Parque Terra Nostra

Terra Nostra Park is a botanical garden located in the Furnas Valley. This park houses one of the world's largest collections of camellias, with more than 600 different genera, and also the largest collection of cycads in Europe.

One of the biggest attractions is the water pool with naturally brown thermal water and a temperature of 38 °C. The pool is decorated with stone carvings and surrounded by exotic plants. Bathing is allowed, but requires longer showers afterwards.

But you can't just look at the park, it costs an entrance fee of 17.-. If you have nothing else to do in Furnas or live there for a week, you can safely invest this 17.-. However, if you have a car around to explore the island and some time, you should not pay the entrance fee for the time being and only fall back on it when you can't think of anything else.

The garden was founded in 1780, when the then consul of the United States of America on the island of São Miguel, Thomas Hickling, built his summer residence here, which then became known as Yankee Hall.

It was not until the middle of the 19th century that the area of two hectares gradually grew. The Viscondes da Praia or later the Bensaude family expanded the area to an attractive size.

Water gardens and plantings with dark alleys and flower beds were created, and Yankee Hall was transformed into a hotel. In 1872, when the garden was already in the hands of the 2nd Visconde of Praia, he brought in Portuguese and English specialists. They carried out a reconstruction of the existing canal, built caves and avenues of boxwood, but the paths with orange trees have disappeared. Trees were imported from North America, Australia, New Zealand, China and South Africa.

In the 1930s, the Terra Nostra Park was acquired by Vasco Bensaude, who saw it primarily as an addition to the Terra Nostra Hotel. At that time, the park reached an area of 12.5 ha, divided alternately into gardens and forest. Vasco Bensaude had a great knowledge of botany and horticulture, as did his gardener of Scottish origin, John McEnroy.

If you stay in the hotel you can enter for free.Read more