Azores - Travel Recap
I have a few days left before I start my new job, and I had a lot of people ask about our honeymoon trip to the Azores, so I figured I'd write a lil blog post to recap all the adventures we went on while we were there! This was a phenomenal trip and I highly recommend visiting to anyone who's considering it.
Introduction
We spent 10 days (really 9) in the Azores from September 15th-25th, 2026. We flew to BOS on Delta, and then direct from BOS to PDL on a five hour overnight flight via SATA airlines to arrive on Saõ Miguel the morning of Sept 16th. While we were there, we stayed on two islands (Saõ Miguel and Pico) and did a day trip to a third island (Faial). Overall, it was not that busy while we were there. Rarely was there traffic, and that was usually if a few cars got stuck behind farm equipment. There seemed to be a good handful of tourists, but usually on many of our hikes we only saw 3-5 other people, I would not call it crowded by any means.
Getting Around
It's necessary to rent a car while you're on the islands. There are some buses, but they're really meant for commuters who work on the island instead of tourists. They did have manual and automatic options for cars, but the manual cars were significantly cheaper than the automatic ones. I know how to drive manual and had driven enough to feel moderately confident, Chris was confident he'd figure it out since he knew conceptually how it worked and rides motorcycles. We made it back and got our deposit back, so clearly we are nuts at driving. Either way, rent cars early because they are limited. Many of the hotels we stayed at had discount codes they emailed us to get 10% off. We rented with Autatlantis and didn't have any issues.
WARNING: If you are not confident driving manual, you will become exceptionally skilled while you're here or you'll suffer greatly. In my case, it was both. These islands are HILLY and there are a ton of switchbacks. You will get good at starting on hills, some a big as a 35% grade. I also became very good at backing (more on that later...). Parking was usually pretty easy to find as well, at least.
To travel from Saõ Miguel to Pico, we flew SATA Azores. It was a little plane and the flight was under an hour. We didn't really have issues with long delays, but we had read about problems other people have had. We made sure to fly back to Saõ Miguel two days before our flight back to the States to make sure we didn't miss any flights home.
Pico, Faial, and Saõ Jorge are all clustered together, so to get from Pico to Faial we took a ferry. We just did a day trip on Faial, so we took our rental car on the ferry at 8am and returned to Pico at 9pm. The ferry was very easy to figure out, quick, and on time. The ride each way was only about 30 min. This was a very easy way to get to the other islands, we recommend.
Language
The islands are Portuguese territory, so they speak Portuguese there. French is another national language, and almost everyone we interacted with spoke English as well, so we really didn't have many issues with the language barrier. Spanish is also close enough to Portuguese that when I was reading signs I was still able to figure out like 70-85% of them without translations.
Weather
The weather was anywhere from low 70s to low 80s. We got very lucky in that it barely rained for us, and overall was pretty warm without being stifling. However, the islands are known for having very quick weather changes, so we made sure to always have our rain coats on us just in case.
Budget
Overall, the islands themselves were not that expensive when it came to food and transport, so it can be a fairly reasonable international island trip aside from airfare. However, since this was our honeymoon, we splurged, especially on accommodations and a few activities. We spent just under $8200 total on this trip for two people over 9 days. However, if we were to go here again we could easily knock it down by a few thousand dollars. Here's a rounded breakdown:
| Item | Amount | Notes |
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| Airfare | $2750 | BOS to PDL was 2K, then separately bought tickets for Delta. We checked two bags for all flights (included in this price) |
| Lodging | $3100 | Pico was the most expensive here, 2000 of this was for one hotel |
| Rental Cars | $450 | We rented three cars, twice on Saõ Miguel and once on Pico. We rented manual cars since they were cheaper. Additional drivers were 4.5 euros per day |
| Activities and Food | $1900 | This included (but not limited to) all food with eating out at least once a day (with drinks), massages for both of us, fancy wine tasting with food pairing, whale watching, ferry tickets, and souvenirs |
USA
Sept 15
Our first flight was to BOS. We had to book two separate airlines if we didn't want to have to also connect through mainland Europe in Portugal. However, this meant we had to get off the plane, get our checked bags, recheck our bags, and go through security again in a two hour connection until our next plane took off and bag check closes an hour before takeoff.
Our first flight had to do a few circles so we landed 20 min late. We finally got our bags and SPRINTED through Boston Logan Airport to make it from Terminal A to Terminal E to make sure we got to the bag check counter to check our bags in time (we did, success). Sweaty but relieved, we had enough time to get dinner before we boarded our next overnight flight to the Azores!
Saõ Miguel Pt. 1
Sept 16
Our first stop was Saõ Miguel. We landed at Ponta Delgada around 630am, and we got through customs fairly quickly and grabbed our rental car. I tore out of the parking lot and nearly killed the car in front of all of the employees, so we were off to a strong, sleep-deprived start. We had until 3pm to get to our hotel on the eastern tip of the island, so Chris navigated us to the nearest cafe before we started on our first adventures. This cafe ended up being a bar that had the gruffest looking construction workers in it, all sipping out of their tiny espresso cups. We joined them with our own espresso, and then headed on our way. This cafe was the only place that we had to use cash at, otherwise everywhere else accepted card.
We started our drive east with relatively few issues. We drove along the coast and Chris admired the views while I white knuckled the steering wheel, praying I didn't kill the car while someone was behind me on a hill. The Azores have a very strong agriculture industry, so there is livestock everywhere. It's also common for them to need to drive cows across the road, and animals have the right of way. More than once, we had to creep along behind a cow or try to gently move past it before it decided to have us hit it with the car. On our way to our first hike, I did have to stop going up a hill for a car going down, and I did kill the car several times in a row trying to restart. Several deep breaths and encouraging words later, I eventually got us up to the parking lot.
Our first stop was Fábrica da Cidade, an abandoned hydroelectric plant. It wasn't a long hike (check my strava) but there was a decent elevation change as you went through it (side note, one thing I loved about the islands was that there are tons of trails everywhere, and they are all pretty well marked and the trails themselves are easy to follow). The ruins were really cool, it felt like we were in a video game or movie set for some post-apocalypse exploration. There's also a waterfall and river area that we totally could have swam in if we had our swim suits with us.
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Our next stop was Parque Terra Nostra in Furnas. We went to Furnas every day while we were on the east side of the island, so I recommend staying closer there if you can. Our first meal was at a cheese restaurant where we had a charcuterie board and ham and cheese sandwiches (the European staple sandwich it seems). The islands are also known for their cheeses, and they were very delicious. Because of that fact, we had a lot of cheese on this trip, much to the despair of my lactose-intolerant stomach.
Terra Nostra has a hot springs bath and beautiful botanic gardens, so we spent several hours here. The bath is very iron rich, so it has an, uh, unappetizing look to it, but the water was warm and it felt nice after the plane rides. We took the advice we saw online and made sure to wear dark colored swim suits, because it will stain otherwise. We didn't bring a towel because we thought we could rent, but they do not rent towels, so we ended up air drying after our time in the baths. After that, we wandered around the gardens to look at the plants and trees. If you like azaleas, you should definitely visit these islands when they are in full bloom, they were EVERYWHERE.
After this, Chris took the manual car for a spin around the block a few times to practice driving and then he drove us all the way to our first hotel, the Lince Nordeste. I was mostly grateful he could also drive now since it was his first time, I was too tired and stressed to be annoyed at how quickly and easily he picked it up. We checked in, I stalled the car the a hill several times to get to guest parking after check in, and then got to our hotel room. Our room was a suite with a living room and a fireplace, our bedroom, and then a balcony with a beautiful view of downtown and the ocean. A planned one hour nap became three, and then we ate dinner at the hotel which included Azorean pineapple and went to bed early.
Sept 17
Feeling refreshed, we got breakfast at the hotel including a sweet bread that was everywhere called bolos levedos. Then, we set out to our first stop, the Gorreana Tea Factory (making sure not to mispronounce that first word). As a Tea Time host, I had to make sure I collected the finest teas for my guests. Here, you can walk through the factory for free and watch all of the machines that grind, press, and dry the leaves. It was very, very cool to see all of the machinery in action, highly recommend. At the end, you can get a free cup of tea and wander the gift shop or buy more food at their cafe. We went outside and wandered another trail that goes through the fields of plants. There was also a HUGE monstera (my house plant could never). This part of the trip was probably the most busy with tourists, so we were glad we went early in the morning and didn't have to struggle with parking.
Next, we went on a short hike to a waterfall called Salto do Cabrito. Here, you got to walk on top of a water pipe as part of the trail to overlook the waterfall. The walkway only had railing on one side and it was only wide enough for one person, so you got very cozy with strangers if they needed to pass you going the other way. While we were hiking, you could see people canyoneering through the river and down the waterfall, it looked like so much fun.
After that, we headed back towards Furnas. Dehydrated and in desperate need of water, we went to Banhos Ferreos for lunch. Here, we got sparkling water and had cozido for lunch. Cozido is a stew of basically every meat and vegetable imaginable all cooked together in a giant pot by a volcano (seriously!). They bury the pots underground and it all gets slow cooked over 8-12 hours, it was delicious!
Next, we went on another walk around Furnas Lake (Lagoa das Furnas). It was really important for us to see landmarks such as Gandalf of Furnas
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and Plant Growing on Dead Tree.
There was also an old church, a really big tree, peacocks, and a small bamboo forrest.
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Our plan was to walk to the area where they cook the cozido, but I did not have proper shoes on and it was raining, so we returned to the car and drove back to the hotel. For dinner, we walked to a restaurant called Tasca do Costa. I wanted to have lamb, but they were out, and the grilled octopus was highly rated, so we figured what the hell let's try it. We were NOT prepared for it to look like a freshly killed and grilled octopus on our plates. I was worried I would move the garnish and see a face. The taste and texture was good, but it was so disturbing to just see the suckers on your plate that we both struggled to finish all of our food (but we prevailed). We will spare everyone the visual.
Sept 18
Breakfast at the hotel again and we returned to our favorite city, Furnas. The plan today was to explore Parque da Grená and see where they cooked the stew! We parked, did a decent walk to the stew, and then went into the park. Entrance to this park was 10 euros/person, and it had nice trails, bunnies and ferrets, several waterfalls, and the ruins of Grená's house.
The park also had woodfire hot tubs that we could use. They were disappointingly lukewarm, but it was still cool to sit in the hot tub in the forrest. Bonus, a duck laid an egg next to us on the hill while we were sitting there. There were several nice views of the lake as well as beautiful trees everywhere, I was in love.
We ate lunch at the cafe in the park and then headed back to the Lince by midafternoon for our massages at the spa. We spent some time in the steam room and the sauna and then returned to the hotel room for room service dinner and packing everything up to head to the next island.
Pico
Sept 19
We headed to the airport for a 7am flight. Our hotel was about 40min away, so it wasn't awful, but we weren't sure how busy the airport would be and how smooth car return would be either, so we were moving by 4am. One thing that is nice about renting from the same car company across several islands was that they could just transfer the deposit we made to each of the different rentals, we didn't have to keep repaying a deposit.
Pico was by far my favorite island. Once we landed on Pico, this was the view from the tarmac:
Mount Pico is the stereotypical volcano type everyone thinks of, and it was on full display anywhere you went on the island. You can hike the volcano, but we did not plan ahead enough to make sure we had the time and supplies to do it. This is definitely something we'd do if we returned. Once again, we had the full day to explore before we could check in to our hotel at 4pm. We got our new rental car and headed out into Madalena. We ate at Padaria Andrade for breakfast and coffee. Many of the islands have free ocean pools, so after the cafe we walked along the port and found several. We picked one that had chairs and hung out for a few hours. Chris dosed off while I dipped my feet in the water and looked at Faial, which you could easily see from the shore line.
After that, we went shopping for some postcards and souvenirs, and then drove along the coast to see some of the vineyards. The vineyards here are a UNESCO world heritage site. The vines are grown in stacked lava rocks by the ocean, giving it a unique flavor (never doubt the power of humans to create alcohol). All the grapes are harvested by hand. After that, we headed to Pico Vineyards for the bougiest wine tasting I've ever done. This was one of the few things we scheduled in advance, as this was something that I really wanted to do during the trip. Their wine cellar is underground, and one of the lava rocks they excavated during construction is the table that we did the tasting on. Our guide told us a lot about the history and types of wine they make on the island, and then we tried four different wines, all whites. Each wine was paired with food, so we had pig sausage roasted in blood, fried tuna steaks, boiled octopus, and honey pudding (my absolute FAVORITE dessert we had, it was so tasty). Unfortunately, I did not remember any of the wine names but I did remember that I liked almost every single one of them.
By the time we were done here, our room was ready early so we headed to our next hotel, Lava Homes. We stopped at a few overlooks on our way to admire the scenery. This hotel was built into a HILL. This was so stressful to escape the first few days, it was insanely steep and felt like you were driving off a cliff when you turned in and could only see ocean at first. This was the place we really splurged on as part of the honeymoon, but my god was it worth it. We stayed at Casa do Curral, and let me tell you, I wish I lived here. This was so stunning. There was a wrap around deck that felt private due to the landscaping and trees, only a couple spots on the deck could you see other people or buildings. The living room was a corner of just window doors that opened up to a view of Saõ Jorge and the ocean. The kitchen included an outdoor grill. We had a private laundry room. Our bedroom opened up onto the deck as well with the extra wide doors. I was in heaven.
We ate dinner at the restaurant, Magma, and had barracuda and an incredibly delicious risotto. We enjoyed the sky as we drank our wine and saw parts of the sunset (we were on the wrong part of the island for full sunset). Back in our house, we set up the lounge chairs and laid on the deck until almost midnight, since it was a very clear night. With very little light pollution, we were able to see a ton of stars in the sky. Every night here, we went to bed with the doors wide open so we could hear the ocean and the birds that made the weirdest noise I've ever heard in my life.
Sept 20
Today was our rest day to hang out at the house and enjoy the pool and scenery, especially since we spent so much money on it as part of the destination. We ate breakfast at the hotel and then decided to try our hand at escaping the hill. I was able to get it up the hill first try. I stopped at a less steep incline to let Chris in the car, as he was watching to make sure no cars came down while I attempted the steep section. Once he got in and was watching, I killed the car three times in a row. Finally, I got us up the hill and we drove into a town only a few kilometers away to get some groceries for the day before returning.
We spent the rest of the morning in the pool, which had a lovely view of the coast. No one else was using the pool, so we had it all to ourselves. It was an infinity pool that looked like the water dropped off into nothing. For lunch, we had our favorite ham and cheese sandwiches, and then we hung out by reading, writing, and drawing. We made pasta for dinner and again, admired the sky views.
Faial
Sept 21
Our first two hotels had takeaway breakfasts included if you had early morning activities, so we took our breakfast and headed to the port to get on the ferry to Faial for our day trip. Chris drove us up the hill this morning, and then we swapped once we got to the port so I'd drive the car onto the ferry. What we failed to realize that this ferry was different than the one we went on in Norway. In Bodø, you drove on forward and drove off forward, both ends opened. In Madalena, you back the car on to the ferry, and the boat turns around so you drive forward off when you get to Horta. I didn't know this until the ferry pulled in and the guy scanning my ticket explained the full maneuvering I had to perform. Only the driver is allowed in the car, and Chris already went through security. I was trapped and had to complete this task.
The car in Pico was by far the worst rental we had our entire trip. The clutch was very touchy, and there was NO backup camera like there was in our previous car. I haven't driven a car without a backup camera since 2018. And now I was going to back up a manual car on to a boat while I still felt shaky on the controls. Panicking, I was the third car in line. They were trying to get me to move faster on the pulling around and reversing, and I quietly exclaimed, "I'm scared!" to myself, without realizing that the windows were open until one of the workers started laughing at me. Physically shaking myself along with the car shaking in reverse, with all of the workers and pedestrians already on the ferry deck watching me, I somehow managed to back the car into the correct lane without killing it or running into anyone.
Needless to say, I drove everywhere on Faial to make sure I was confident on the controls for the ride back, as thus far Chris had done most of the driving on Pico with this car. Horta was the first time we struggled to find parking, and Google Maps kept failing us and telling us to turn down closed roads. Eventually, we parked and went to a cafe for some coffee. Afterwards, we went grocery shopping to have food for lunch before we headed to our first destination.
Capelinhos was one of the coolest places we visited in my opinion. This part of the island didn't exist until 1957, when a submarine volcano erupted and created the new landmass that connected to Faial. There is a lighthouse and a museum that we bought tickets to in order to enter that included a short video film. The museum showed the eruption progress over 13 months while the landmass was created. Afterwards, there were a few steep hikes we went on to view the new landmass and the surrounding area.
Nearby, there was another ocean pool. However, it must've been hightide or something because this pool was violent. We were not getting in the water after watching the waves crashing over the rocks. However, it was terrifying and beautiful to watch for awhile, and we also saw some cool black crabs.
We ate our ham and cheese sandwiches and headed to a black sand beach next in Praia da Fajã. Again, the water was kind of terrifying to watch. On the beach, you could hear the rocks getting tumbled by the ocean under the surf, it sounded like skulls knocking together (it felt very ominous). There was another ocean pool here, and we did end up getting in this pool. The waves would crash over the rocks occasionally but the pool was at least totally blocked in, so you weren't going to get pulled out to sea like the other one. I also did a quick drawing of the landscapes, since it was pretty cool.
After that relaxing ocean time, we headed up into the Cabeço Gordo caldera. Originally, we were just going to go to the lookout point, but then I saw that the hike around the entire rim was just under 7km long and I HAD to do it since we still had 4 hours before the ferry back. With little convincing, we started our impromptu hike. This was probably my favorite hike. It was absolutely gorgeous views the entire way around, with the caldera on our left and the ocean on our right. The trail was labeled easy, and the path was very clear to follow. However, I would rank it as more of a easy-medium hike. There were some steep parts, and if you valued your ankles you needed to pay attention, because it was rocky at times and parts felt like we were just walking in narrow ditches that water carved out for us. Fortunately, there weren't many clouds, so we had a perfect view. Unfortunately, I wanted to walk in a cloud, and it dissipated before we got to that side of the caldera when one drifted in (smh if we had stayed on pace with the Germans who were hiking with a speed that made me feel like we were in a race we would've made it into the cloud).
With some time left before the ferry, we drove through a forrest, drove next to a cow for awhile, and then back to the port and hung out in the parking lot for a little bit to relax before the backing challenge happened again. This time, I backed the car onto the ferry like a PRO, and neither me nor the car was shaking. We got back to Pico just before 9pm. We got some of the best takeout hawaiian pizza I've ever had in my life and got back to our house around 10pm. We felt like one day was plenty for us to explore this island, but there's definitely enough to fill two days if you really want to take your time in Horta and go to museums as well.
Pico
Sept 22
We woke up bright and early again and had pizza for breakfast before driving back to Madalena for whale watching!! Chris booked this once we got to Pico with Pico Island Adventures. They also do scuba trips, and apparently Princess Alice Mount is essentially an underwater mountain where a bunch of currents meet with a crazy amount of wildlife. This was another activity that we'd want to do if we ever returned.
Before the boat, we stopped at the same cafe again as day one on Pico and then we met the marine biologist leading the tour who told us all about the different types of whales that are around the islands. This tour was about 4 hours long on a catamaran with about 10 people. We got to sit on the top of the boat. We braved the sea and did not take any medication to help with motion sickness. Thankfully, neither one of us got sick at all and had a lot of fun on the ocean. There was a lot of waves so we were bracing ourselves against each other and the railing. The water was also so clear and blue it was almost purple, it was so pretty.
The skipper and the marine biologist work with whale spotters on shore so they knew exactly where to go. Fun fact, these spotters can tell what kind of whale it is by the blow spout! We saw a blue whale very briefly, but then we saw a sperm whale that even jumped out of the water a couple times for us.
Once we returned, we went to the grocery store to get food to grill back at the house for lunch and dinner. We went back to the house for lunch, and then we went to yet another ocean pool that was at the bottom of the hillside we stayed on. This was probably the best one we went to, it was called Poça do Caisinho. The water was very clear and the rocks broke the waves well, so the water level pretty gently rose and fell. We were also the only people here, we only saw an older couple pulling in while we were leaving. We spent the rest of the day making food, writing, drawing, reading, and relaxing in the final day at the house. Once again, it was a super clear night, so when I woke up in the middle of the night for water I went outside at 2am for 45 min to look at the stars again.
Sept 23
We flew back to Saõ Miguel today, but not until the afternoon, so we still had some time left to explore Pico. We had breakfast at the hotel again and then packed everything up into the car to go see a lava arc on the very eastern tip of Pico. This trail was cool, because you get to walk out on the lava rocks as part of the trail! There were several lava arcs that we got to see.
Saõ Miguel Pt. 2
Sept 23
We returned to the airport to fly back, and had ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch yet again. This flight got delayed by an hour, which was actually perfect because it meant we could go to the hotel right away once we landed. For this part of the trip, we were staying on the west side of the island in Varzéa.
On our way there, the weather was good so we decided to try the famous hike you'll see everywhere on instagram, Miradouro da Grota do Inferno, an overlook of Sete Cidades and its four lakes. The 1km trail was very wide and easy to walk, though the ending was pretty steep (but it had good handrails). The weather cooperated well and it was a beautiful view!
We headed to our final stay after that, Villa Varzéa, where we stayed in the Nomad Nest. This was a very adorable place to stay, and it actually had some cool history. The current owner's great grandpa was the first physician on the island and used to own the property. They converted the horse stable into several nests, including the place we stayed at. It was self checkin where they gave us the code for the key, and the location was great to get around to other activities on the western part of the island. For dinner, we got burgers and sangria at Seaside Vibez in Mosteiros and watched the sunset over the ocean.
Sept 24
We had breakfast delivered to our door (unfortunately breakfast was extra at this place), and then we actually went back to the east side of the island to check out a lighthouse (Farol do Arnel) near where we originally stayed but never got to go! This lighthouse is known for its incredibly steep roads that frequently trap tourists, which I declined to have us become a statistic and made us walk down, much to Chris's disappointment at wanting to test his hill skills.
We drove back to Varzéa and went grocery shopping again for lunch and dinner. We decided to try to go to an abandoned windmill to drink wine and watch the sunset again, but google maps lead us astray as we walked and ended up in a farmer's field. We still saw some of the sunset, and we saw kittens, so it was still a win even with only seeing the windmill from a distance up on an unreachable hill from our position (pro tip, read the reviews, they tell you the real way to get there...). We drank the rest of the sparkling wine outside our home for the last night with a spider friend. 
Sept 25
We had an 830am flight, so we woke up and went straight to the airport. We had no issues checking our bags and making it back to Boston. We again had to make a tight connection of 1.5 hours where we had to go through customs, grab our bags, get to Terminal A from Terminal E, and then recheck our bags at least 45 min before take off. The CBP MPC app made it so we were through customs and waiting for our luggage in under 5 min after getting off the plane, highly recommend. Thankfully, we made it on the plane home without having to sprint to the other terminal this time (a brisk walk was sufficient with 10 min to spare), AND we even had enough time to get food.
Conclusion
Overall, this trip was absolutely amazing. We did a ton of stuff, but we were able to do it at our own pace and we actually felt relaxed by the end of it, we didn't need a vacation from our vacation. The islands were beautiful, and we would definitely go back if we had the opportunity to visit more of them.
I've linked our map, usually when we go on trips we do a shared google map where we bookmark a bunch of places that seem interesting ahead of time and to get an idea of anything we might need to schedule or book appointments for. Then, we will just pick something day of that seems fun, but we don't always get to everything. This trip was no different. There's a lot of points of interest marked, but we did not get to all of them. However, everything we went to is on the list, there are just bonus places!