Terceira island guide: Angra, volcanic caves and festivals

Terceira is the second most populated island in the Azores and the easternmost of the Central Group. It is known as the festive island, and it has earned the name: from spring to autumn there is almost always a procession, a street bullfight or a village celebration somewhere. Behind the parties sits a remarkable historic capital and some of the most accessible volcanic sights in the archipelago.

What makes Terceira different

Angra do Heroísmo was for centuries a compulsory stop for ships sailing between Europe, Africa and the Indies, and its historic centre is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Inland, the island keeps the largest area of native forest in the Azores, according to Visit Azores, around Serra de Santa Bárbara (1,021 m), Pico Alto and the Guilherme Moniz caldera. The countryside is a patchwork of pastures framed by stone walls and hydrangeas, dotted with the brightly painted Holy Ghost chapels called impérios.

Places not to miss

• Angra do Heroísmo: wander the streets of the old centre, visit the cathedral, the Palácio dos Capitães-Generais and the Angra do Heroísmo Museum in the former São Francisco Convent, and climb to the Alto da Memória.
• Monte Brasil: an extinct volcano that rose from the sea beside the city, with the Fortress of São João Baptista and the circular PRC4TER trail.
• Algar do Carvão: a volcanic chimney you can walk down into, its roof hung with silica stalactites.
• Gruta do Natal and Furnas do Enxofre: a long lava tube nearby, and a field of steaming fumaroles in red earth.
• Serra do Cume: the lookout for the famous grid of stone-walled fields running down to the Lajes plain.
• Biscoitos: natural lava pools on the north coast and verdelho vineyards in small stone enclosures, with a Wine Museum at Casa Agrícola Brum.
• Praia da Vitória: the island's main beach, the marina and the view from the Facho lookout.
• The west: high cliffs, the Serreta lighthouse and the lava headlands of Ponta do Queimado and Ponta do Raminho.

Getting there and how long to stay

The island's airport sits on the Lajes plain near Praia da Vitória; see our inter-island flights guide for routes. Atlânticoline ferries use both Angra do Heroísmo and Praia da Vitória, and São Jorge is less than 40 km away, so check our ferries guide if you want to continue into the Central Group by sea. Three days works well: one for Angra and Monte Brasil, one for the volcanic interior, and one for the coast from Biscoitos round to Praia da Vitória.

Safety and when to go

Algar do Carvão is run by the association Os Montanheiros, which opens it on a seasonal schedule. A new visitor centre is being built, and Os Montanheiros has announced that visits will pause from late October or November 2026 until around the end of the first quarter of 2027, so check their opening page before you plan around it. If you come across a tourada à corda, a bull let loose in the street on a long rope held by a team of men, enjoy it from behind a wall, a gate or a balcony like the locals do, never in the open street.

The bullfighting season usually runs from May to October. The Holy Ghost festivals fill the eight weeks between Easter Sunday and Trinity Sunday, the Sanjoaninas take over Angra for ten days in June, Praia da Vitória celebrates in August, Biscoitos holds its wine festival in early September and Angra Jazz arrives in October.