Passagem das Bestas

This small circular trail unfolds entirely within the geossite and Protected Area for Resource Management of Caldeira de Guilherme Moniz, a volcanic complex approximately 23,000 years old where Macaronesian shrublands and peatlands sustain aquifer recharge.

The walk begins from the car park next to the road, following an ancient lava field, rocky and uneven, until a fork where you take the left path. This is where you can see, marked on the ground, the wheel ruts that give their name to Passagem das Bestas: grooves carved into the rock by the passage of thousands of ox carts, over the centuries when island inhabitants climbed to the caldera to collect firewood.

Following these ruts, you descend to the bed of a water channel until a pipe that feeds the mini-hydro power plants of Angra. The trail continues through a cryptomeria forest (Cryptomeria japonica), passes a viewpoint and crosses a pasture. During this crossing, to the left, you can see the largest caldera of the Açores, between the Ribeirinha mountain range and Serra do Cume opens the collapse caldera of Vulcão dos Cinco Picos, with approximately 7 km average diameter.

From here you follow along the forest line to the highest point of the trail, at Serra do Morião. On the descent, the path enters a lush forest rich in endemic vegetation, such as heather (Erica azorica) and myrtle cedar (Juniperus brevifolia). You’ll find two viewpoints, one overlooking Terra Brava and another over the interior of Caldeira de Guilherme Moniz, before descending through the ravine that once provided access to the caldera.

Further on you return to the wheel ruts and, reaching the initial fork, turn left towards the car park, where the walk ends.