Why Now Is The Time To Sail The Azores, In 12 Stunning Photos
Hiking in São Miguel Island, Azores
Millions of years ago, a dramatic series of volcanic events gave rise to nine islands in the middle of the North Atlantic called the Azores. Today, this amazing archipelago situated about 1,000 miles west of Portugal offers travelers adventure and escape from life on the mainland.
Given that it's not particularly close to anywhere else, the experience of being here is like nowhere else. Give yourself a week to explore the outlying islands beyond São Miguel, because each has its own unique attributes. You'll discover dramatic coastal landscapes, epic hiking trails, bubbling volcanic hot springs, deep dark caldera caves, and slow cooked, homegrown food. Theirs is a culinary culture that celebrates the centuries-old skill of local dairy farmers, fisherman, tea planters and viticulturists who have figured out how to coax wine from basalt rocks — as if they just didn't get the memo on global industrialization. Which is fantastic. Because everything about it smells, tastes and feels distinctly Azorean.
With direct flights now available via Azores Airlines from Boston and New York to Ponta Delgada (PDL) on São Miguel Island, reaching this mid-Atlantic paradise is easier than ever. Early summer is also particularly good for spotting blue whales and sperm whales, which are emblematic of the Azores.
The Azores are a destination ideally seen from the bow of a ship, like the salty whalers of yore. The nine isles are organized into three geographic clusters—east, central, and west. You can take year-round ferries to get around each cluster, but that takes a lot of planning, flexibility and patience because the Azores are known for having four seasons in a day. Weather can change quickly, and all ferry services are subject to the weather. A more comfortable, upscale option is to consider one of Sea Cloud's yachts or a National Geographic-Lindblad cruise, which offers 8-day expeditions to the Azores including visits to Pico, Faial, São Jorge, Graciosa, Terceira, and Santa Maria.
Most of these are original photos captured by passengers of National Geographic-Lindblad's Endurance, which sailed in April. We climbed down into caldera caves, patronized the best gin bar in the Azores, and survived an epic hike in São Jorge during a howling rain storm. Only one of us actually required an ATV rescue mission (provided by a friendly local farmer), while the rest of us soaking mewls scrambled down from the peak of Pico da Esperança mountain in search of lunch.
1) Terceira Island: Hiking Baias de Agualva
Hiking Baias de Agualva, Terceira Island, Azores
If someone tells you to 'take a hike!' by all means do it here. Known as Lilac Island, Terceira is lush and green with breathtaking viewpoints from practically all sides (it's the roundest of the Azores). Most of the coast is ringed by cliffs, bringing you straight to the precipice of the vast deep blue. The best part? It's not crowded compared to other Atlantic hiking destinations. So, it feels like having the ocean all to yourself.
2) Terceira's Angra do Heroísmo
The Cathedral of Angra do Heroísmo, an example of Portuguese 16th-century architecture on Terceira Island, Azores.
The Monte Brasil peninsula of Terceira provides excellent trails with panoramic views over Angra do Heroísmo, the Azores' oldest and most colorful town. A UNESCO World Heritage site since 1983, it is home to historic imperial Portuguese and Spanish architecture in varying shades of pinks, yellows, blues and purples. Take a stroll and look out for island-wide impérios, the dainty but incredibly ornate chapels of the Holy Spirit, of which there are 70.
3) Santa Maria: Island of Many Firsts
Santa Maria Island. Photo by Paul Steinke (April, 2025).
This striking photo by fellow Endurance sailor and avid photographer Paul Steinke really captures the spirit of Santa Maria for me. The laundry line, the sun-bleached house with a clay-tiled roof, the still horizon, and a fleeting moment with a tame horse who seems to say: Life is supposed to be this wild and free. Let's ride. I've never seen a horse in these circumstances before, but Santa Maria is an island of many firsts. It was the first Azorean island formed geologically, the first encountered by Portuguese explorers (1427), and the first settled by mainlanders (c. 1439).
4) Santa Maria's Pier
A view from the pier in Cais Vila Porto, Santa Maria Island, Azores
Arriving in Santa Maria alongside the commercial pier in Cais Vila Porto. Plan to spend a day here, as it is the only island in the archipelago that boasts blond beaches, as opposed to the rough volcanic sand found on its peers.
5) Pico's Vineyards
Welcome to Pico, a dormant volcano whose claims to fame are whaling history and wine.
Welcome to Pico, a dormant volcano whose claims to fame are whaling history and wine. Here you can take a leisurely hike through moonscape terrain left by lava flows that have been painstakingly converted to vineyards. Reach out and touch the rough lava stone corrals built up around the precious vines which produce three dominant varieties of white wine: Verdelho, Arinto dos Açores and Terrantez do Pico, which nearly went extinct but what survives adds complexity, elegance and floral notes to the other Pico whites. It's like ingenuity in a glass.
6) Faial: The Blue Island
Waterfront view of the city of Horta, Faial Island, Azores, Portugal
Faial, so named 'the blue island' due to the sheer quantity of bright hydrangeas that cover the island in July and August (another reason to make this a summer trip). As this is the mid-Atlantic's yachting capital, and an anchorage for caravels, clippers and seaplanes, the spirit of nautical bonhomie is pervasive. Stroll the marina and explore the jetty murals, where sailors have a tradition of painting the name or likeness of their vessel on the marina walls.
7) Horta: Peter Café Sport
On Horta Island, this is Peter Café Sport, a legendary whaler's haunt with a scrimshaw museum upstairs.
As evening approaches, go drink gin and tonic at Peter Café Sport, a legendary whaler's haunt with a stunning scrimshaw museum upstairs. It's a ramshackle pub that doubles as a time capsule. Firstly, there are widow's walks —lookout points facing the harbor in search of long lost whalers — still built into the surrounding architecture despite the fact that whaling has been outlawed in the Azores since 1984. It's also a place that inspires drunken re-tellings of In the Heart of the Sea (or so I've heard). The story recounts a New England whaling ship's sinking by a savage sperm whale in 1820, the real-life event that inspired Herman Melville's Moby Dick. The movie stars Chris Hemsworth. Enough said?
8) The Whales
A sperm whale off the coast of Faial, Azores.
Pico, São Miguel and Faial are considered the best islands for whale watching. Did you know sperm whales float vertically to the surface to breathe? There are few marvels in this world so beautiful to witness. The other perk of a Nat Geo expedition is that they typically invite whale experts on board, like Douglas Nowacek, a PhD from MIT and professor at Duke University's Marine Lab, to tell you everything scientists know about the mating habits, sound production and migration patterns of marine mammals.
9) Graciosa: The Caldera Cave
Visitors inside Furna do Enxofre, a caldera cave found in Graciosa Island, Azores.
Aptly named, this 'graceful' remote island is a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve thanks to its Furna do Enxofre, a caldera cave that is considered the most significant geosite in the Azores. Look up and you'll see a stunning natural ceiling of stalactites that create a home for birds and bats; look down and let the damp stone staircase guide you 300 feet underground to this ethereal lake.
10) The Sulfur Grotto
The lake inside Furna do Enxofre, Graciosa Island, Azores
This lake occupies the deepest part of the cave, which lies below sea level. It's a secret world where the smell of sulphur is omnipresent, and you can actually see it bubbling up from beneath the surface.
11) São Miguel: Geothermic Hotsprings
The town of Furnas on São Miguel Island
The small town of Furnas on the eastern part of São Miguel looks otherworldly. Picture a landscape of steaming hot springs and fumaroles, gurgling mud pools and geothermal fields encircled by bright green mountains and lush botanical gardens. Through the fog, you kind of wonder how it's not erupting right now. While you ponder this, head over to the island's popular tea plantation Gorreana and ask to taste purple tea (what happens when hot green tea mixes with the unoxidized iron found in volcanic waters).
12) São Jorge: Cheese Island
On São Jorge island, there are more cows than people.
You can't come to São Jorge and not pay homage to the cows, because there are more cows than people (population: ~8,000). So, this is also known as cheese island. Queijo São Jorge cheese is deliciously salty because we're in the middle of the North Atlantic. 'We say seven cows per person,' jokes our Portuguese hiking guide Everisto. But it's no joke: Hiking Pico da Esperança mountain means hiking right alongside heifers-in-the-mist, through cow dung of Jurassic proportions. Even in relentless rain, it's all worth it if you can make it down to the Fajã de Santo Cristo, a spectacular, secluded sanctuary for bodyboarding and surfing. The best time to do it? All summer long.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
4 hours ago
- Washington Post
Bees are in trouble – and the federal lab researching them could close
LAUREL, Maryland — Sam Droege, sporting worn hiking boots and blue jeans, walked through a lush field of tall grass and poison ivy — a typical commute to the government lab he has run for more than 23 years. The wildlife biologist paused between the two cream-colored sheds that house one of the country's largest bee collections. His floral shirt billowed in the breeze as he pointed out different plants. 'Bastard toadflax,' Droege chuckled. 'Great name.' The meadow was awash with sunlight and birdsong. Butterflies and bees flitted from bud to bud, digging their furry faces into dusty pollen.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
‘It's inhumane': The airports making passengers queue for up to five hours
Will you be thanking Sir Keir Starmer this summer? The beleaguered prime minister has made much of his diplomatic deal with EU bureaucrats to allow British travellers to use e-gates when travelling to the Continent, thus avoiding unnecessary queues when heading off on holiday. While it's true that some of the more doom-laden predictions of travel chaos after Brexit haven't come to pass, regular travellers can attest to the fact that winding passport queues aren't exactly unknown at European airports. Just look at the recent scenes in Portugal, where British travellers have been left waiting in line for up to three hours in order to show their documents. Faced with a backlash from frustrated travellers, Portuguese authorities have been quick to blame the situation on temporary problems with their security systems. Though Algarve regulars may have noticed that the situation in Faro seems to be a carbon copy of what happened last year, when some travellers reported that only a handful of passport booths were open. So does Portugal bag the dubious honour of having Europe's worst airports when it comes to passport queues? The data on delays isn't fully comprehensive, but there are indicators that suggest that the Iberian nation has some stiff competition on that particular front. A special mention here must go to Brussels Airport, which surely has to take the prize for queuing time – with reports of a staggering five-hour slog earlier this year. 'After a long flight, it's inhumane to expect us to stand for that long,' one frustrated passenger told the Brussels Times earlier this year, in what may have been a deliberate appeal to the EU capital's tradition of protecting human rights. It's true that, as with other European airports, the long lines aren't a permanent feature. But grumbles on social media suggest that they are occurring often enough to cause serious headaches. This has led Belgium's interior minister – the equivalent of their home secretary – to demand that federal police come up with a plan for reducing the queues and restoring sanity. How did things get so bad in the first place? Despite welcoming some 24 million passengers per year, Brussels doesn't even rank among the Premier League of busiest European airports when it comes to passenger numbers. But the city's status as the EU capital, and its historic colonial links, means that it receives a disproportionate amount of flights from outside of the continent, many of which require longer visa checks. That's clearly bad news for British travellers who, at present, have to stand in the same line as those arriving from the likes of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon and Burundi, all of which have regular flights to the Belgian capital with Brussels Airlines. For an insight into how regularly things can go wrong when it comes to passport queues, just look at Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris. The granddaddy of European airports might not have it worse than other major hubs on the continent, but it does publish detailed briefings on waiting times and delays. When you look at the most recent incident reports, you can see that the most common cause of passport delays is the most predictable one: a shortage of border guards. Combine that with heavy traffic during busy periods like school holidays and it's not uncommon to see two or three days per month where waiting times spike to around an hour. The data also shows how major sporting events contribute to airport chaos. Last summer, there were queues of up to 80 minutes during the days before the Paris Olympics, as the airport was forced to divert resources to service the arriving VIP delegations. During the 2023 Rugby World Cup, passengers queued until 1am – more than one hour after the last flight of the evening. When you speak to frequent flyers, you'll find that most have their own candidate for the tardiest airport for passport control. 'Madrid is one airport where I've experienced delays,' says Rob Burgess, editor of loyalty point bible Head for Points. Like Brussels, the airport receives a lot of traffic from outside of Europe, with a barrage of direct flights from Central and South America. 'Unfortunately, a lot of the biggest queues correlate to those destinations where large volumes of British holidaymakers go,' says John Strickland, aviation expert and founder of JLS Consulting. 'Right now, Portugal and Spain seem to be particularly bad for long and slow-moving queues.' That's certainly the case in ever-popular Tenerife, where this year's holiday season kicked off with the now familiar tradition of hefty passport queues at the airport. Back in May, there were reports of British passengers waiting for up to two hours in the sweltering heat as families jostled for bottles of water to keep them cool. In response, Spanish authorities have pledged to increase the number of border guards so they can process travellers more quickly. With the school holidays just around the corner, we should see if the plan has worked. In the meantime, will Sir Keir's e-gates deal come riding to the rescue? Not quite. For all the fanfare around the announcement, ministers have confirmed that the current arrangements will not change until later this autumn, when the EU is finally set to unveil its long-awaited digital border system (known as the EES, or Entry Exit System). Even then, it will depend on the discretion of individual countries whether British nationals will qualify for the e-gates. And that's assuming that the system doesn't succumb to technological gremlins on the particular day you arrive. Passengers who arrived at Heathrow or Gatwick on May 7 last year saw the chaos that can unfold when the e-gate system is hit by a technical outage. Until then, hopeful travellers can look on the bright side: data from Paris and elsewhere suggests that 90 per cent of travellers will breeze through the passport gates in less than 15 minutes. Even those smaller airports in the Canary Islands can manage the traffic the vast majority of the time. But for the minority who end up drawing the short straw this summer, it could prove to be a very testing start to their holiday. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
CBS News
2 days ago
- CBS News
American cyclist who got trapped in Iran talks about his tense escape as Israeli "bombs kept falling"
Popping a champagne bottle on Portugal's Atlantic coast in February, 32-year-old American Ian Alexander set out to fulfill his dream of biking across all seven continents of the world. He planned to ride for 10 months, covering roughly 10,000 miles to reach his final destination of Japan. He did not plan, however, for Israel to launch a war on Iran. As he crossed into Iran on June 1, Alexander was filled with excitement, and anxiety. "I was quite nervous. I was like, okay, now we're getting into some uncharted territory here," he told CBS News on Thursday from a hotel room in Azerbaijan's capital of Baku. "But I was immediately put at ease with so many positive experiences from people that I met on the road… and hospitality, generosity." American cyclist Ian Alexander is seen posing for a photo after clearing customs to enter Iran. Ian Alexander He said he was "surprised daily" by kind, curious Iranians inviting him for tea or offering him food, even trying to pay for his meal at a restaurant. On June 13, that changed, when Israel started bombing Iran's nuclear and military sites. "Not any outward hostility, but I just kind of read people's body language and their facial expressions," said Alexander. "And I knew I was in quite a bit of danger, because people were seeing Israel and the U.S. as being quite tied together at that point, as the bombs kept falling and the missiles kept striking." He and his local Iranian guide, Reza, decided to hunker down at a guesthouse about 45 miles north of Tehran, in a village called Harijan, for two days. Reza, who Alexander said had become his friend, advised him to avoid telling people he was American, and to avoid talking to people at all if possible. But he said he slipped up, revealing his nationality to some local travelers who joined them at the hotel. "They weren't happy about the fact that they were having to share a hotel with 'that American' that was there," said Alexander. On June 15, Alexander heard an Israeli bomb explode in the distance. That same day he received an email from the U.S. State Department, advising him of options for Americans wishing to leave Iran, based on their current locations. He decided his best bet was an eight hour drive north, around the Caspian Sea, to reach Azerbaijan. He and Reza were quickly caught up in a steady flow of dense traffic, as residents streamed out of Tehran. They passed gas stations with long lines of cars, and many military checkpoints. "It was quite harrowing," he said. "The idea of maybe being pulled over at one of the military checkpoints." Smoke rises after an Israeli strike on a building used by the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network, part of Iran's state TV broadcaster, June 16, 2025 in Tehran, Iran. Getty Images "Reza, my guide, had told me that he can no longer protect me, and that really rattled me, right? Cause, he's my guide. He's my Iranian guide, and very stable, sturdy, dependable guy. And he's like, 'All right, this is it. Like, you're in quite a bit of danger here. If we're stopped and the police suspect you of something, there's nothing I can do.'" Alexander said he became "more and more at ease as we got closer," and they eventually made it without incident to Iran's border with Azerbaijan. But the most nerve-wracking part of that final day was about to begin, as he was interviewed not once, but twice by Iranian officials - normal border police and then by Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps. For the second interview, he was pulled out of a crowd and taken into the backroom of a storage closet in a makeshift army barracks. "That's where I was like, 'Okay, I've got a 50-50 chance of being taken either as a bargaining chip or for further questioning,'" he said. "Actually, the interview was like, less than a minute." "I walked out back into the night to get my bicycle and then actually enter Azerbaijan, and I half expected them to call me back. I was like, 'Something's wrong here. Um, why, why was this so easy?' But they didn't, and I was able to enter Azerbaijan." Clear of Iran's internet firewall, he was able to message his family in the U.S. before he checked into the first hotel he could find, and then sleep for 12 hours in relief and exhaustion. Now safe as the Israel-Iran conflict drags on, Alexander said he thinks a lot about the possible spillover effect for anyone with a U.S. passport living and traveling overseas. He said he registered his travel itinerary with the U.S. State Department's STEP program, which sends country-specific notifications and updates based on a traveler's movements. It's how he knew to head for Azerbaijan, and he urges all Americans traveling abroad to do the same. Alexander also said if it were not for his Iranian guide, he might not have made it out of the country. He hopes to raise money for Reza and his family, who are still in Iran. He also intends to carry on with his bike ride to Japan, to fulfil his dream of cycling all of the world's continents.
