Fuel on Pico
Where can I get fuel on Pico, and how careful do I need to be about it?
Quick answer
Fuel stations on Pico are few and cluster around the three towns, with long stretches of coast road between them. They keep local hours rather than city hours. The working rule is to refuel when you pass a station with more than half a tank gone.
Why this needs thinking about
On an island of 447 square kilometres holding under 14,000 people, fuel stations sit where the people are. That means the towns, and it means long stretches of coast road with nothing on them.
This is not a wilderness problem. Pico is not remote enough to be dangerous, and you will not be stranded for days. It is a wasted-afternoon problem: running low on the wrong side of the island, on a Sunday, with the crossing road ahead of you.
The working rule
Refuel when you are near a station and more than half the tank is gone. Do not refuel when the gauge starts complaining, because by then you may be committed to a stretch with no option.
Two specific moments deserve care. The first is arriving off the ferry at Madalena with a hire car whose tank state you have not checked. The second is setting off across the middle of the island: the crossing road climbs, and climbing uses more fuel than the map distance suggests. See driving on Pico.
Hours, not just locations
Stations keep local hours. Evenings are not guaranteed, Sundays less so, and out of season less again. A station that is open when you drive past it in the morning is not necessarily open when you come back at eight.
If you are planning an early start for Montanha do Pico or a dawn boat from Lajes, fill up the day before. The same goes for a public holiday, which runs on Sunday rules: see public holidays on Pico. And if you do end up stuck somewhere, the emergency numbers are worth having saved before you set off.
What this page does not tell you
No station names, no addresses, no opening hours, no fuel prices, no brands. None has been checked against a primary source. Station hours in particular change seasonally and are exactly the kind of figure a guide states once and never revisits.
Use a maps application on the day for locations, and treat the hours it shows as a hint rather than a promise. See practical information for the rest, and pharmacy on duty for the other service that runs on local hours.