Serra Devassa: Choosing São Miguel’s High Lake Walk

Serra Devassa is a walk among small volcanic lakes and the infrastructure that carries their water toward Ponta Delgada. Choose the full circuit when you want the changing relationship between hollows, lakes and open high ground to fill the outing. A quick stop at one lake is a different visit, with a different distance.

Start with the current route

The official PRC05SMI page now lists a 9.1 km (5.7 mi) circular route, medium difficulty, with an average of 3 hours 30 minutes. It begins near Muro do Carvão, a remnant of the Muro das Nove Janelas aqueduct. Use that name when arranging a drop-off; “Sete Cidades” covers far too much ground to identify the start.

Do not use a shorter distance from an older description to budget this circuit. Download the current map and GPS file linked on the official page together, and compare their endpoints before leaving. The page describes the broader outing; it does not justify improvising a shortcut between two visible lakes.

Water below, hills above

The interest is in the sequence rather than a single large lake. The route description includes Carvão, Caldeirão Grande, the two Caldeirão Pequeno lakes and Empadadas. Caldeirão Grande also has an agricultural water-supply role. These are working water resources as well as scenery, so keep to the marked route around them.

The ascent toward Pico das Éguas adds the higher perspective. Its summit area reaches about 873 m (2,860 ft) above sea level; that figure is altitude, not the amount you climb. The North and South Éguas lakes sit in this high landscape. Farther through the described route, Mata do Canário brings another lake setting and Grota do Inferno opens views toward the Sete Cidades caldera.

That combination explains why visibility matters. Clearer weather adds the wider caldera views; low cloud can leave the outing focused on nearby water and vegetation. If the broad views are your main reason for coming, decide at the start whether the conditions justify committing to the whole circuit.

Give the circuit its own time

Treat the published duration as walking time to build around. Add photographs, food, the approach and the journey back to your accommodation. For a driver pickup, agree on Muro do Carvão and a meeting time that allows pauses; for your own vehicle, confirm legal parking at the signed start rather than assuming every roadside gap is a space.

Check the official trail page and its alerts again for your date. This article helps choose the current outing; carry its current map for navigation. For another island's forest day, compare Fanal on Madeira. The contrast is useful: Serra Devassa's main reward is the lake-and-hill sequence, rather than time among one grove's old trees.