Azores Guide: which island to visit?

If you are planning to travel to the Azores there are a number of things you should know beforehand. With this guide, you will hopefully get the right advice and tips in order to plan the perfect trip for you and choosing which island to go to?

The different island groups

The Azores is an archipelago of 9 volcanic islands. These can generally be separated into three groups: the eastern group, comprised of S Miguel and Santa Maria, the central island group, composed of Pico, Faila, S Jorge, Graciosa, and Terceira and lastly the western group the islands of Flores and Corvo.

The Azores are mostly agricultural lands used for cattle and the growing of fruits as well as fishing. However, tourism is starting to grow but the islands are still unknown to most foreigners. Below is a map of the archipelago with an explanation of each island and my take on what to see on each island.

São Miguel & Santa Maria island

São Miguel

This is the main island of the Azores; both in size and in their administration as well. The largest share of the population is here. If you want to stick to one island during the entire trip then this is where you should go. Some of the things to see in Sao Miguel are the following:

Beautiful lagoon of Sete Cidades
Natural thermal baths from the volcanos
Hiking through exotic forests
Volcanic beaches
Whale- and dolphin-watching

Sao Miguel is also a travel hub, so the probability that your flight headed to the other islands located westward will do a stop here is high. Maybe book a flight with a night stop-over here! Then you would maybe have time to explore the city of Ponta Delgada at least.

Santa Maria

Also called the “Sun-Island” by the Portuguese, the island of Santa Maria was the first one to be discovered by the Portuguese and houses, therefore, the oldest history of the Azores. The somewhat smaller sister island of São Miguel can be reached by ferry (if the condition is good) and has the most beautiful beaches of the two eastern islands. Santa Maria has a diverse landscape for its size and even has a red desert that is clay-like in the northern part. If you are looking to have a unique experience and be surrounded by nature with no people around, Santa Maria offers beautiful hikes along its coast.

Pico, Faial & São Jorge islands

Pico

This island has Portugal’s highest peak. The proud Mount Pico towers over the central island’s archipelago in the middle. Pico has been an important island for its fishing as well as its whale hunting. Today, the watchtowers that were once used for the hunts are now used by the whale watchers who would guide the tourist boats to meet the whales out to sea for a spectacular show. The island has a number of cute villages lodged between the mountainside and the coast. Pico is also famous for its wine. The Azorean wine has to be grown in a peculiar way which involves the building of small walls around the grapes to shield them against the harsh and salty winds from the sea.

If you want to learn more about what to do and where to eat for example on Pico, click on the link below

Faial

This island is famous amongst the Atlantic sailors, the island’s port in the town of Faial is often a required stop before finishing the crossing of the other half of the ocean. The ports house fisherman’s boats, sailing boats as well as motorboats for whale-watching. The port town has a rich history with the transatlantic sea-plane postal service which saw a lot of activity at the beginning of the 1900s. Today, you will find hardy seamen as well as charming bearded Frenchmen making a crossing to the Caribbean. Faial has also a volcanic crater that sits on top of the old volcano which gives a perfect viewpoint over Horta as well as the neighboring island of Pico.

If you want to learn more about what to see and where to sleep for example on Faial, click on the link below

São Jorge

The island of São Jorge is well known for its cows and the phrase “Vacas felizes” which means “Happy Cows”: this is easily understood when seeing how green the island is as well as the amazing view the cows have when grazing on the slopes all year around. The island is peculiar in its geography being very elongated and having high cliffs along the north coast while the southern one has beaches. The island of São Jorge produces a large share of the milk and cheese for the Portuguese both in the Azores as well as on the mainland. The cliffs on São Jorge have at times crumbled and created land masses at the bottom allowing fishermen to build small settlements: these are called Fajãs. Some of these Fajãs are so isolated that boat is the only way to reach them.

If you want to learn more about where are the best viewpoints or where to try cheese for example on São Jorge, click on the link below

Graciosa & Terceira islands

Graciosa

Like most of these islands, Graciosa has an impressive crater from an old volcano, also called “Caldeira” in Portuguese. The island is smaller compared to the other islands from the central group. However, it has hills, which are called “Serras” which offer great hikes and views over the island itself as well as the other surrounding islands. An interesting note is that Flemish settlers moved here a long ago; a hint of that origin can be seen in the many windmills that dot the landscape. Graciosa, which means “The Graceful”, can be reached by ferry from Faial and São Jorge.

Terceira

The island of Terceira is the second most inhabited island of the Azores after S. Miguel. Its main town: Angra do Heroismo is the oldest settlement of all the Azores islands and is a UNESCO world heritage site. Terceira has flat plains used for agriculture and cattle, volcanic craters as well as caves called “Carvão” which can be visited. Terceira has a military base which has meant that the airport of Terceira is better connected than most of the other islands of the Azores.

Flores & Corvo islands

Flores

While there is another island in the world that has the same name, the Portuguese island of Flores is arguably the most unique one of all the islands in the Azores in its landscape and nature. Many people call it the European Hawaii and it’s easy to see why. With its breathtaking waterfalls and endless greener-than-green forest Flores can sometimes make you feel like you are on a fictitious island from an Indiana Jones film. The island feels much less populated compared to the other island groups. Many tourists come to Flores to experience the wide variety of birds as well as the abundance of flowers. If you want to experience an other-worldly feeling in a place where only a few people have been, this is the island for you.

Corvo

This island is the most remote island of all the Azores islands. It is also worth mentioning that due to its size, the island houses one of the smallest runways for planes in the world. Getting to Corvo can however be done by boat. The island only has 384 habitants (as of 2021) which makes it the smallest municipality of Portugal. Due to its size, the island consists mostly of the town, Vila do Corvo, the airport, the port, and the agricultural land up until the volcanic crater. Corvo is a peculiar place that should be visited if you are already traveling to Flores as it can be easily reached by a ferry or smaller motorboats.