One of my favorite things to do is look at maps. I've spent countless hours in Google Maps and on other mapping applications. I'm an avid user of saved places on Google Maps. I currently have 1337 places saved on my "Want to go" list, and 1506 on my "Starred" list (all places I have been). Some number of years ago I was panning around on the map and I discovered a set of islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean - The Azores. Ever since then I've had a green flag in a sea of blue on my google map.

Because I live in Washington state, this archipelago is not the most accessible (I hate layovers). In the summer of 2024 Angela and I had two weddings to attend, one on the east coast of the US, and the other in Lisbon, Portugal. They were 2 weeks apart and we decided to make a trip out of them to avoid having to fly back across the country just to fly back over a week and a half later.

This presented a unique opportunity to check out the Azores on our way from the US, and without a single layover!

Our larger trip included time spent on sailboat in Conneticut (Block Island), and a bit of time in New York, hanging out with Angela's brother, so we ended up with 5 days in the Azores. After doing a bit of research it was clear to me there was more than enough to do on the main island, São Miguel, to keep us occupied for that entire time.

Day 1 - Sete Cidades

We rented a car while on the island as most everything you'll want to do will require one (unless your book tours, but that's not our style). We took a redeye from JFK and arrived at 7 in the morning. After stopping at a cafe for a cappucino and a bread and cheese sandwich (a breakfast staple in the Azores) we headed up to Sete Cidades. Sete Cidades is a town that's located inside a lush volcanic crater. There are a bunch of hikes and viewpoints on the drive up. It was super foggy/misty so we didn't do too much hiking, but we did check out Miraduoro da Grota do Inferno which has a view down to the lakes in the center of the caldera. The hike takes you through a forrest of Japanese Cedar which with the fog and mist was eerily spectacular.

Afterwards we headed to Monte Palace, and abandonded hotel. Angela was super exhausted from the flight, so she napped in the car while I explored the hotel. I used to be super into "Urbex" (Urban exploration) as a kid, so I couldn't miss this place. It's quite a tourist attraction with vendors selling food around it, and tons of people. The hotel was built in the 80s, but the operator went out of business after 18 months, so now it just sits there. I heard there were some chinese businessmen looking into purchasing an rehabilitating it. It is quite a spectacular piece of real estate.

After doing a bit of wandering we headed down into the Caldera, stopping at another viewport or two along the way. On the outskirts of town, we stopped for lunch at Quinta Da Queiró, a cozy hotel that I'd been unable to book, but heard had a nice attached tea room and good food.

We were thinking about kayaking in one of the lakes, but it was super windy with a consistent ~10mph wind - not ideal for enjoyable kayaking. Instead we parked the car between the lakes and walked to a little park at the tip of a peninsula jutting out into Lagoa Azul. I'd read about this spot in a random comment on Reddit:

If you look at the map of Sete Cidades, look for the bridge that divides Lagoa Verde and Lagoa Azul. You’ll see a peninsula that sticks out right by the bridge. There’s a dirt road that goes around the edge of that peninsula. It’s used for the excursion groups. You can walk it easily. At the very tip of the peninsula is a sloped garden tucked away. It was my favorite spot on the whole island.

It's such a spectacular, secluded, peaceful and beautiful spot. We spent an hour or so hanging out there - Angela reading, me wandering around and swimming in the lake.

Due to our lack of a bed the night before, we decided to head to check into our spot for the night, Villa Várzea. I think I found it by perusing Google Maps for accomodations options near Sete Cidades because I thought we might want another day there. It's beautifully designed with modern upgrades to an old property. The place is run by the great granddaughter of a doctor that purchased the property in the 1930s. We stayed in the barn nest which is a bit more secluded with a nice outdoor bathtub. The breakfast was delightful too!

After decompressing for a bit we headed to Mosterios for dinner. The only town on the western side of the São Miguel, I'd read that Mosterios is a great place to watch the sunset, and eat seafood, specifically Pulpo (octopus), one of Angela's favorites. Since we hadn't done much hiking earlier in the day we decided to walk. This 5 mile hike took us past a spectacular viewpoint, but much of the rest of the walk was on a dirt road that was not particularly exciting. And, the final part of the walk was on a steep, narrow, windy road that was not pleasant to walk on. We probably should've made a reservation as we had to wander around to a few restaurants before one would seat us (this one). In hindsight I wish I'd made a reservation for after sunset because we couldn't really see it from the restaurant :/ After dinner we strolled around town and had a couple beers down on the beach before calling a cab back to Villa Varzea. It's surprising to me how easy it is to get a cab in pretty remote parts of Sao Miguel.

Day 2 - Ponta da Ferraria & Piscinas Naturais Caneiros

We'd talked about going back to Sete Cidade the next day to go for a kayak since the wind forecast was more manageable, but we wanted check out Ponta da Ferraria first, a hot spring that is in the ocean which would be a first for us. There's a natural pool formed by rocks, and the spring dumps hot water out at the back of the pool. The front of the pool is open to the ocean with waves crashing in. The temperature of the water varies from quite hot at the back to cool at the front so you can find your perfect temp, or move between them without leaving the water. They've got ropes across the pool, so you can hang on as the waves move you around a bit. There were some locals spear fishing in front of the pool which was cool to see. This is definitely a tourist spot, so you won't have it to yourself, but it's well worth the visit and quite possibly the coolest hot spring I've ever been to.

Afterwards we headed back to Mosteiros to stop at one of the burger bars for lunch. They're also open for dinner and would make an awesome spot to watch the sunset. We ended up at Sunset Poço da Pedra, and had really delicious burgers. The bar is right above more natural pools that fill from waves crashing onto the rocks. Our plan was originally to head back to Sete Cidades to kayak, but this natural pool area was so cool that we ended up staying there for a couple hours - jumping off the rocks, watching locals do backflips into the pools and generally lazing about.

Our accomodation for the next night was in Furnas, on the other side of the island. One of the nice things about Sao Miguel is that even though there is a ton to do, it's relatively small, so even driving almost to the opposite side of the island takes only ~ 1 hour 20 minutes.

On our drive over we stopped at Salto do Cabrito, a sweet waterfall. The road down to it is super steep, so we left our car at the top and walked down. At the bottom is the waterfall and a pool that people swim in. Off to the right of the waterfall you can climb a steep staircase and walk along a walkway far above. Don't miss this part - it's not too much effort, but much quieter up there and very cool.

Afterwards we grabed a beer at a nearby brewery which was tasty, and continued on to Furnas where we stayed at Terra Nostra Garden Hotel for 3 nights. One of the draws of this hotel for 3 nights is that it's attached to Parque Terra Nostra which is a spectacular 250 year old botanical garden that has plants from all over the planet. Not only that, but there are several thermal pool inside the botanical garden and I do love hot springs! If you stay at their hotel you have 24 hour access to the pools and the garden, so you can have them essentially to yourself before and after the public is able to use them.

After checking in, we walkted over to Tony's for dinner and then enjoyed a nightime soak.

Day 3 - Furnas

After traveling and not having slept in the same bed for more than one night in a week, we had a leisurely wakeup, and spent hours wandering around the garden, exploring the grottoes, walking trails and relaxing.

Afterwards we found a spot that would rent us electric bikes to do some exploring in town. On the way there we stumbled upon Parque Dona Beatriz do Canto, a private park which is only open to the public during the month of August. It has a lake and waterfall as well as many wonderful species of flora from all of the planet. Different than Terra Nostra, but well worth checking out if you're there at the right time.

Our bike ride took us up to (and above) Furnas Lake. The road is pretty tame, and there's a trail that goes all the way around the lake. There are several cool gardens with waterfalls around that lake that you could spend hours exploring, but we stuck to the trail and the lake.

There are a couple other thermal baths in Furnas that people recommend checking out, Poça da Dona Beija (private, requires reservation) & Poça da Tia Silvina (public, free), but we ended up just sticking to the one at Terra Nostra since it was included with our stay there.

We dined at the hotel restaunt which was tasty.

Day 4 - Nordeste Road trip

We enjoyed our hotel breakfast and headed out for a little road trip of the eastern part of the island with a hike out of Faial da Terra. The hike took us first to Cascata do Salto do Prego, which was cool, but if you continue on for another couple miles you get to a second waterfall, Salto do Cagarrão, that I found to be far cooler. There was a log you could climb partway up to jump off and the waterfall feels like it's in a cave because of how the cliffs surround it and the pool below. If you take the high route back to the starting spot there's a cool old village in the hills with a cafe you can stop at.

As we continued around the island we stopped at many beautiful viewpoints. My favorite was this one. This side of the island was characterized by a super windy road with steeps dropoffs into the ocean. There were various secluded beaches with steep roads to get down to them. If we'd had more time on the island I would've loved to have stayed at one of the more remote accomodations on one of these beaches.

We stopped in Nordest for a late but lunch at Vila Snack Bar.

After lunch we checked out one of the many man made oceanside pools on the island, Piscina Natural Da Boca De Ribeira. These pools are man made, but are filled by ocean waves crashing over the barrier. They are all over the island. This one looks like the coolest as it's built in a rock out in the ocean, connected by a pier, but we didn't get a chance to see it.

On the drive back to Furnas we stopped at one more park with waterfalls (they are everywhere!), Parque Natural da Ribeira dos Caldeirões which was only a couple minutes off the road so worth a quick stop.

Day 5 - Ilhéu de Vila Franca do Campo

Our final full day on the Island. One of the things that I had been most excited to do was kayak to Ilhéu de Vila Franca do Campo, a small island off the southern coast Sao Miguel. It's a volcanic island with sea stacks, sea caves, picturesque caldera that you can paddle into evena beach in the middle of it! It's only a a third of a mile offshore, but it takes a mile and half or so kayak to get to from the marina. You don't have to kayak to the island, you can also take a ferry there (included with your ticket to access the island).

This island is protected and they only let 400 per day visit. There are 3 ways to get there:

• Book a group tour - I think some operators have allocation, but I'm not totally sure about this.
• Wait in line for hours in the morning to buy a ticket. People show up at 7am for the office that opens at 9:45 am - this is how most people manage to get a ticket.
• Buy a ticket online - they only sell 50 tickets per day through this website.

The website sells tickets up to 10 days ahead of time, but because there are so few they sell out very quickly, and the site has no information about what time they go on sale. I asked the kayak rental shop, but they couldn't tell me.

I ended up emailing the office and had a several email exchange before I ascertained that the tickets go on sale at midnight Azorean time, 10 days before. In addition the form on their website requires inputting a VAT, but they told me 9 random numbers would be sufficient. I set an alarm for 7:55 pm EST (11:55 pm Azorean time) and managed to nab 2 tickets.

It was really nice being able to enjoy our final breakfast at Terra Nostra in Frunas and show up in Vila Franca do Campo at whatever time we wanted.

The kayak to the island was pretty chill. They told us to stay out of the sea caves, but that it would be safe to kayak between the island and the biggest of the sea stacks which was super cool. After circling the island we pulled into the inlet and displayed our tickets. They don't let you paddle in the center, so we tied up the kayak and swam to the beach. We brought snorkleing equipment so I could swim around the inlet. There are a bunch of overhanging underwater caves around the edge of the inlet, and one open ceilinged "room" you can access (be careful if you do, the waves and tides are active in the inlet too).

After a couple hours on the island we paddled back to the mainland, and continued on to Ponta Delgada for our final night before we flew to Lisbon the following day.

We stayed at the Octant Hotel which was nice and had a lovely view of the ocean (and another man made seawater pool).

Our final dinner was at Michel Restaurant.

Conclusion

I keep telling people the Azores are like Portuguese Hawaii, but one third the price. A volcanic, tropical paradise with so much fascinating nature to explore. If I lived on the east coast of the US I would make a be a regular visitor of the islands - there are 8 more that we haven't even set foot on.

For west coasters, it's worth the trip, but the real move IMO is to take advantage of any opportunity you get to explore them from the east coast, or on the way to/from europe.

I don't know if or when I'll be back to the Azores, but if the opportunity presents itself...

Notes

• There are so many spectacular parks with picnic areas all over the island. We didn't bring much food with us, but if you did bring lunch with you, you could stop almost anywhere and be treated to one of the most amazing picnics of your life. Beautiful gardens with sloping land eventually dropping precipetously into the ocean characterize much of the island.

Missed Sights

There's far more to do on Sao Miguel than anyone could possibly in 5 days. Here are a few things that we would've done had we more time:

• The Tea factory - The Azores are known for tea production and you can check out a tea farm and try lots of tea here.
• Lagoa do Fogo - a remote lake that you can only get to by hiking.
• Centro de Interpretação Ambiental da Caldeira Velha - another hot sprigns
• Janela do Inferno - supposedly one of the coolest hikes on the island.
• Whale Watching - we live in the Pacific North West and have seen breaching humpbacks in Alaska, so we passed on this opportunity.
• Jardim Botânico António Borges - yet another botanical garden (there are sooo many) - this one looked like the coolest one in Ponta Delgada
• Piscina de Caloura - Man made pool built in a rock out in the ocean, connected by a pier.