About Cascata do Poco do Bacalhau
Cascata do Poco do Bacalhau (or just Poço do Bacalhau with the cedilla) drops conspicuously behind the town of Fajã Grande as a tall, wispy waterfall that tends to scatter with the wind.
It’s actually the first of a handful of waterfalls tumbling almost side by side to the north of Fajã Grande facing the western coastline of Ilha das Flores.
Some of those waterfalls (at least 2 or 3 of them look almost as thick as the Poço do Bacalhau) may have formal names like the Cascata de Jose Fraga (the northernmost of these falls according to my topo map).
Speaking of nomenclature, it’s not clear to me why this waterfall is called “well of the cod”, but I do know the fish is a staple in Portugese cuisine.
Since the westernmost point of Europe is on an islet just off this coastline, I guess these waterfalls can also be considered the westernmost waterfalls in the continent as well.
In any case, the Cascata do Poço do Bacalhau is where the Ribeira das Casas is said to free-fall for most of its 90m drop.
Although the waterfall is easily visible from the town of Fajã Grande as well as other parts of the coastline north of the town, we took a short 600m round-trip walk (see directions below) to its end at the base of the falls.
This short, flat walk meandered alongside the Ribeira das Casas going by some small mills and waterwheels en route while yielding sweeping views throughout.
With each step on the approach, the views of the falls went from appreciating the context of its towering height to the forced perspective of looking up at its plume scattering in the frequent sea breezes here.
Often times, it seems as if though the waterfall disappears on its flight before reappearing just above its plunge pool, which can be used as a popular swimming hole or spot to cool off.
The mist fell from the sky as if it was like rain, and it served to remind us of where the “disappearing waterfall” went to.
Speaking of the waterfall disappearing, the Poço do Bacalhau can be as little as a trickle in the drier Summer months though as you can see from the photos on this page, it performed just fine during our late June 2024 visit.
We wound up spending about 50 minutes away from the car with most of that time taking pictures and enjoying the cool microclimate that this waterfall produces to offset the island’s humidity.
Around Poço do Bacalhau
In addition to the Poço do Bacalhau Waterfall, we also did a little more exploring of the surrounding area, especially since we had a strong desire to get a closer look at the other waterfalls to the north.
It turned out as we drove the narrow road to its dead-end (covering a distance of 1.6km in each direction or 3.2km round-trip from the Poço do Bacalhau trail), there wasn’t any public parking nor legitimate pullouts to better appreciate these waterfalls.
In hindsight, we were probably better off walking or riding a bicycle along this stretch, which we spotted at least 3 or 4 additional waterfalls as well as possible trails going further north along this coastline.
To mix things up a bit, there also seemed to be a nice long beach called Praia Fajã Grande as well as small church called Nossa Senhora do Carmo in the small hamlet at the end of the road.
Moreover, closer to the Poço do Bacalhau Waterfall, we also stumbled upon a self-catering accommodation called Moinho da Cascata (mill of the waterfall).
Although this structure was easily seen from the main trail as it was situated quite close to the waterfall itself (it even had its own car park), we could not access the base of the falls directly from here.
Instead, we had to go back down the road and around to the bridge over the Ribeira das Casas before going up along that creek on the aforementioned 300m path to the waterfall’s base.
While I did take some time to explore some of the steep trails alongside the waterfall from the Moinho da Cascata, they were not formal or sanctioned trails.
In fact, such paths quickly degenerated into rough scrambles with even more limited views of the Poço do Bacalhau than what you can get from the official trail.
Authorities
Poço do Bacalhau 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 Poço do Bacalhau Waterfall resides in the civil parish of Fajã Grande 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 about 7km into the town of Fajã Grande before turning right onto the Estrada da Ponta Road at its three-way junction.
Then, follow the Estrada da Ponta Road for the remaining 250-300m to some pullout spaces opposite a road bridge over the Ribeira das Casas and the start of the short jaunt to the Poço do Bacalhau.
You can’t miss it since it’s easily seen from this road by this point.
Overall, this 23km drive took us 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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Profile sweep showing the context of some companion waterfalls as well as their individual flows before focusing on the main falls towards the end
Brief downstream to upstream sweep along the stream before focusing on the falls seeming like it disappears on its way down. This was seen on the approach to the end
Another brief downstream to upstream sweep from further along the trail before focusing on the waterfall itself, where winds really made it disappear on the way down
Panning along the trajectory of the falls from two different spots on the final approach to the waterfall's base
Contextual right to left sweep showing the multiple waterfalls to the left of Poco do Bacalhau from a boat docking spot in Faja Grande
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