About Cascata da Ribeira Quente
Cascata da Ribeira Quente is a kind of hidden waterfall that also happens to be one of São Miguel Island’s most impressive (let alone all of the Açores or Azores).
I considered it hidden because it’s situated between two road tunnels north of the town of Ribeira Quente so it’s real easy to miss.
Moreover, it features a roughly 40-45m tall drop making it one of the island’s tallest waterfalls.
As if that wasn’t enough, the waterfall also has thermal properties as the aptly-named Ribeira Quente (quente means “hot”) can amp up the steaminess within its secluded valley.
Even the colorful reddish-orangish cliffs underlying the waterfall further added credence to the fact that the creek had geothermal byproducts like sulfur within its flow.
In any case, in order to access this waterfall, we first had to park the car at a clearing about 200m north of the nearest tunnel (see directions below).
To further help identify this clearing, there’s a small thermal waterfall next to a trail or smaller unpaved road rising up out of the valley.
Upon leaving the car, you then have to walk south along the N2-2A Road for about 250m passing through the first tunnel before looking to the right towards the Cascata da Ribeira Quente.
This view is between the two northernmost of three road tunnels directly north of the town of Ribeira Quente so you don’t need to enter the second tunnel.
One thing worth noting is that the tunnels are narrow so chances are that a vehicle in the tunnel at the same time as you will have to swerve around you.
So you definitely don’t want to linger in there, especially if there are two vehicles side-by-side within the tunnel (with little to no room for pedestrians to get out of the way).
Anyways, while you get a pretty decent view of the Cascata da Ribeira Quente from the road, it definitely leaves more to be desired.
Fortunately, there is a trail-of-use leading closer to the waterfall from the right side of the bridge, where you pretty much follow a somewhat overgrown, unmaintained path.
The unofficial nature of this trail forced me to pay attention to each step because the overgrowth conceals dropoffs and obstacles like rocks and roots (as well as muddy spots or trail erosion).
While it’s tempting to just wade your way upstream to the base of the waterfall (as some people have done), the upstream scramble can be even more dangerous and slow going.
Being in the stream can be especially risky if it’s raining (or if there’s even a threat of rain), and flash flooding can turn this scramble into a death trap.
I opted to stay above the stream and follow the faint, overgrown path until I couldn’t go any further, which was about 150m from the road (or 400m from where I parked the car).
It turned out that the end of the faint trail was pretty much right in front of the middle of the Cascata da Ribeira Quente.
From this vantage point, I was close enough to the tall waterfall to actually require a wide angle or pano mode on an iPhone.
However, I didn’t see a way to get down to the base of the waterfall so this was pretty much a look-but-don’t-touch natural feature.
Once I had my fill of this spot, I then went back the way I came, and I wound up taking about 40 minutes away from the car for both the 800m of walking/scrambling as well as admiring the Cascata da Ribeira Quente itself.
Authorities
Cascata da Ribeira Quente is located on the island of São Miguel of the Azores Autonomous Region of Portugal. It is managed by the Municipality of Ribeira Quente. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you can try visiting the official Azores tourism website.
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