 1 left Malbusca at 07:00 and 13:50 and Vila do Porto at 12:40 and 18:30 on weekdays, with two trips on Saturdays and none shown on Sundays. It stops in the upland villages but not in São Lourenço or Maia.

The timetable sheets on the TSM site carry no year, and the one for route 4 still says it would not run in 2021, so treat the times above as a guide to the pattern and check them with TSM, or at the office in Vila do Porto, before you plan a day around a bus.

You can call a taxi through the Central de Táxis de Santa Maria (+351 296 882 199) on Rua Dr. Luís Bettencourt in Vila do Porto. For an early flight or a pick-up at the end of a walk, book the day before.

Taxis are how people without a car do the walks. Of the six short official trails, four are linear:

• PR01SMA Costa Norte, 8.4 km, from Bananeiras to Anjos.
• PR04SMA Santo Espírito - Maia, 3.9 km.
• PR05SMA Costa Sul, 8 km, from Vila do Porto to Praia Formosa. On 29 September 2026 the official trails site marked it as closed.
• PR06SMA Areia Branca, 11.7 km, from Praia Formosa across the island to the Baía de São Lourenço.

The usual plan is to drive or take a taxi to the start, walk, and call a taxi from the end. Anjos and Praia Formosa are also on the summer bus, which makes Costa Norte the easiest of the four to do without a car between July and mid-September. The two circular trails, Pico Alto (6.2 km) and Entre a Serra e o Mar (9.3 km), need a ride to the start and back but no pick-up at a different spot.

Ask for the fare when you book. We could not find a published fare table to confirm.

• Two nights: take bus 3 or a taxi from the airport, walk Vila do Porto, and hire a car for the full day in between. One day of driving can take in Praia Formosa, São Lourenço, Maia and Pico Alto.
• Three to five nights: hire a car for the whole stay. Without one, each linear trail means a taxi to the start or back from the end, often both.
• In summer without a car: base yourself in Vila do Porto, use bus 5 for Praia Formosa and Anjos, and add taxis for one or two walks.

Do you need a car on Santa Maria? For the east of the island and for most walks, yes. No bus goes down to São Lourenço or Maia, the eastern villages get a bus twice a day at best, and the summer beach bus only links Praia Formosa, Vila do Porto, the airport and Anjos.

Is there a bus from Santa Maria airport to Vila do Porto? Yes, on weekdays. In the timetable TSM published in September 2026, route 3 linked the airport area and the harbour in Vila do Porto every hour from about 07:30 to 18:00, with Saturday trips in the morning only. In summer the beach bus, route 5, also passes the airport. On Sundays and for late flights, take a taxi.

How do you get a taxi on Santa Maria? Call the Central de Táxis de Santa Maria on +351 296 882 199, and book the day before for an early departure or a pick-up at the end of a walk.

Can you hire a car at Santa Maria airport? Yes. Local firms such as Rent-a-Car Mariense and Sol Brava and international brands such as Sixt and Europcar hand cars over at the airport. Book ahead in July and August, and well ahead for the Maré de Agosto festival.