Portugal 
In numbers.
90m
Height
OpenStreetMap
Dec–Mar
Best months
110m
Elevation
The water at Cascata do Poço do Bacalhau, month by month
It roars from December to February.
The fullest months: from December to February. The thinnest: from July to August.
- 100%Jan
- 89%Feb
- 74%Mar
- 52%Apr
- 37%May
- 28%Jun
- 16%Jul
- 16%Aug
- 30%Sep
- 54%Oct
- 70%Nov
- 98%Dec
Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from December to March.
Estimate from rain, snowmelt and evaporation month by month (NASA POWER, 1991–2020) around the falls. Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Waterfall on Azores, Portugal
Cascata do Poço do Bacalhau is a waterfall in Portugal. The water falls 90 m.
Getting there.
- Santa Cruz das Floresnearest town · 11 km in a straight line
- Parking 250 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Flores Airport (FLW)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 11 km in a straight lineCar hire at FLW airport (Santa Cruz das Flores)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From December to Marchbest months to go (estimate)
Plan your visit
Stay, explore and get there
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
How big is it?
How big it really is.
Height of the drop as mapped in OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors). Buildings and the person are drawn at the same scale.
Seen from the sky.
8 × 8 km of cloud-free satellite image, with what OpenStreetMap knows around the falls.
N
2 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
The line follows the river as mapped in OpenStreetMap; heights from the 30 m Copernicus model, which smooths narrow drops — the published height of the falls is the one above.
Around the falls the river drops 638 m in 2.2 km. Here the river runs about 62 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 4viewpointsVigia da Baleia, Miradouro da Cruz and 2 more
- 4waymarked walking routesPR02FLO Lajedo - Fajã Grande, PR03FLO Miradouro das Lagoas - Poço do Bacalhau, PR01FLO Ponta Delgada - Fajã Grande and 1 more
- 8car parks
- 1swimming spotsZona Balnear da Fajã Grande
- 3picnic sites
- 8toilets
- 1information boards and visitor centres
- 1bus stops within 1 km
- 4other named waterfalls within 4 kmSalto, Ribeira Grande and 2 more
- —caves
- 1campsitesZona de Campismo
- 18hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmArgonauta, Residencia Mateus, Sítio da Assumada and 15 more
- 8restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, up to 2 km around the falls (unless noted). A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Santa Cruz das Flores11 km in a straight line
- Lajes das Flores11 km in a straight line
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | 16 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 19 | 22 | 23 | 22 | 20 | 18 | 17 |
| Night °C | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 22 | 21 | 18 | 16 | 15 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 108 | 94 | 86 | 63 | 57 | 52 | 30 | 47 | 70 | 92 | 93 | 123 |
| Wet days | 16 | 16 | 16 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 8 | 9 | 14 | 16 | 15 | 19 |
| Sun h/day | 3.3 | 4.4 | 5.5 | 7.0 | 8.0 | 8.4 | 9.7 | 9.4 | 7.4 | 5.3 | 3.7 | 3.0 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (110 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
Photos
Through visitors' eyes.
Recent years
Wet years and dry years
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A wet season above 100 % usually means a fuller waterfall.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 78% | 49% | 58% | 118% | 114% | 45% | 60% | 222% | 73% | 50% | 47% | 40% |
| 2021 | 145% | 96% | 81% | 133% | 108% | 96% | 90% | 143% | 76% | 127% | 148% | 112% |
| 2022 | 26% | 53% | 127% | 120% | 110% | 91% | 68% | 64% | 80% | 67% | 139% | 106% |
| 2023 | 59% | 61% | 121% | 83% | 76% | 81% | 204% | 79% | 150% | 130% | 138% | 71% |
| 2024 | 123% | 96% | 45% | 73% | 91% | 60% | 86% | 67% | 103% | 96% | 102% | 108% |
| 2025 | 121% | 104% | 85% | 60% | 91% | 56% | 65% | 58% | 93% | 109% | 57% | 173% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q9701496) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Height of the drop | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Relief, river profile, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Paths, viewpoints, parking | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit 
lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit 
mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.You are here
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit