Fuel prices in the Azores and Madeira: a visitor’s guide

Gasóleo is diesel, not gasoline

The most expensive fuel mistake on a holiday in the Azores or Madeira has little to do with the price per litre. In Portuguese, gasóleo means diesel. The word looks and sounds like gasoline, the American name for petrol, but it is the other fuel. Petrol is gasolina. Keeping those two words apart matters more than any price difference in this guide, because a few cents per litre can never make up for the wrong fuel in the tank.

The price itself has a clear official reference. In both archipelagos, the regional government sets maximum retail prices for 95-octane unleaded petrol and road diesel. From 1 October 2026, the Azores maximum is €1.924 per litre for petrol 95 and €1.939 for road diesel. In Madeira, from 28 September 2026, the maxima are €2.029 and €2.148. These are dated examples from the official decisions linked below, not a live price list.

For the figures in force while you are travelling, open the Azores fuel prices or Madeira fuel prices page. Each shows the latest verified maximum, any confirmed upcoming change, the effective date and the official source. The rest of this guide explains how to read those numbers, which words to look for at the pump, and how to turn a price per litre into a road-trip budget.

A maximum price, not a price list

Both regions regulate the covered road fuels with a ceiling. The official documents call it the preço máximo de venda ao público, the maximum retail price to the public. A station may not charge more than the published maximum for that product and period, but it can charge less, so a lower price at the pump is not a sign that something is wrong. FuelAzores shows the official maximum, not the price at any particular station. The Azores decision for October 2026 also states that its prices already include VAT.

For budgeting, the maximum is a cautious reference: the same litres of the same capped product should not cost more at the pump than a calculation made at the maximum. What it does not tell you is the price at a particular station, whether a discount applies to you, or how many litres your trip will actually use. Those are separate questions, and later sections deal with the last one.

When the maxima change

The two regions use different calendars. In the Azores, Resolution 44/2024 provides for changes on the first day of each month, linked to a monthly European reference price. The October 2026 example follows that rhythm: Decision 30/2026 was published in the Jornal Oficial dos Açores on Monday 28 September and applies from midnight at the start of 1 October. It covers the whole Autonomous Region of the Azores, so the same maximum applies whether you drive on São Miguel, Terceira, Pico or Flores.

Madeira works week by week. Under Madeira Ordinance 25/2022, the ordinary cycle is approval on a Friday and effect from midnight at the start of the following Monday. Joint Order 89/2026 shows the pattern: it was signed and published in JORAM, Madeira's official journal, on Friday 25 September 2026 and applies from 00:00 on Monday 28 September. The order applies in the Autonomous Region of Madeira, which includes Porto Santo, and sets one list of maxima for the whole region.

Either region can also publish a decision outside its usual rhythm. When that happens, the effective date written in the decision is what counts, not the habit of the first of the month or the Monday. The Azores system guide and the Madeira and Porto Santo guide explain both mechanisms, including the reference price and the formula behind them.

Petrol 98 and coloured diesel are different cases

The decisions cited here set maxima for 95-octane unleaded petrol and for diesel. Petrol 98 does not appear in any of these tables, so there is no regional maximum to compare it with, and FuelAzores does not show a price for it. If a station offers it, the price displayed at the pump is the only figure to check. Follow the fuel stated in your rental agreement or in the car's documentation rather than the grade that sounds best.

Coloured and marked diesel, gasóleo colorido e marcado, is a separate category that also appears in official tables. Madeira's order for 28 September lists it at €1.700 per litre, well below road diesel. In the Azores, Decision 29/2026 sets its own maxima for agriculture and fishing and explains that this diesel can only be bought by beneficiaries of the regional diesel supply system for agriculture and fishing. It is not a cheaper version of the fuel a car uses. A diesel rental car needs road diesel, whatever a lower row in a table might suggest.

Words to look for at the pump

Official tables and pump labels do not always use the same wording, and a pump may add a brand name. Look for the product word and the grade. The Azores decision calls the petrol "Gasolina sem chumbo I.O. 95 octanas", while the Madeira order calls it "Gasolina super sem chumbo IO 95". Sem chumbo means unleaded, and I.O. refers to the octane rating. For diesel, the Azores table simply says "Gasóleo", while Madeira's specifies "Gasóleo rodoviário", road diesel.

If you are used to calling fuel gas, translate it as gasolina, never gasóleo. The Portuguese word gás refers to gases: the Azores decision, for example, also sets prices for bottled butane, measured per kilogram rather than per litre. It is not another name for petrol.

A few other words help at the station. Posto de abastecimento is a filling station, bomba is the pump, depósito is the fuel tank, and talão or recibo is the receipt. Atestar means to fill the tank to the top. Litro, the unit used for petrol and diesel prices, is the litre.

Check the car before you open the fuel flap

Find out which fuel the car takes before the first refill, ideally when you collect it. The rental agreement is the first place to look, and there may also be a label on or near the fuel filler cap or flap. If the two disagree, or you cannot find either, ask the rental company before fuelling rather than guessing at the pump.

At the pump, read the product name on the nozzle or dispenser instead of relying on its colour or position; do not assume either follows the conventions you know from home. Match gasolina to a petrol car and gasóleo to a diesel car. Check the name again before you lift the nozzle, especially if someone else is fuelling the car or you are switching between vehicles during the trip.

If you put the wrong fuel in, do not start the engine. Contact the rental company using the details in your agreement and follow its instructions. If you only realise after driving away, stop somewhere safe, switch off the engine and make the same call. Keep the receipt, which records the product and the litres dispensed. The consequences of the wrong fuel can far outweigh any price difference in this guide, so a few seconds of checking are well spent.

The dated maxima for 28 September and 1 October 2026

The two decisions used as examples in this guide set the following maxima. The Azores column comes from Decision 30/2026 and the Madeira column from Joint Order 89/2026. Each applies from the date shown until a later decision replaces it.

On those dates, diesel was the dearer fuel per litre in both regions: by €0.015 in the Azores and by €0.119 in Madeira. For a 40-litre refill at the maxima, that difference comes to €0.60 in the Azores and €4.76 in Madeira. At the same maxima, 40 litres of petrol 95 cost €76.96 and 40 litres of road diesel €77.56 in the Azores; in Madeira, the same quantities cost €81.16 and €85.92. Those totals are our calculations from the published unit prices, rounded to the cent at the end.

If you are choosing between a petrol and a diesel rental car, do not assume that diesel is the cheaper fuel to buy. Compare the current rows on the price page, then combine them with each car's consumption, as the next section shows.

The two columns also have different effective dates, so the table is not a same-day comparison of the regions. A Madeira order can be replaced the following Monday, while the Azores figures belong to the October decision under the monthly cycle. The comparison guide explains how to compare the regions on a matching day.

Estimating the fuel for a road trip

The estimate needs three inputs: distance, consumption and price. Multiply the distance in kilometres by the car's consumption in litres per 100 kilometres, divide by 100, and multiply the resulting litres by the price per litre. As a formula, litres = kilometres × litres per 100 km ÷ 100, and cost = litres × price per litre.

The trips below are hypothetical round numbers chosen to show the arithmetic, not measured routes on any island. Each uses the same consumption for petrol and diesel only to isolate the effect of price; a real petrol car and a real diesel car can use different amounts of fuel on the same journey.

The litres and totals are calculations; only the prices per litre come from the official decisions. Keep all three decimals of the price until the last step and round the final amount to the cent. Rounding €2.148 to €2.15 before multiplying by 30 litres, for example, would add six cents to the Madeira diesel estimate.

For your own trip, replace the assumptions with better ones: your planned distance and the consumption figure for the car you are driving, if the rental company or the car's documentation provides one. Hills, speed, load and air conditioning all affect consumption, so leave a margin of a few litres. You can also measure consumption yourself. Fill the tank, note the distance, and at the next full refill divide the litres bought by the kilometres driven, then multiply by 100.

Planning refills around a price change

For a visitor, a price change matters only if a refill falls near it. In the Azores, that means the last days of a month. Decision 30/2026 was published on 28 September, three days before it applied. Under the previous decision, Azores Decision 25/2026, the maxima from 1 September had been €1.854 for petrol 95 and €1.885 for road diesel. The October decision therefore raised them by €0.070 and €0.054 per litre respectively.

A confirmed rise like this one makes an earlier refill worthwhile only for litres you would buy anyway and have room for in the tank. It is not a reason to drive out of your way or to top up a tank that is almost full. The refuelling calculation guide shows how to include the cost of a detour and a partial fill.

In Madeira, the window is the weekend. An order approved on Friday normally takes effect at 00:00 on Monday, as Joint Order 89/2026 did. If you plan to refuel on Sunday or Monday, look for a new order on Friday or over the weekend. As a hypothetical example, if Friday's order raised road diesel by €0.050 per litre, buying 40 litres on Sunday rather than Monday would cost €2.00 less at the maxima. If it lowered the price by the same amount, waiting until Monday would save the same €2.00.

Keep enough fuel for the journeys you need rather than stretching the tank to catch a change. A price table cannot tell you whether a station will be open when you arrive, so check practical arrangements directly if you depend on a late-night or early-morning refill.

Early reports, confirmed prices and alerts

News of a price change sometimes appears before the official decision. FuelAzores keeps the two apart. Early reports from RTP can appear in the app marked "Reported · unconfirmed" while they await official confirmation. Reported amounts may be rounded, and they do not change official prices or the app's calculations. Once the decision is confirmed, the price page and the app show the exact amount and the date it starts.

When a change is confirmed but not yet in force, the app shows the current price, the new price and the date of the change, so you can see whether a refill before or after it costs less for your quantity. The live Azores and Madeira price pages make the same distinction in two columns: the latest verified price and the confirmed upcoming price.

In Settings, price alerts can notify you when confirmed prices change, and an optional reminder can warn you at 18:00 on the day before a confirmed increase, in the region's local time. Early RTP alerts can be switched off separately. On an iPhone, alerts require adding FuelAzores to the Home Screen first. You can also add the rental car as a vehicle with its fuel, tank capacity and usual refill quantity, then delete it when you return the car. The FuelAzores guide explains each step.

Returning the rental car

Before the last refill, read what the rental agreement says about the fuel level on return. A refuelling charge made by the rental company is a contractual charge, which may include a service element, and the regional maximum does not determine it. Compare the fuel you buy yourself with the maximum, and compare the company's charge with the terms of the agreement, rather than mixing the two.

Keep the receipt from the final refill. It shows the date, product, litres and price, which is useful if a question about the fuel arises after you return the car. A receipt below the maximum for that date is consistent with how a maximum works. If a price looks higher, first check that the product name matches the capped category and that you are comparing it with the maximum in force on the purchase date.

Frequently asked questions

Is diesel cheaper than petrol in the Azores?

Not in the decisions cited here. The Azores decision effective from 1 October 2026 set road diesel at €1.939 per litre, €0.015 above petrol 95 at €1.924. The September decision also placed diesel above petrol, at €1.885 against €1.854. The relationship can change, so compare the current rows before choosing a car or a fuel.

Do all stations charge the same price?

Not necessarily. For the same product and period, the maximum is the same throughout each region, but a station can sell below it, and a discount can lower the price further for some customers. FuelAzores shows the official maximum; the pump display and your receipt show what you actually paid.

Is Porto Santo included in the Madeira prices?

Yes. Joint Order 89/2026 applies in the Autonomous Region of Madeira, which includes Porto Santo, and sets one list of maxima for the region. It contains no separate Porto Santo figure, so the Madeira maximum for your fuel is the reference on both islands.

Is petrol 98 regulated?

None of the regional decisions cited here sets a maximum for petrol 98. Their fuel rows cover petrol 95 and diesel, plus coloured and marked diesel for eligible uses. If a station sells petrol 98, check the price at the pump; FuelAzores does not show a figure for it.

Can I rely on a news report about next week's price?

Use it as early notice, not as the price. A report can round the amount or appear before the official decision is published. FuelAzores labels early RTP reports as unconfirmed and changes official prices and calculations only after the official decision is confirmed.

What should I do if I put the wrong fuel in a rental car?

Do not start the engine. Contact the rental company using the details in your agreement and follow its instructions. If you have already driven off, stop somewhere safe and switch off the engine before calling. Keep the fuel receipt.