“[Since 2022] we have a more or less validated pattern with 28,000 visitors per year, including schools and residents,” stated Diogo Caetano, the president of the Friends of the Azores Ecological Association, today.
The cave, classified as a Regional Natural Monument since 2005, has daily visits conducted by seven employees and seven guides from the Friends of the Azores Ecological Association, which has managed the complex since 2007.
“We are also somewhat stabilized [in terms of visitor numbers], because our carrying capacity in summer is practically always filled. In other words, we have about 150 people per day and we can’t accommodate more,” said Caetano.
According to Diogo Caetano, the association ensures five visiting periods daily, “each of which may include two tours, one in Portuguese and another in English.”
During peak season, the venue is near its “defined carrying capacity,” and the association will not “increase this capacity, even if there is more demand, because it was determined based on the cave’s characteristics,” he asserted.
The cave tours are always guided, ensuring that visitors receive information, and autonomous visits are not promoted.
“We have a program tailored for general visitors or, in this case, for schools or associations. Our intention is that people are always accompanied by a guide, in Portuguese or English, […] to receive information about the cave’s heritage, the importance of the underground environment, and the local fauna and flora,” he explained.
Caetano added that the tours also aim “to provide more information about that type of environment and raise awareness about environmental issues in general, if possible.”
The tours are free for residents and can be done daily in two formats: a short visit and a long visit. The short visit lasts between 30 to 45 minutes (targeting the general public, covering 200 meters of the cave), and the long visit lasts two to three hours (by reservation and subject to guide availability, for those interested in speleology, covering 1,000 meters of the cave).
Located in the western part of Ponta Delgada city, the Gruta do Carvão stretches approximately 2,500 meters, partitioned into three main segments and collapsed intermediate zones, which physically separate these cavities and, therefore, do not allow access to the entirety of the original lava tube.
“For this reason, currently only about 1,912.1 meters of the lava tube is recognized and mapped, including a northern section (Gruta da Rua do Paim, or Section 1); an intermediate section (Gruta do Carvão, Rua de Lisboa, Tobacco Dryers, or Section 2), a southern section (Gruta da Rua João do Rego, or Section 3), and the Gruta da Rua José Bensaúde, which is only about 42.7 meters long (Section a),” according to information provided by the Friends of the Azores Ecological Association.
The association managing the complex aims “to defend and enhance the environment, as well as promote nature conservation, using non-violent methods of work and intervention through cultural, educational, scientific, sports, recreational, social, or similar activities.”
