About Cascata da Ribeira Grande
Cascata da Ribeira Grande seems to be one of the more overlooked waterfalls on the Ilha das Flores (let alone the rest of the Azores Islands).
I think a big part of it being overlooked has to do with its location next to the famous Cascata do Poço da Ribeira do Ferreiro Waterfall.
That said, it’s actually quite easily seen while driving down from the Central Plateau to the Poço da Ribeira do Ferreiro Trailhead.
Moreover, the Cascata da Ribeira Grande sits on a separate drainage (and hence on a separate ravine) from its famous counterpart, which makes it even more hidden to all but the most astute visitors.
Nevertheless, it seems to have a more significant drainage (hence its name suggesting it’s a “big creek”) and it can even be argued that the Cascata da Ribeira Grande is the taller waterfall than its famous counterpart.
I’ve seen some in the literature say that the Ribeira Grande drops some 180m tall, but I’ve also seen a more modest estimate placing its height at 110m.
By comparison, I’ve seen estimates for the Poço da Ribeira do Ferreiro at 150m for its tallest strand.
Anyways, I had to earn my sighting of the Cascata da Ribeira Grande, and I was able to do it in a couple of different ways, which I’ll describe below.
Hiking to the Cascata da Ribeira Grande
The Ribeira Grande is on the next drainage just to the south of the Ribeira do Ferreiro.
Although it was possible to start from the same trailhead as for the Poço da Ribeira do Ferreiro and then walk the road for about 200m back towards the Ribeira Grande, I chose to start from latter drainage directly (see directions below).
So from the pullout area next to the road bridge over the Ribeira Grande (there seemed to be plenty of space for parking), I then walked up the unpaved road alongside the rushing creek.
The road went gently uphill, but it did seem to have some recent bulldozing work to clear landslides and flood damage as witnessed during my late June 2024 visit.
So I suspect that it might have been possible to drive this stretch as the road certainly seemed to be wide enough to accommodate vehicles (though I didn’t feel comfortable doing that with a small passenger rental car).
After about 700m of walking, passing by a side stream and cascade (which might be inviting for a dip) along the way, I then encountered a large clearing that might have been the former car park location.
From this large clearing, I was also able to see part of the famous Cascata do Poço da Ribeira do Ferreiro from an unusual angle that most of its visitors typically don’t get to see.
Nevertheless, at the end of this clearing, the path narrows considerably as I could see the Cascata do Ribeira Grande up ahead.
At this point, the trail seemed a bit rougher as it involved a combination of overgrowth, dealing with uneven steps, and clamboring over rocks and boulders.
Indeed, this trail was more faint and a little harder to follow, but there were also hidden footholds as well as slippery surfaces due to the constant moisture in this area.
This rougher patch of hiking lasted for another 300m before the trail started to terminate as it climbed up onto a ridge or ledge offering up more unobstructed views of the Cascata da Ribeira Grande.
What surprised me about this apparent cirque or bowl that the waterfall fell into was that there were also several springs providing minor cascades to the right side of the Cascata da Ribeira Grande.
In order to get all the way to the rough and rocky base of the waterfall, I would have had to get wet crossing the creek before climbing up a hill on the opposite side and then descending back down into the creek again.
I didn’t go through that trouble as I was quite content with my views of the falls without taking on any more risk than necessary.
For the better part of the 70 minutes that I was away from the car, I was alone until some people started trickling in as I was about to leave.
I certainly found it amazing that I could hear dozens of people nearby for the Cascata do Poço da Ribeira do Ferreiro, and yet I was here sharing the experience with either nobody or just a handful of people.
Perhaps it was because the Cascata da Ribeira Grande was secluded in its own cirque pretty much hidden away from the rush of tourists seeking out its more famous neighbor.
In any case, after having my fill of this waterfall, I returned back the way I came to complete the roughly 2km round-trip out-and-back distance.
Other Ways to Experience the Cascata da Ribeira Grande
While driving towards the trailhead for the Cascata da Ribeira Grande, I noticed that there were side roads that I could take a detour for in order to experience this waterfall differently.
This especially came in handy, when I found myself caught behind slow-moving vehicles (primarily lorries hauling supplies to Fajã Grande or tourists in campervans) pretty much taking up the whole road with no room to pass.
I eventually got to the Miradouro do Portal, which offered up regal panoramas of not only the coastline as well as both Fajã Grande and Fajãzinha, but also contextual views of both Cascata da Ribeira do Ferreiro and Cascata da Ribeira Grande.
Of course this view is only available if the clouds don’t hang so low that you can’t see anything, but fortunately that wasn’t the case when I was there (as you can see from the photos).
Continuing the drive down to the base of the valley on the Ramal da Fajã Grande, it was also possible to see both waterfalls (but mostly Cascata da Ribeira Grande) from the road.
Unfortunately, there weren’t any pullouts to admire the waterfalls from this perspective, but it definitely helped to make the drive a lot more interesting.
Authorities
Cascata da Ribeira Grande is located on the island of Flores of the Azores Autonomous Region of Portugal. It is managed by the Municipality of Lajes das Flores. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you can try visiting the official Azores tourism website.
The Cascata da Ribeira Grande resides in the civil parish of Fajãzinha on the island of Flores.
Since we stayed in the town of Santa Cruz das Flores, I’ll describe the most straightforward driving directions from there.
So from downtown Santa Cruz das Flores, we drove west on Avenida Principe do Monaco to a roundabout intersecting with the ER1-2 Road (2nd exit).
From there, just follow the ER1-2 for about 2.8km, and then keep right at the turnoff for the ER2-2 (there will be signs pointing the way to Fajãzinha).
Note that GoogleMaps will try to take you on a narrow locals’ “shortcut” on Rua dos Vales about 1.3km from the roundabout onto ER1-2 at Santa Cruz das Flores.
I’d recommend against doing that shortcut because the roads are almost single-lane, and there’s a very steep hill on Estrada do Rochão do Rebolo to get back on the ER2-2.
There’s a stop sign right at the top of this steep hill, and if you’re driving a stick shift, it can be very tricky to get on that road without stalling.
Anyways, assuming we avoided the GoogleMaps “shortcut”, we then followed the ER2-2 for about 14km.
This stretch of the drive goes through the central plateau of Ilha das Flores before turning right at the signed turnoff (signs for Fajãzinha, Fajã Grande, and Poço da Ribeira do Ferreiro).
From there, follow the Ramal da Fajã Grande for either 3.7km to a large pullout or “road” besides the road bridge over the Ribeira Grande, or continue driving another 300m to the car park on the left for the Poço da Ribeira do Ferreiro.
I chose the former since there was quite a bit of space to fit easily a half-dozen cars or so.
However, as tempting as it was to keep driving up the bulldozed unpaved road, I didn’t think it my low clearance passenger car could make it so I was content to start the hike from the bridge area.
Overall, this 19-20km drive took about 30 minutes.
For context, Fajãzinha is about 5km (about 15 minutes drive) south of Fajã Grande, about 16km (under 30 minutes drive) northwest of Lajes das Flores, and about 20km (about 30 minutes drive) west of Santa Cruz das Flores.
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Left to right sweep starting from the ocean and panning over to both the Ribeira do Ferreiro as well as the Ribeira Grande waterfalls in the distance from the Miradouro do Porto
Video showing an unusual view of Poco da Ribeira do Ferreiro near the end of the 4wd road
Video showing both waterfalls from near the end of the 4wd part of the hike
First look at entirety of the Ribeira Grande Waterfall from the trail along its creek
Following the trajectory of the Ribeira Grande before doing a 360 degree sweep to show context of the end of the trail
Similar sweep showing the main falls and many companion waterfalls before doing a 360 degree panning for context
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