Exploring São Miguel's Volcanically Active Furnas Lake in the Azores

Note: This story is one of a series of stories about Furnas (Part 2 of a 3 part set).

• Read about our visit to the Terra Nostra Gardens, which we visited before this trip to the lake (Part 1).

• Read about our time spent at Poça da Doña Beija, hot pools located in Furnas town, which we visited right after this excursion to the lake (Part 3).

Furnas is a town for the senses - from the beautiful sights, to the strange, sulfuric smells, coupled with gurgling sounds in its geologically active waters, the warmth of its heated pools, and the taste of the food cooked within the confines of its craters.

And Lake Furnas, or Lagoa das Furnas in Portuguese, a little lower in elevation from the city center, is a place to experience them all in one fell swoop - well, except for the warm dip in water (that can be done up in the main city itself). However, the sense of touch can be explored in other ways, from feeling the steam of the geysers on your face or perhaps a gentle breeze on your back, but for an all around sensory experience, you can't beat a trip down to this beautiful lake.

Depending on what you are doing at any given moment, each sense may take a backseat to the others. The sense of sight is an obvious one - the surrounding scenery is incredibly beautiful to look at, from the green hills, the unusual smoking fumaroles, the shimmering blues of the lake itself, or all the colorful explosions of color from the flowers lakeside. But visitors should not forget to take in all the senses when visiting the lake, as this unique scene is more than just eye candy.

Ben and I visited Lake Furnas in 2018 with his family, after spending a few hours in the town of Furnas itself. Previously, Ben and I had visited the town a few days prior to take a dip in the pool and a stroll through the greenery at Terra Nostra Gardens and a quick visit to the Caldeiras Vulcânicas, but were eager to see more of this interesting town.

Come along and join our walk through the hot springs along the lakeside, followed by a peaceful and scenic stroll through gardens and church grounds on the south side of the lake.

Lake Furnas Caldera / Caldeiras da Lagoa das Furnas

Occupying the crater of an active (though not currently erupting) volcano, the north shoreline of the lake is home to Caldeiras da Lagoa das Furnas, or the Lake Furnas caldera, a steamy collection of fumaroles. Not only are they intriguing to look at on their own, but the way that the residents of São Miguel have utilized the power of Mother Nature also makes this caldera especially interesting.

The path through the caldera contains a small network of boardwalks allowing visitors a closer look at the geothermal action, as well as a closer look at an unusual way to make lunch.

Living on an island with 5 volcanoes, all with different activity levels, we are quite used to people attempting to use this free energy in unique ways. However, one unusual method we saw in the Azores that we have not seen on our island home of Hawai‘i is the usage of this geothermal energy to cook food. Here in the caldera, residents and restaurants have dug up holes for them to place pots of food to be cooked inside. The process did remind me of other cooking methods in Hawai‘i, such as using an imu (underground oven), but none quite to this extreme.

The dish cooked in these pits is called cozido nas Furnas, a stew consisting of various forms of meats and veggies, cooked to a tender perfection all thanks to volcanic heat. And though we arrived in time to see one recently unearthed, we sadly missed the process of it being dug out of its underground oven. Ben and I were lucky, though, to have sampled a dish cooked in this manner a few days prior. Be sure to check out my posting of our day trip around Furnas town to learn more about that experience.

We continued through the boardwalks, noticing the odd feature here and there. Notice in both the above and below image that there are holes built into the different fumaroles specifically to act as an oven.

Any closer, and the food would literally be in a full on bubbling caldron, courtesy of Mother Nature. Instead, the next best thing with some protection is your own private oven riiiiiiiight on the cusp of a hotspot.

Various approaches to cooking in the caldera exist, including the ones seen below, with the pots completely hidden underground, covered by a wooden top, and then buried by dirt to keep the heat inside. You may also notice that various restaurants have signs indicating which "oven" is theirs.

Above, pots already unearthed, and below, one still cooking. Because this stew can take up to 8 hours, those who prepare and cook the meals have to be up early to get them on the table for lunch at the various restaurants around town. And because this isn't a dish the chefs can just whip up in the back of the restaurant, anyone interested in trying really should call restaurants to confirm they still have them available for the day.

To unearth a pot, they must be brushed off, then poles must be used to raise the pots out of their earthen home. And while not every hole belongs to a restaurant, they do seem to claim the majority of the cooking spaces that have been used for many, many years.

There doesn't seem to be an invitation for anyone to just bring their own food down to the caldera and pony up to one of these ovens, and personally, I am quite content to stay on boardwalks when walking on surfaces of active volcanoes, but for those tempted, please be mindful of the locals, the uniqueness of the area, and the knowledge those who use this place everyday carries with them to navigate this space safely.

Whether you're marveling at the ingenuity of the locals for harnessing this free energy source to cook you lunch everyday, or seeing Earth at work, this small area has lots of interesting sights, including the various fumaroles of different shapes and sizes. The one below happened to be one of the bigger and more impressive of the ones we saw.

Not only does it belch up whiffs of steam, but the water inside also appears to be at a steady roiling boil, bubbling up from time to time.

As we wound our way through the boardwalk, we found a few more stews still cooking.

One thing that amazes me back home in Hawai‘i as well as in places similar to Lake Furnas is the juxtaposition between volcanic activity and the serenity of the land around it. Here as back home, volcanic destruction (or rebirth, depending on your perspective) is often side-by-side with a landscape that either was unaffected, or was able to grow back in a lush manner. It was in a place like Furnas where I felt so much familiarity with my own island home, as well as so many differences.

And though the lake itself looks pretty inviting from the pictures, it's a bit deceptive. As I mentioned above, this area is a real sensory experience, and the lake itself is no different. The smell of sulfur is unmistakably present, though certainly not in an overwhelming way. For those who have not visited a sulfuric spot before, imagine a carton of rotten eggs permeating the air to get a vague idea of what it might smell like.

Though I can find no specific information online (or in my guidebook) that explicitly says not to swim in the lake, I saw absolutely no evidence of anyone tempted to even dip a toe in the water. While I did later see evidence of a sailboat at our next stop along the southern lakeshore, not a single person was in, under or on the lake the day we visited. You are welcome to take from that what you will. To be honest, incredibly enjoyable and novel swimming / soaking experiences can be found in Furnas town at the Terra Nostra Gardens and Poça da Doña Beijas, so I would set my sights on those locales instead (links to both of those experiences are provided above at beginning of entry).

The picture below represents the challenges of traveling as a group. Ben's sister and her husband wanted to climb the mountain to the overlook (seen at the top of the peak in the picture below). Ben and I wanted to visit the church / southern shore of the lake and then head back into Furnas for lunch. (Ben's and my ideal hikes are usually flat and long, not steep and short). There's a lot to do around Furnas, so my suggestion would be to prioritize what you want to do before arriving, and if you're traveling with a group of others, be explicit about what you want to do ahead of time to avoid conflict.

Somehow, the entire group decided to head south to the bottom of the lake. There are more than a few things to admire, but with our time and interest constraints, we focused on two things - the Garden of Lagoas das Furnas, and the Mata-Jardim José do Canto, which includes the Capela de Nossa Senhora das Vitórias (Chapel of Our Lady of Victories).

There's a small parking lot on the left side of the road as you reach the end of the lake with a modest parking fee. Then, across the road, there's a walking trail through the lake's garden.

Following the trail, you eventually reach the church, though the entrance is still a few feet away, and requires a fee. However, we didn't quite know this yet, but we did manage to squeeze in a few pictures of the church and its surroundings from outside the official perimeter.

Just a few more feet away and right across from the orange building you find the entrance to the park.

As mentioned previously, these boats were the only indication to me that activity does take place on the water, though, as I also mentioned, I saw no evidence of it happening during our visit.

The entire area is lush and lovely to look at, and is a nice peaceful walk.

As we walked along the shoreline and kept getting glimpses into the grounds of the small church, I kept debating whether or not to actually pay money to enter the grounds, knowing we wouldn't have a ton of time to spend there. As we passed the entrance (above right) I was still on the fence.

But it was a random peacock sighting and my inability to get a decent picture of it from outside the fence that wound up luring me into the gardens, forcing me to fork over some money (3€) to admire the beautiful grounds, but most importantly, to get a closer look at the stunning bird.

We have peacocks here in Hawai‘i, and they are actually considered a nuisance. However, I have not lived in a neighborhood with one before, so I was really excited to see one so readily available and with such a gorgeous backdrop. We started off walking towards the peacock, but then he in turn started following us around. We made sure to always give him some space, even if he kept trying to creep his way closer to us throughout the garden.

After some light peacock stalking (both us to him, and him to us), we caught a quick glimpse of the ever elusive in-laws, who had opted not to explore the garden.

But since our 3€ included access to the church grounds, we decided to poke around and get some different perspectives than the ones you can get from the pathway outside.

This chapel began construction in 1882 in honor of famed gardener and aspiring botanist José do Conto for his sick and dying wife, Maria Guilhermina Taveira de Brum da Silveiri. The project was completed in 1898 right before his death, allowing him to be buried alongside her inside the chapel, where they still rest today, overlooking the beautiful environs dedicated on her behalf.

Above, the view from the chapel looking out towards the lake, and below, the insides of the chapel. Overall, not a terrible view for a final resting place.

We eventually left the garden and met back up with Ben's family, taking the same path back to our cars. The gardens include much more to see than we were able to, including trails to waterfalls and over scenic vistas. The trail to the gardens itself also keeps going on for a while, leading to a Monitoring and Research Center, which studies the history and evolution of the lake and caldera (and something I kick myself for not discovering until I wrote this post!), as well as two accommodations. Give yourself a bit of time to really do this area justice, something we did not do, but would if we ever returned to the area. I have seen plenty of itineraries which recommend a few nights stay in Furnas, followed by a few nights closer to Ponta Delgada, and think this might be good advice, unless you didn't mind driving out this direction more than once.

Whatever you do, if you do find yourself in Furnas town, be sure to take the drive down to the caldera and explore the sensory experiences here. From the lovely sights, the less-than-pleasant aromas, and everything in between, it truly does make for an interesting and enjoyable diversion.

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Visiting Furnas Lake

Furnas Lake is located about 42 minutes away from Ponta Delgada by car, and is located slightly lower than Furnas town itself. We came from the northern side of the island, so reached the town first, though your experience my differ if you are coming from Ponta Delgada instead of Ribeira Grande like us.

For more information about other things to do around Furnas, please view the postings linked to at the top of the page.

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Day of this trip: May 10, 2018