Barreiro da Faneca

Santa Maria is the oldest island in the Azores and the only one with substantial sedimentary rock and fossil beds, and the Barreiro da Faneca is its strangest landscape: an area of red and ochre clay in the north of the island, eroded and largely bare, so dry and open that it is called the Red Desert. It exists because the underlying rock weathers to clay that holds no water and supports only sparse vegetation, in an archipelago where every other island is covered in green. It is a protected landscape with walking trails crossing it, part of a wider Santa Maria geopark that includes fossil-bearing cliffs at Figueiral and Pedreira do Campo, where marine deposits stand well above sea level. Santa Maria is also the driest and sunniest Azorean island, which is why it has beaches - São Lourenço among them - that the others do not.

What you actually see

• The red clay - eroded ochre and rust ground, bare in a green archipelago.
• The trails - marked walking routes crossing the protected area.
• The geopark - fossil-bearing marine deposits raised above sea level nearby.
• The dryness - the sunniest and driest of the Azorean islands.

When to go

April to September. Two to three hours walking. Low sun brings out the colour far better than midday.

Honest expectations

No shade at all on the clay, and it is the hottest ground in the Azores. Trails are dusty in summer and become slick mud after rain. Santa Maria has limited flights. Facilities on the trails are minimal.

Nearby

Santa Bárbara is close; São Lourenço bay and Vila do Porto are elsewhere on the island.