The Azores sit in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, 1,500 kilometers west of Lisbon, and most travelers have never heard of them. This is changing, but slowly. The archipelago is still nine volcanic islands where cows outnumber people, where the roads end at crater lakes, and where you can eat fish that was swimming four hours ago. The Portuguese have been coming here for decades. Everyone else is just starting to figure it out.
The islands divide into three groups. The eastern group has São Miguel and Santa Maria. The central group has Terceira, Graciosa, São Jorge, Pico, and Faial. The western group has Flores and Corvo. Most visitors stick to São Miguel because it has the international airport and the most infrastructure. This is a mistake if you have more than five days. Each island has a different character, and the inter-island flights on SATA Air Açores take 20 to 40 minutes. A ferry network connects the central group in summer. Plan at least two islands. Three is better.
São Miguel is the largest island and the one with the most to do. Ponta Delgada, the capital, is a city of 68,000 people with cobblestone streets, 18th-century churches, and a surprising number of good restaurants. Do not spend more than a day here. The real attractions are outside the city. Sete Cidades is a twin lake inside a volcanic crater, one side blue and one side green depending on the light. The view from Vista do Rei is the postcard shot, but the better experience is to hike the 12-kilometer trail around the crater rim. The trail starts at the abandoned Monte Palace Hotel, a five-story concrete ruin that opened in the 1980s and closed two years later. The hotel is still standing. You can walk through the lobby. It is covered in graffiti and moss, and the view from the roof terrace is better than anything the functioning hotels offer.
Lagoa do Fogo is another crater lake, smaller and harder to reach. The road down is steep and narrow. At the bottom, there is a black sand beach and water cold enough to stop your breath for three seconds if you swim. Fewer tourists come here because the access is difficult. Go in the morning before the tour buses arrive from Ponta Delgada.
Furnas is a village in the eastern part of São Miguel where the ground cooks your food. Restaurants bury pots of meat, cabbage, potatoes, and sausage in the volcanic soil next to the lake. The meal, called cozido das Furnas, stews for five to seven hours at 80 degrees Celsius. You can watch them dig it up at Tony's Restaurant at 12:30 PM. Reserve a day in advance. The price is €18 per person. The taste is earthy and sulfurous, which some people find unpleasant. Try it once. The Terra Nostra Botanical Garden next door has a thermal pool the color of rust. The water is 35 to 40 degrees and rich in iron. Your skin will smell like metal for an hour afterward. Bring a dark swimsuit. The iron stains light colors permanently.
Terceira is the second most visited island and the one with the most history. Angra do Heroísmo, the main town, was a stopping point for Portuguese ships sailing to and from the Americas from the 15th to 19th centuries. The old town is a UNESCO World Heritage site, not because it is beautiful in the way of Prague or Florence, but because it is intact. The buildings are painted in peeling yellows and blues. The streets are named after saints and naval battles. The cathedral is plain and whitewashed. You can walk the entire old town in two hours. The best reason to come to Terceira is not the town but what happens outside it. The island has a tradition of touradas à corda, bullfights on a rope, from May to October. A bull with a long rope tied to its horns is released in a village street. Young men try to touch its head. The bull is not killed. The rope is held by ten men who try to keep it from charging into the crowd. It is chaotic, dangerous, and completely unregulated by any fence or barrier. The schedule is posted in village cafés a day in advance. Ask at your accommodation. If you are uncomfortable with animal events, skip it and hike the Serra de Santa Bárbara instead, the highest point on the island at 1,021 meters. The trail is 8 kilometers round trip and passes through a forest of endemic Azorean juniper.
Pico is the island for people who want to work for their views. Mount Pico is the highest point in Portugal at 2,351 meters. The hike to the summit takes six to eight hours round trip. The trail starts at 1,200 meters. Above that, it is loose volcanic scree. The last 200 meters are a scramble over sharp rock. Bring a headlamp if you start before dawn to catch the sunrise from the top. The mountain is open from June to October. A permit costs €5 and must be booked online in advance at visitazores.com. Only 320 people are allowed per day. The view from the top on a clear day takes in five other islands. The weather changes fast. Cloud can cover the summit in ten minutes. If the mountain is in cloud, hike the vineyards instead. Pico has a unique wine culture where vines are planted in lava rock enclosures called currais. The stone walls protect the grapes from Atlantic wind. The wine is white, acidic, and mineral. Adegas do Pico and Azores Wine Company both do tastings. A tasting of three wines costs €12.
Faial is the island you visit for a half-day from Pico. Horta, the main town, is one of the most famous stopovers in the sailing world. Transatlantic yachts have been stopping here since the 18th century. The marina wall is covered in painted murals left by passing crews. There are over 1,000 of them. The tradition is that a crew who does not leave a painting will have bad luck on the next leg. Peter Café Sport, open since 1918, serves gin and tonics to sailors who have been at sea for three weeks. The café also has a scrimshaw museum in the attic. Entrance is free if you buy a drink. The Capelinhos volcano on the western tip erupted in 1957 and buried a village in ash. The lighthouse still stands, half-buried. You can climb to the top for €2. The landscape looks like the moon. There is a visitor center built underground so as not to disturb the view.
The Azores are not cheap, but they are cheaper than mainland Portugal in some ways. A mid-range hotel in Ponta Delgada costs €60 to €90 per night. A meal at a local restaurant is €12 to €18. Inter-island flights cost €50 to €100 each way if booked early. Car rental is essential. Public buses exist but run twice a day on some routes. A small car costs €30 to €50 per day. Gas is expensive, roughly €1.80 per liter. The best time to visit is June to September, when the weather is warm and the sea is swimmable. May and October are shoulder months with lower prices and fewer tourists. Winter is rainy and windy. Many restaurants and hotels close from November to March.
The food is simple and depends on what the islands produce. Beef is excellent and cheap. The cattle are grass-fed and free-range. Cheese from São Jorge is the most famous export, a semi-hard cow's milk cheese aged for three to seven months. A wedge costs €4 at any supermarket. Fish is fresh and local. The tuna season is May to October. Lapas, grilled limpets, are served at every seaside restaurant. They taste like the ocean and cost €6 as a starter. Pineapples are grown in greenhouses on São Miguel. They are smaller than Hawaiian varieties, sweeter, and more acidic. A whole pineapple costs €3 at a roadside stand.
The Azores market themselves as a sustainable destination, and in some ways they are. The electricity grid is increasingly powered by geothermal and wind. The tap water is safe to drink. There are no billboards. But the reality is more complicated. Tourism has grown 40 percent in five years. São Miguel is showing strain. The roads to Sete Cidades are congested in August. The thermal pools at Furnas are crowded by 10 AM. Some hiking trails have erosion damage from overtourism. The other islands are still relatively quiet. If you want the Azores as they were ten years ago, go to Flores or Corvo. Flores has 3,800 residents and one road. Corvo has 400 residents and one village. There are no traffic lights on either island. The airport on Flores receives two flights a day from Horta. Corvo is reached by a 40-minute ferry from Flores that runs three times a week. These are not convenient destinations. That is the point.
The Azores are not a beach destination in the traditional sense. The beaches are black volcanic sand, and the Atlantic water is cold even in August. What the islands offer instead is a landscape that feels unfinished, still being formed. You can stand on the edge of a crater and see clouds moving below you. You can eat stew cooked by a volcano. You can sit in a café in Horta and listen to a sailor tell you about a storm south of Cape Verde. The Azores are not for everyone. They are for people who do not need everything to be easy.
By Priya Sharma
Conservation biologist and sustainable tourism advocate. Priya works with eco-lodges and wildlife sanctuaries to promote ethical travel practices. She holds an MSc in Biodiversity Conservation and has spent years tracking endangered species across the Indian subcontinent.