Join us in our restored São Miguel meadow for a hands-on beekeeping experience. Step inside the hive and discover the raw flavor of Azorean biodiversity.
Apiário Margaridas began in 2023 as a project that crosses honey production, environmental education, and nature tourism — a pedagogical apiary built to make the case, in plain sight, that bees and biodiversity matter and that habitats can be rebuilt.
It started with a piece of old pasture in Água de Pau. We reconverted it into a refuge of native and melliferous plants — a living classroom where visitors can see, in practice, how a place changes when you give it back to the pollinators.
Today the project also produces honey through partnerships with a biological farm and an agroforestry project on the island. Different sites, the same idea: produce honey by improving the place it comes from.
You're not a visitor — you're part of the day. We start with a briefing on bee biology and safety, walk to the hives together, and open them. With a bit of luck, you'll find the queen.
A short talk on the biology of the colony — who does what, why bees behave the way they do, and how to be calm around them.
Through the meadow, smoker in hand. Bees in flight overhead. By now the suit feels less strange.
Lift a frame. Identify the castes — workers, drones, the queen if she shows herself. Watch the comb at work.
Back at the table, the bees send you off with a tasting of their honey, on bread, under the Azorean sky.
Small group, outdoor only. No frills, no fuss. Dress for Azorean weather and you'll be fine.
Born in Rio de Janeiro, raised in Porto, Carolina has lived in the Azores since 2009 — where she found the territory and rhythm of life that let her build personal and professional roots.
With a degree in Environmental Sciences and a postgraduate in Ecology, Territory and Environment, she spent over a decade in science and technology communication. That training shapes how she now communicates nature, sustainability, and science through beekeeping.
She'll be the one giving you the briefing, opening the hive, and pouring the honey at the end.
Honey and beeswax produced at the apiary, by bees that forage the meadow we built for them.
Produced by Apis mellifera iberiensis, the Iberian honeybee native to the region. The bees forage clover, daisies — margaridas — and whatever else flowers in the meadow they live in. Available at the apiary.
Made from beeswax produced at the apiary.
Every visit ends with a honey tasting under the open sky.
Apiário Margaridas contributes to Laurelim, a research project studying honey produced in the context of laurel forests and its relationship with biodiversity, bee microbiome, and chemical composition.
Wednesdays and Fridays at 10:30, by appointment. Other days possible on request.
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