Walking Santa Maria: the Grande Rota round the island and the short trails worth your day

Santa Maria has one long route and six short ones, and the choice comes down to time. With four or five free days and a liking for long walks, the Grande Rota takes you round the whole island. With one or two, three or four of the short trails cover most of what the long one shows you: the red clay of the Barreiro da Faneca, the forest on Pico Alto, the fossil cliffs of the south coast and the vineyard bays of the east.

Santa Maria is the oldest island in the Azores, about 8 million years old, and it does not look like the others. Instead of fresh volcanic scenery it has raised marine terraces, beds of sea fossils, pale limestone sand and a patch of bare red clay in the west. The highest point, Pico Alto, is 587 m, so the climbs are modest by Azorean standards. Bring sun protection, though: this is the sunniest island of the nine.

The Great Route of Santa Maria is a circular trail of 78.6 km that starts and ends in Vila do Porto. The official register grades it medium and gives an average of 28 hours 30 minutes of walking time. It is split into four stages:

• Stage 1, Vila do Porto to Cardal: 17.1 km, about 7 hours
• Stage 2, Cardal to Norte: 21.5 km, about 7 hours 30 minutes
• Stage 3, Norte to Bananeiras: 16.5 km, about 6 hours 30 minutes
• Stage 4, Bananeiras to Vila do Porto: 23.5 km, about 8 hours

Along the way it passes the Pedreira do Campo fossil site, Praia Formosa, the Gonçalo Velho lighthouse, Pico Alto and the Barreiro da Faneca.

Two rules shape the planning. Wild camping is not allowed, so each night has to be in rural guesthouses or hostels near the stage ends. And the stage ends are villages, not towns, so book the beds before you start rather than hoping to find one on the day. The register asks you to plan the stages around your own fitness, and some walkers take five days instead of four. The island is small, so a taxi back to the same bed in Vila do Porto each night is also an option.

The register advises stocking up on food and water in the villages along the way, and there are signed short detours to viewpoints.

The Barreiro da Faneca is the strangest landscape on the island: an area of bare, reddish clay in the west, with a few pines, that looks nothing like the green fields around it. The colour comes from basalt that the hot, humid climate of the Pliocene, a few million years ago, broke down into red clay. It has been a protected landscape since 2008, covering 8.35 km².

Two of the marked routes cross it. The Grande Rota passes through, and so does the PR01SMA Costa Norte, which is the shorter way to see it.

The official register lists six short routes on Santa Maria (the PR and PRC codes). Four of them are linear, so you need a lift or a taxi at one end.

• PR01SMA Costa Norte: 8.4 km, about 4 hours, medium, linear. From Bananeiras west to Anjos along the north coast, past two old watermills in the Baía do Raposo, across the red clay of the Barreiro da Faneca, and down to the chapel in Anjos.
• PRC02SMA Pico Alto: 6.2 km, about 2 hours, medium, circular. From the Pico Alto car park up a stairway to the summit, through Japanese cedar forest, with a detour to the Caldeira viewpoint over the west coast. It passes the memorial to the 1989 air crash on the mountain, the worst in Portugal.
• PRC03SMA Entre a Serra e o Mar: 9.3 km, about 2 hours 30 minutes, medium, circular. A loop out of Santa Bárbara with a detour to a viewpoint over the Baía de São Lourenço.
• PR04SMA Santo Espírito to Maia: 3.9 km, about 2 hours, easy, linear. Downhill from the church at Santo Espírito to the rock pool at Maia. You have to ford a stream, and from the far side you can see the Aveiro waterfall, around 80 m high. Two wine presses from 1579 stand near the end.
• PR05SMA Costa Sul: 8 km, about 3 hours, medium, linear. From the São Brás fort in Vila do Porto along the south coast to Praia Formosa, past the Pedreira do Campo, a natural monument full of marine fossils. One exposed section has a fixed steel cable, and a signed alternative path avoids it in rough weather.
• PR06SMA Areia Branca: 11.7 km, about 4 hours 30 minutes, medium, linear. Across the island from Praia Formosa to the Baía de São Lourenço, climbing to Pico Alto on the way. It links the island's two pale-sand beaches.

At 587 m, Pico Alto is not a hard summit, and a car park sits a short stairway below the top. What makes it worth the walk is the forest and the view: on a clear day the summit looks out over most of the island. Three trails reach it: the PRC02SMA circuit, the PR06SMA crossing and the Grande Rota.

• One day: PR01SMA Costa Norte for the red desert and the north coast, finishing with a swim at Anjos.
• Two days: add PR06SMA from Praia Formosa over Pico Alto to São Lourenço, which crosses the island and ends at the best beach setting on it.
• Short on time or energy: PR04SMA to Maia is under 4 km and downhill, with a pool at the end.
• Four or five days: the Grande Rota, with beds booked in advance.

The official route descriptions, maps and GPS tracks are on Azores Trails, which also posts closures. Check it the day before, because sections are closed from time to time. In an emergency the number is 112.

How long is the Grande Rota de Santa Maria? 78.6 km in a circle from Vila do Porto, in four official stages of 16.5 to 23.5 km. The register gives an average of 28 hours 30 minutes of walking.

Can you camp on the Grande Rota? No. Wild camping is forbidden, so you sleep in rural guesthouses or hostels near the stage ends and should book them in advance.

Where is the red desert on Santa Maria? The Barreiro da Faneca is in the west of the island, near the north coast. The PR01SMA Costa Norte trail and the Grande Rota both cross it.

What is the easiest walk on Santa Maria? The PR04SMA from Santo Espírito to Maia: 3.9 km, about two hours, mostly downhill, ending at a rock pool. There is one stream to ford.