When Molly and I decided to go to the Azores (tiny Portuguese islands in the middle of the Atlantic) the first question was where do the flights go to? A quick Google search showed us that a new Delta route flies from JFK to the main island of Sao Miguel. This is by far the most built up island in terms of infrastructure, and the capital city of Ponta Delgada is actually quite large. So we decided to start our journey by exploring this island.

As Delta is a large carrier it was pretty easy for us to get flights from our respective cities to JFK for the flight on to Sao Miguel. Our flight was moderately full, but we learned that the route had just started a week before we went in early June 2018. Since it was a new route, there was 1 flight a day, which meant we had zero options in terms of when we would arrive (or leave). So we arrived at 6:30am after our 4 ½ hour flight, during which Molly actually slept for an hour (hallelujah!). We knew we would be exhausted when we landed so we actually booked our Airbnb for the night before we got in, that way we would have a place to crash immediately (more on this place in a minute).

Our first challenge upon arriving was the rental car. The huge twist in our plan to drive around the islands was that the rental car companies don’t have automatic cars, or if they do they are 10 times the price. This meant that we had to book a manual car. Now neither Molly nor I have had much, if any, experience driving a manual car. We both got a lesson from family and friends before we came on this trip, but we were still super novice. We decided I would drive first so we jumped in and off we went the wrong way up the one way parking lot. Then we could not figure out how to reverse back into our spot and go the right way out of the parking lot, so we had to embarrassingly ask the attendant. For future reference, there is a ring around the gear shift that you have to pull up to go into reverse. Once we were settled into the car we lurched our way over to the Airbnb.

We booked our Airbnb well in advance and there was still limited supply, so book early! Our place was slightly outside the city center, about a 10-15 minute walk slightly downhill which was quite pleasant in the evenings. The best part about staying slightly more on the outskirts was that there was always parking available, we didn’t get too tangled in the mess of tiny one way streets downtown, and it was easy access to the freeway.

Once we slept off our jet lag we decided to do some exploring. Our first stop was to the grocery store because we needed to pick up some water and Pringles (so necessary). Then we were off to Ermida de Nossa Senhora da Paz, this adorable church above the town of Vila Franca do Campo. The drive there along the coast was great, you got to see the ocean juxtaposed with the Portuguese architecture which was very cool. The drive up to the church was a bit harrowing I will say, it was extremely steep, and due to my poor shifting skills we ended up stalling and almost rear front ending the person behind us. After that incident we decided it would be best to walk the rest of the way up. The church itself had great architecture which made for some cool pictures (do it for the gram!). The views from the top alone are worth going up that road.

After this adventure we wound our way into the center of the island to a town called Furnas. We were trying to find the famous hot springs in the town, however, we got lost and ended up at Fumarolas da Lagoa das Furnas, a national park with some hot springs (not for swimming). The entry fee was like $5, which for us wasn’t super worth it since we went through quickly. But if you have some time it would be a great place to grab lunch from the food truck and enjoy the beautiful lake that this sits next to. Moving along from this park we found the hot springs for swimming, Poca da Dona Beija. There was parking right next to it, and you pay a small entrance fee, and extra for a locker. We changed and then had our pick of 5 different pools with varying depths and temperatures. The pools had waterfalls, and a river running through the middle of the place, and was very relaxing. They don’t put a time limit on you, so you can spend as long as you like and we stayed for about an hour and tried 3 of the pools.

That evening we walked into the center of Ponta Delgada down to the port and the beautiful old church. One thing we learned quickly was that most of the good places to eat needed reservations, otherwise you were relegated to waiting for at least an hour. We decided to eat at Casa da Rosa, which ended up being really good and our server was very helpful. She recommended we go to the rooftop bar at Azor hotel to grab a drink, which turned out to be amazing. It was upscale and had a huge roofdeck with great views, but the drinks were still very cheap compared to the US.

On Sunday we had booked a canyoning tour, which is basically rapelling, sliding, and jumping down waterfalls. They picked us up promptly at 8:30 and brought us up to the start point. You get dressed in the wetsuit and gear and then hike up the mountain for about 20 minutes. Anyone who knows me knows I hate wetsuits and they make me so miserable, but I managed to smile for a photo at least.

Once at the top they started sending us down! This was such a cool experience, literally and figuratively, since the water was freezing. It was scary jumping off but once you got past the fear, it was so fun. I would highly recommend this to anyone going to Sao Miguel, it was such an awesome way to see scenery you’d never otherwise be able to see.

Once back we freshened up and headed over to Sete Cidades, the sister lagoons that Sao Miguel is most famous for. We drove to several of the lookout points which offered varying views, the best one was about halfway down the mountain towards the village, and was much less crowded than the view points at the top. The weather was overcast so we didn’t hike, instead opting to drive down into the town of Sete Cidades and out the other side to take the coastal road back to Ponta Delgada. That evening we walked back into town and ate at Calcada do Cais, which was near the main square and had delicious seafood.

On Monday we flew out to Pico (see separate post on that) and came back to Sao Miguel for one final day.

Our final day in Sao Miguel we decided to go back to Sete Cidades for a hike, as the Azores are known for their amazing hikes. The Serra Devassa trail was recommended to us by several people, so we set out on that one. The weather wasn’t great when we started, there was a thick fog hanging right on the mountain so you couldn’t see very far at all. Once we made it to the top of the first incline and the cloud lifted a bit, we realized that this hike was a huge dud, and there was not much to see anyways. When we went the lakes were extremely dried up and had a lot of sludge around them. Frankly this was the worst looking place we’d seen on our trip. So we powered through the rest of the hike just to get out of there. After that disappointment we went over to the abandoned hotel at the top of Sete Cidades to take some more pictures. The weather ended up being beautiful, and climbing up inside the old hotel (not advised as you’re not supposed to) yielded some great pictures.

  

Our trip finished with us watching the world cup group stage game of Portugal and Spain (they tied) which was really fun to watch with the locals. We had a very early wake up the next morning to make our 7:30am flight so we had dinner and an early night to round out our great trip.