What would be the craziest way to pick a destination? Close your eyes and point anywhere on the map and just go there, right? I would agree but that might be impractical. A close second would be to look at the map and point somewhere and then go there. That’s how we landed on this unique group of islands called the Azores in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean!
We were busy planning our itineraries for France, Spain and Portugal. The first two were planned fairly in detail and we were looking at the map of Portugal. We wanted to do something unique and were eyeing the small specks of land off the coast of Europe and Africa. One group was the Canary Islands – belonging to Spain. I had heard of these volcanic isles before – mainly from the story of the worst airline disaster ever.
The other one was hidden beside the words “Atlantic Ocean” – an island group called Azores – belonging to Portugal. There wasn’t a lot of information on the internet at that time about the place, but the pictures were beautiful and there were plenty of unique spots. Ryanair had also introduced a flight to the “capital”, Ponta Delgada, around that time. That’s how the Azores entered our itinerary!
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How far are the Azores islands from Portugal?
The Azores islands lie about 1400 km to the west of Lisbon in mainland Portugal – this is roughly the distance between Mumbai and Delhi. The archipelago consists of 9 islands with the largest one being Sao Miguel. Ponta Delgada, which is on Sao Miguel, is the largest city in the island group and also home to the airport connecting it to the mainland. As far as we know, there are no regular ferries operating from the mainland to these islands. There are frequent flights from Lisbon and Porto – these would be the best way to reach the Azores.
Why visit the Azores islands?
Good question! If you enjoy the feeling of being in a really remote place, and enjoy the beauty of nature, mostly untouched, then Azores should definitely be on your list. It is the perfect example of the slow life and most plans are decided by the weather on the day! Yes, you’ll see it in action in our itinerary below.
There are plenty of reasons to visit – you can spot whales crossing up and down the Atlantic, visit the only tea plantation in Europe, hike to volcanic craters which are now lakes, enter the boiling waters of a sulfur bath and enjoy a sunset at a black rock beach. More details and pics below.
Best time to visit the Azores islands
April to September is the best time to visit the Azores – this coincides with the peak season in mainland Europe. So you can easily club it with your Euro trip. However, this doesn’t guarantee fair weather throughout these months. As is the case with any remote island, the weather can change frequently and you may encounter strong winds and showers occasionally. If you’re caught in the wrong season, the flights would have a super tough time landing at the airport.
How to get around the Azores islands?
While there are buses going around the islands, they are infrequent. The best option would be to rent a taxi or a self-drive car. There are ferries as well as smaller planes to shuttle between the islands themselves. We only visited the main island of Sao Miguel – which is perfect for a first-timer. For our local commute, we rented a car. Our Airbnb host helped us arrange the car – we picked it up from the airport and dropped it there on our way back. The Indian driving license is good enough for driving in the Azores.
Our Azores Itinerary
Day 1: Arrival at Ponta Delgada
We took the Ryanair flight from Lisbon to Ponta Delgada. The Azores is one hour behind Lisbon – so we gained an extra hour when we landed there. Still, it was close to midnight.
At the airport, our Airbnb host met us with the car we had rented. There was a light drizzle as we walked out to the parking lot. We didn’t have much luggage as we left our big bags at the Lisbon airport itself (they had a locker facility). Ashwin was the designated driver for this trip. By habit, he opened the right door and realized that we were in Europe and the steering wheel was on the other side. This would take some time to get used to!
Our Airbnb was a nice and spacious apartment close to the city center. We settled in and slept.
Day 2: Lake hopping and hopefully, whale watching
We had booked a boat ride for whale watching with an operator called Moby Dick. It was supposed to happen in the morning but thanks to the weather, it got moved to the afternoon. This is precisely why you need to budget sufficient time and have a vehicle of your own. Since we had done both, we moved around our plans and went straight to Sete Cidades, a village in the west which was home to two beautiful lakes.
Driving in Sao Miguel is an amazing experience – with the ocean on one side and greenery on the other. We passed through some tiny villages, navigated some hairpin bends and arrived at our first viewpoint – Miradouro da Vista do Rei (which translates to the King’s View Viewpoint). It was indeed a spellbinding view with both lakes in front of us.
Right next to this viewpoint, is an abandoned luxury hotel – if you like ghost-stories, you can go check it out. Between the lakes, we could see a small road cutting across and leading to the village of Sete Cidades – that’s where we headed next.
Exploring lakes in volcanic craters
Sete Cidades translates to “Seven Cities” – it could be a reference to seven tribes living around the area or the seven volcanic craters which were now housed by lakes. We drove around looking for a place to have breakfast and found only one tiny shop – they too had only coffee to serve. We picked up some packets of chips (the only other thing available there) and went to the lakeside of Lagoa Azul (the blue lake).
One general piece of advice here – this is not a typical tourist place with restaurants and shops operating round the clock. Whenever you get the chance, visit a supermarket and stock up so that you don’t end up skipping a meal.
There were ducks waddling around the shore of the lake and we spent some time walking around with them. It was really cold and windy – make sure you pack jackets and pants (this is not a tropical island – so you cannot walk around in shorts!).
We then drove up to the iconic viewpoint – Miradouro da Boca do Inferno. One good thing about all these viewpoints was that there was plenty of space to park cars. The walking path led us through tall trees and we reached a narrow trail that led to the edge of the hill. It was very cold and windy.
We could see the ocean in the distance and the craters that surrounded us – we could count six of them! The view of the lakes from here was magical!
On our walk back, we climbed down to Lagoa do Canario, a small lake with squishy spongy mud around it. Nothing spectacular but worth a look.
We headed back to Ponta Delgada and rushed to make our payment at Moby Dick. We just had 5 more minutes to get to the ticket counter and we couldn’t find it!
Find out if we got the boat in the next part:
- Ponta Delgada – Whales, Volcanic Craters and Thermal Pools
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