We Discovered The Most EERIE Abandoned Village | Sanguinho

Deep in the forests of Sao Miguel Island in the Azores is a place most people never see. A long-abandoned lost village, slowly reclaimed by the land that once sustained it. No roads lead here. To find it, you have to earn every step. The journey to find the lost village takes you over rocky trails, past roosters and their wandering baby chicks echoing through the valley and a remote hidden waterfall called Salto do Prego. All of this is part of the price of admission because somewhere above Faial da Terra is the long-lost abandoned village of San Guiño and my wife and I are determined to find it. In September of 2025, my wife and I visited the island of Sao Miguel, one of many islands in the Azores, off the mainland of Portugal. On this trip, we visited dozens of beautiful places, took in the vast volcanic landscape, hiked to remote waterfalls, and my wife, knowing how much I love abandoned places, let me throw in a few locations of interest on the trip. The location we are visiting today, long-lost abandoned village of San Guiño, was actually her idea to visit, but we would quickly learn that it would be no easy feat. On paper, finding the San Guiño lost village looks very simple. Park in the town, hike to the waterfall, turn around, go right at the fork, keep hiking until you get there, and take the windy road back down. A simple 5-kilometer hike. However, the 5-kilometer hike starts at an elevation of 24 meters above sea level, but it peaks at 230 meters, and most of those climbs are steep, many at a grade between 20% and 35%. However, in between steep uphill climbs and catching our breath, there are many beautiful sights along the way, as well as many roosters and their babies, who are all very happy to greet you along your hike. Thank you. Thank you. She's sitting on the baby. That's so cute. He goes under mama, yeah. I can hear them, yeah. Finally, we started hearing the sound of the waterfall, Salto do Prego. It wasn't very busy when we were there, and that's probably because you have to hike in. There's no parking lot, no quick walk from the road. You earn this waterfall. Clear water drops from high above into a pool surrounded by thick green walls. It's one of those places that stays well preserved because not everyone is willing to put in the effort to get here, and that effort makes the stop feel even more worth it. After spending about half an hour taking the waterfall, it was time to backtrack and find the lost abandoned village of Sanguino. From the waterfall, the trail continues deeper into the forest toward the lost village. You don't just wander a few steps and arrive. It's another stretch of uphill trail through uneven ground, roots, and rocks, a meaningful continuation of the day's hike. This is Sanguino, often called the lost village. Tucked deep into the hills above Faial da Terra, this small settlement was never meant to be easy to reach. Sanguino wasn't a town. It was a working village, a handful of homes built where the land could support them. Families lived here off the valley, small farms, orchards, fresh water, and footpaths connecting everything. For generations, this place worked, but as the world changed, Sanguino didn't. In the mid-20th century, families began to leave. Many immigrated to the United States and Canada looking for work and opportunity. As people left, the isolation became harder to justify. No nearby schools, no easy access, and a long, demanding walk for everything you needed. Slowly, one house at a time, the village emptied. What remains today is a place caught between abandonment and rediscovery. Some homes have been restored, others are collapsing back into the hillside, and the forest continues to reclaim the rest. Okay guys, what's up? We are in Sao Miguel Island in the Azores, which is in Portugal. Small volcanic island, and my wife and I just hiked like two hours, at least, to get here. Went through a waterfall, and now we're at a lost village. Can't remember right now what it's called, but it'll be in the name and the voiceover. So I'm going to walk through and take some pictures. I'm going to do it all at the same time because we're in a hurry. We've got a lot to see. So let's go check it out, guys. Lost village, abandoned village, right here in the Azores. Let's go. Okay, so this is pretty cool. It's all kinds of ruins, old buildings and stuff. So what we're going to do is we're going to do a little bit of everything here. We're going to take pictures at the same time, okay, that we're exploring so I can save time here because I'm here with my wife and I'm not really here to explore. So gotta move quick, guys. Okay, let's see what's down here. Okay, oh look at that. That's really cool. So I'm going to play some voiceover once I get home and do some research and learn more about this place, but this is pretty awesome. Okay, let's head through here now. Oh wow, this is crazy. It's like somebody's house. It's got these like pillars here. This is amazing, wow. Get some shots of this here. All right, moving along here. All these old ruins of houses and stuff, eh? Wow, that is pretty cool. Okay, so this is like a tourist destination. You can take a hike to get here and it did take us a couple hours. We did stop and see a waterfall on the way, which took us quite a while to get to. Crazy. All right, so we're inside. That's the upstairs. Can't get up there anymore. So cool. All right, so that was that one. That's number 13. There's not much more, a little bit more down here. Pretty cool, this right here. What happens up here? There's a landslide up there. If you look up there, you can see that a landslide happened and dropped a bunch of crap down here. Wow. Today, Sanguinho isn't completely forgotten. A small number of caretakers and residents are working to preserve what remains, restoring select homes while respecting the original stone structures and layout. They grow food here on a small scale, grapes, fruit, and garden crops, using the same land that supported families generations ago. Some of that produce is shared or sold locally, often to hikers passing through, creating a quiet, self-sustaining rhythm that fits the place. It's not a return to what Sanguinho once was, but a careful effort to keep it alive without changing its character. My wife and I stayed here for a while, taking in the beautiful view from the small dining area. We enjoyed some sparkling water, a glass of wine, and a bowl of grapes grown right here in the village. Then it was time to head back to the car. Thankfully, we wouldn't have to backtrack through the trails, the forest, and the roosters. There is a very steep and winding cobblestone path that snakes down the steep mountainside to the town below, offering some amazing views along the way down. A bit of an added bonus to this video, we had about a two-hour drive back to our hotel in Ponta Delgada as we chose to take the more scenic route through the mountains. Along the way is the town of Furnas. Furnas is a town built inside an ancient volcanic crater, known for its geothermal activity and ever-present steam rising from the ground. Hot springs, bubbling fumaroles, and mineral-rich waters shape daily life here, and even the local food is cooked underground using natural volcanic heat. It's one of the few places where you can see, hear, and feel the island's power still working just beneath the surface. Selfishly, however, I was more excited about seeing this old, sort of abandoned, neo-Gothic church at the head of Furnas Lake. Capella de Nossa Senhora das Vitorias sits quietly on the edge of Lagoa das Furnas, and despite how it looks, it was never an abandoned village church. It was built in the late 19th century by José do Canto, a wealthy Azorean landowner and botanist, as a deeply personal tribute to his wife, who died young. Designed in a romantic Gothic style and constructed from local stone, the chapel was meant to be both a place of mourning and devotion, blending into the surrounding landscape rather than dominating it. José do Canto and his wife are buried inside, giving the building a sense of permanence and intimacy that feels very different from typical churches. What remains today is a quiet, atmospheric structure that feels less like a ruin and more like a memory, preserved at the edge of the lake.