Terra Nostra Park

Terra Nostra began in 1775 as the garden of an American consul's summer house in Furnas and was developed through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries into around twelve hectares of botanical collection - a cycad collection of international standing, camellias in hundreds of varieties, tree ferns, magnolias, a Japanese-influenced section, endemic Azorean plants and enormous mature specimens under the caldera walls. The reason most people come is the pool: a large thermal bath fed by iron-rich spring water at around 35 to 40 degrees, opaque orange-brown from the dissolved iron, warm year-round and swimmable in rain. The iron stains fabric permanently, which the park warns about and which pale swimwear owners discover anyway. Furnas around it is a volcanic valley of fumaroles, hot springs and the cozido cooked underground.

History

The garden goes back to the summer house that the American consul Thomas Hickling built here in 1775, later known as Yankee Hall. From the middle of the 19th century the Viscounts of Praia enlarged it, bringing in Portuguese and English specialists in 1872, and in the 1930s Vasco Bensaude bought it for his Terra Nostra Hotel, when it reached 12.5 hectares (Wikipedia, Terra Nostra Park).

What's there

• The thermal pool - a large iron-rich bath at 35 to 40 degrees, opaque orange-brown.
• The cycad collection - one of the more significant collections anywhere.
• The camellias - hundreds of varieties, flowering through the winter months.
• The scale - twelve hectares of mature planting under the caldera walls.

When to go

Year-round; the pool is warm in any weather and swimming in rain is part of the appeal. Two to four hours. Camellias flower from about December to April.

Good to know

The iron water permanently stains swimwear and towels - take dark ones you do not mind losing. The pool gets very busy in the middle of the day. Paths are wet and muddy. The ticket is not cheap for a garden.

Nearby

The Furnas fumaroles and lake are close; Caldeira Velha is west on the Fogo slopes.

Key facts