Portugal's highest peak, whale-watching capital, and volcanic wine terraces
Pico is named for its extraordinary central volcano — Pico Mountain, at 2,351m Portugal's highest peak, rises directly from the Atlantic in a near-perfect cone visible from neighbouring islands on clear days. The island is the whale-watching capital of Europe: sperm whales feed year-round in the Faial-Pico channel, and Pico's former whalers have reinvented themselves as guides using the same vigias (cliff-top lookout posts) that once spotted prey for harpoons. The UNESCO-listed vineyards — grown in black lava rock corrals that protect vines from Atlantic winds — produce a distinctive mineral…
Pico was settled by the Portuguese in the 15th century and developed an economy around whaling, wine, and fishing that persisted for 500 years. American whalers from New Bedford used Pico and neighbouring Faial as their Atlantic base from the 18th century well into the 20th — many Azorean families emigrated to New England aboard whaling ships. Industrial whaling from Pico continued until 1987, when the Azores became the last place in Europe to stop commercial whale hunting. The transition to whale-watching tourism was remarkably swift and complete.