Azores

For our honeymoon we visited the Azores, an amazingly beautiful Portuguese island chain in the Atlantic.

Getting There + Getting Around

When we visited in September 2025 SATA Azores Airlines was offering one direct flight a day to Ponta Delgada, the largest city in the Azores, from JFK. This made it the perfect getaway destination.

Unfortunately, our flight was rescheduled by a day on both ends because the frequency of the flights dropped. Since the airline is on the smaller side and doesn’t have the resources to build out the web capabilities that other airlines have, all I got as an update was a text message (not even an email!) We had to re-book our hotels to accommodate the change. Thankfully the SATA Azores customer service line was very helpful and checking in at the airport was straightforward.

The flight itself was uneventful. For both flying into PDL and coming back, it wasn’t full so we got a row to ourselves. The flight duration is around 5 hours and there’s no personal TV screen, so you have to “cachorro cru” it, as they say.

One other advance booking you absolutely have to make is for a rental car. Some of my favorite moments were pulling over on the side of the road when we saw a viewpoint (miradouro) that looked interesting. It’s pretty easy to book a car; the two companies we used were Amazing Island and Isla Verde. Isla Verde specifically had cars on Flores, which is a much smaller island.

Speaking of Flores, we visited two islands this trip: São Miguel, which is the biggest island, and Flores, one of the smaller islands, and you can fly between them. Our flight to Flores from São Miguel took around an hour.

Most of the people we interacted with spoke English and we had cell service for a majority of the time, but I’d still recommend downloading Google Translate and offline maps. The trails are incredibly well-marked and we had no problem following them. Payment by card is also common but having some Euros available would be helpful.

São Miguel

After our red-eye we landed at sunrise and proceeded through immigration. There were a couple of other international flights landing at the same time, so it took a little while. Once we’d collected our luggage, we set out to get our car. While some companies operate out of the airport parking lot, the company we had chosen picked us up in a sprinter van and drove us five minutes away to their location. I was initially apprehensive about this, especially around dropping off the car and needing to get back to the airport, but it wasn’t a hassle at all.

I think that’ll be a recurring theme — this is an island and while things can move slowly and on their own time, it’s also easier to do things across the board since there aren’t that many people. Getting to the airport 45 minutes before your flight (if you don’t have luggage) is fine!

Our hotel was in the Furnas region, so we headed east. Since our hotel room wasn’t ready for us, we started exploring the island after a quick nap and breakfast pick-me-up.

Our first stop was the Miradouro Pico do Ferro, a short hike up to what was one of my favorite viewpoints on the island. This was in the first few hours of being on the island, so we knew we were in for a good time.

From there, we went to see the Cascada Salto da Farinha. We forgot to bring water, so we couldn’t go on for too long. Still, the benefit of hiking in the Azores is you’re always guaranteed a beautiful experience and, provided it isn’t foggy, a beautiful view!

Other highlights of this first day included the Parque Natural da Ribeira dos Caldeirões, especially the waterfall on the other side.

Our second day kicked off with us walking around Furnas and eating breakfast, which included bolos lêvedos, an English muffin-esque bread that’s popular in the Azores.

Terra Nostra

This is a beautiful garden + hot springs in Furnas. If you stay at the attached hotel, you get free admission before and after the public visiting hours. This makes it really nice for a morning or evening soak since you have the entire place to yourself. We ended up going outside of public hours like four times!

Salto do Prego

One of our favorite hikes this trip was to the Cascata do Salto do Prego.

Initially, we got lost since putting the attraction into Apple / Google Maps leads to the “wrong” trailhead. Thankfully a local hiker helped us out. While we were lost though, we met another couple who were also lost, and we ended up seeing them three more times over the course of our trip!

When you get to the “right” trailhead (search for “Trilho do Sanguinho”) though it’s straightforward. The path up is relatively easy and we took plenty of breaks to look at the wild chickens and their baby chicks!

On the way back you should take the alternate path and walk through Sanguinho, a village that’s been renovated for eco-tourism. There’s also a cafe there where you can enjoy a post-hike beer or coffee. We talked to the barista and he told us there were nine cats in the area? We only saw like seven, though 😿.

We stopped by a few more miradouros and then grabbed pizza for dinner before hopping in the Terra Nostra pool for an evening dip, since we needed to wake up early tomorrow.

Lagoa do Fogo

This is one of the more popular places on the island, so you can’t take your car between 9-7pm. But you can before then, which I recommend! We managed to get minimal fog. You’re able to see basically the entire island!

Ermida de Nossa Senhora da Paz

Located on the south side of the island, this chapel is a popular location for photos due to its striking staircase to the top and beautiful views.

Sete Cidades

Sete Cidades is on the western side of the island. When we went it was unfortunately very foggy, and we couldn’t see much on our hikes. What a contrast to the bright and sunny southern coast we had just been at!

When you do get to the miradouro at the top, I recommend going on to the roof of the abandoned hotel. It’s relatively easy to get into and you get a beautiful view from the top.

The next day we started off by heading to the Arquipélago, a Contemporary Art Center, in Ribeira Grande. They were unfortunately switching exhibitions but it’s a cool space!

Tea Plantations

There are just two tea plantations in Europe and both of them are on São Miguel: Porto Formoso and Gorreana. Gorreana is the more tourist-y of the two, but we actually liked it better. There’s a trail that snakes through the plantation that’s a lot of fun. When we walked it there was a farmer with his goat herd and dog, and a horse just hanging out.

We ended the day by swinging by the Caldeiras da Lagoa das Furnas and the Poça da Tia Silvina which was a lovely foot-soaking pool that mixed the natural hot waters of the area and a cold spring. This was one of my favorite moments of the trip because it wasn’t part of any guides and casually so cool.

We caught a flight to Flores the next morning. We did end up spending one more day in São Miguel after Flores but before coming home, so I’ll include what we did that day as part of this section.

Jardim Botânico José do Canto

Dolphins

We saw a ton of whales and dolphins on this three hour cruise on our last day in the Azores! We took the cruise offered by Picos de Aventura but there are a bunch of operators. Ours promised a “money-back guarantee” which we were glad to not have to take advantage of. I was surprised at how close to the boat the dolphins came. The highlight was definitely seeing a baby dolphin jumping out of the water with its mom 🥺.

Flores

When we mentioned that we were going to Flores to a local, he told us that’s where he goes to “get away from the big city.”

We overheard a conversation in Flores about how there were no longer any children born on the island. There are still kids, but women who are pregnant travel to nearby islands with hospitals to give birth, before coming back. There used to be an OBGYN on the island, but she retired and passed away some years ago apparently! We also learned that while there are commercial flights, the Portuguese air force can be called in for emergencies if needed.

We stayed at a “hotel” called Aldeia da Cuada, which was a village converted into rooms, each room its own house. On the property there’s a pool, a restaurant, cows and horses, and of course, cats. You have a beautiful view of the Cascata da Ribeira do Ferreiro, the famous waterfalls on the west side of the island. Picking this as our home for two nights was a great decision. The only downside is that since it’s a converted village getting to our room from our car took several minutes and required walking across a cobblestoned path.

Fajã de Lopo Vaz

A hike that I will think of for the rest of my life is PRC04 Fajã de Lopo Vaz. It’s on the southern part of the island, and as you walk down to the beach along the cliffside you have stunning views of the ocean. There isn’t as much at the bottom, and the walk back up sucks, but the views are incredible.

Cascata da Ribeira do Ferreiro

One of the highlights of Flores is a series of waterfalls that flow down the side of a step cliff. Photos really don’t do them justice.

The island is pretty small and there’s a few other great spots that are all really accessible.

Cats

One of the most pleasant of surprises was how many cats are on the islands. They’re just hanging out and can usually take a good pet. We did see one attack a chicken though!

Miradouros

There are so many places where you can park on the side of the road and enjoy a stunning view. I thought I’d get tired of them by the end but I still ended up pulling over every time. No regrets!

Flowers

There are sooooo many flowers. We even came a little after the peak of the season! Both hydrangeas and ginger lilies are invasive and not native to the islands, even though they’ve now become iconic and the islands are covered with them.

Food and Drink

The food itself was a mixed bag for us, especially as vegetarians.

I wish I drank more espresso. Like a lot of Europe, it’s part of the culture to stop by a cafe for a few minutes.

São Jorge, an island we did not visit, is known for its cheese but we didn’t find it particularly memorable.

There were some highlights though! We thought the Gin Library in Ponta Delgada was a lot of fun. They basically only serve gin and tonics, and you get to pick the gin from their huge collection. They also had a guy selling nachos, which was a perfect pairing.

We also liked the restaurant at Aldeia de Cuada and Restaurante Casa do Rei, both in Flores. Make sure you call and secure a reservation as they usually don’t take walk-ins.

Thanks for reading about our Azores adventure! Feel free to reach out if you have any questions about planning your own trip to these beautiful islands.