Travel Guide: the best of the Azores

There are nine islands and we have 21 suggestions. Sleeping in one of these hotels is in itself an Azores experience not to be missed. Have you already decided where you’re going to sleep after all this walking and swimming?

São Miguel is not just lakes. Whether you want to freeze to the bone in the Atlantic Ocean, jump into a rock pool or swim in groundwaters - this island has options for everyone (and they’re all equally as good). Put on your bathing suit and go to one of São Miguel’s 10 water wonders.

If the Azores were an album, São Miguel would be the hit single, the song everyone keeps humming. It is the most famous, largest and most accessible of the nine islands, the one on everybody’s lips - but its dimensions and offering may seem overwhelming. Don’t worry, we’ve done the hard work for you: here are the 10 best things to do in São Miguel.

It’s the least Azorean of the nine islands - more a kind of Algarve surrounded by sea. It was the first to be colonised but it is one of the last to be invaded by tourists. This is what they’re missing.

It’s the second most populated island in the Azores, but it is number one in terms of nightlife. Terceira is a mandatory pitstop for whoever goes to the Atlantic in search of surprising landscapes - or of a place to organise the invasion of Iraq. Whatever your intentions, we’ve got you covered.

It’s the island of trails and extreme sports, of tinned tuna and island cheese (the real queijo da Ilha). But it’s also, and perhaps more importantly, a paradise of fajãs, these stretches of land formed by lava on the coasts of the Azores Islands. You don’t have a fear of height, we hope?

In truth, all islands are just mountains in the middle of the ocean. But this one seems to depict this fact in the most dramatic way possible - “you see? This is how an island is made.” But beyond geology lessons, Pico has a lot to teach us about wine and whales.

It’s the smallest inhabited island in Portugal, but also an international bird sanctuary, with all the species you can imagine. How about picking up those binoculars?

If the Azores were an album, São Miguel would be the hit single, the song everyone keeps humming. It is the most famous, largest and most accessible of the nine islands, the one on everybody’s lips - but its dimensions and offering may seem overwhelming. Don’t worry, we’ve done the hard work for you: here are the 10 best things to do in São Miguel.