The Azores: an Island-Hopping Experience

Once again a great holiday with InnTravel, the walking notes were comprehensive and the GPS files worked well on my OS Maps App. Our first impression on arrival was ‘I’ve just flow 4 hours and landed back in England’. This is the greenest place we have ever been to. Soon both the range of plants and the volcanic topography emphasis its differences and in many ways it is not dissimilar to the north Island of New Zealand. One thing to be aware of is that the Azores get a lot of low cloud and this prevented us from undertaking the higher level routes on Sao Jorge and the first part of the Ten Volcano walk on Faial, however the best bit of the Ten Volcano Walk is the end with the expanse of ‘newly’ formed land which was the same age as me! If you don’t get a chance to do the Ponta Delgado City walk, don’t fret, it is nothing special and really just a time filler unless you like ornate religious buildings.

One key thing to be aware of is that SATA, the inter island airline, is frequently subject to delays for technical issues as their fleet is getting old or has delays due to bad weather as they can only land on some islands in visual meteorological conditions. Having arrive at 06.00 for our 07.15 flight we did not depart until 11hrs later and there is not a lot to do at Ponta Delgado Airport, so take a good book! All the hotels met our requirements, and we were fortunate enough to get an extra night in the Terra Nostra Garden Hotel as we could only book 3 nights on Sao Jorge. This final hotel is superb, in a wonderful art deco-style. The service is first rate and the food excellent, if you like lamb we would recommend the Santa Maria lamb, slow cooked in a volcanic heated pit, but order the night before you want it and do a long walk as it is a large portion. The hot springs and the gardens in the hotel are wonderful and just what you need after a day out walking. Our favourite walk was possibly to the Janela do Inferno on São Miguel. Food as others have commented is not the draw of this location, the fresh fish at Atletico in Horta was excellent, you need to book and the beef everywhere is good as it is local and grass fed. There was not as much fresh fish as I had expected outside of tuna, cod and swordfish, but it was all excellent.

We were there at the start of the season and many restaurants (except on Faial) were quiet. The roads were also quiet and easy to drive on. There isn’t a lot to do in the Azores if you are not a walker or keen geologist so it is hard to imagine that the tourist industry will ever spoil these islands, one of our reasons for choosing this destination.

Overall a thoroughly enjoyable holiday with walks through varied landscapes, rock-strewn coasts, clifftop panoramas, pastoral farmlands, hillside forests, caldeira fields where the islands’ volcanic past is not just history. The predominant impressions are blue and green: the deep blue of the Atlantic sparkling under the summer sun, and the exuberant greens of the vegetation; many of the leaves are glossier than in Britain which adds intensity to the spectacle. Roadsides are alive with birds and butterflies, and colourful, in August, with native mints and imported aliens ginger, ipomoea and crocosmia, and the hydrangeas used everywhere as hedging plants.  (The Jardim Botanico at Horta has excellent displays on endemic and invasive alien flora.)  And the passionfruit sorbet at the Terra Nostra is to die for.

Our holiday highlights included the Sete Cidades, Praia de Almoxarife and the Faja dos Cubres walks. We found the Ten Volcanoes walk rather strenuous and decided to finish at the cafe in Capelo instead. Although we were delayed in reaching Sao Jorge (because SATA had cancelled our flight), we were fortunately still able to complete our planned walk on the first day. Because we decided to take the evening ferry from Sao Jorge to Faial, we had time to complete the 4th walk by booking an extra taxi. We really enjoyed the walk along the Sanguinho valley and decided to continue to the second waterfall. However - it wasn't as scenic as the Salto do Prego and was harder work than we had anticipated. Not really recommended. Please be aware that the Gruta das Torres lava tunnel on Pico is currently closed for safety reasons. We did however enjoy the presentation and the informal explanations given by the geologist on site. Our favourite restaurant was Atletico in Horta which had some splendid fish dishes. Please be aware that they are closed on Mondays. We also enjoyed Genuino (in Horta). Overall we had a very enjoyable and varied holiday. Some of the views of Pico from the Pousada in Horta were stunning.

We thoroughly enjoyed this holiday - one of the best we have had with Inntravel. The Azores is a very lush and still relatively quiet holiday location. Although it is quite humid, the temperature was never too hot, great for when you walking and completing some of the acents or descents on the more challenging hikes. Everwhere you go there are flowers out and the land is so verdant compared to other holiday locations we have been to which are often quite barren. The walks were varied but we particularly enjoyed the higher treks on the volcano rims with fantastic views of both sides of the island. The people were all so friendly and all seem to speak good English although we did try out our limited Portugese vocabulary. All the accommodation was excellent, our favourite being the Casa Do Antonio where we would recommend the room upgrade with views over the harbour. The food was excellent everywhere and so reasonable. In Horta on Faial we particularly liked the buzz of Peter's Cafe and The Oceanic opposite the Pousada. The two restaurants by the harbour in Maia, Sao Miguel were also lovely, we visited them both twice. The transfer flight from Sao Miguel to Faial was seemless taking only about 50 minutes and the islands airports were a delight to use.  ar hire on Sao Miguel was easy and the roads easy to navigate although we would recomend using Google Maps through a Smartphone as the road layout was so new. All in all a great holiday, go soon while it is still relatively unknown!

Another interesting and very enjoyable Inntravel holiday which gave you a good feel for the Azores, islands which many people have still to discover. 

This was a wonderful holiday experience. The islands are like a one huge botanical garden. The beautiful hydrangea, ginger lilies, agapanthus lining the roads. Some of the walks are quite challenging, with long downhill stretches which your legs will certainly feel the next day! Our favourite walks were the ten volcanoes, the Sanguinho valley, which we extended to the next waterfall. It is a spectacular drive to get there. And Faja do Ouvidor. We also liked swimming in the natural sea pools. Although apprehensive about the whale watching trip, it surpassed our expectations. We thoroughly enjoyed seeing loads of dolphins and some rare bottlenosed whales. Some favourite restaurants were Dona Mariana in Ponta Delgada, The Oceanic opposite the hotel in Horta, the beach bar, Oestrela, in Maia for its terraced setting over the bay.

The Sete Cicades walk was most spectacular. I started though in the village rather than as suggested, thereby avoiding finishing the walk with a steep up hill, and also enabling refreshments at the end of the walk. 

We loved the Azores and have been telling everyone about the beauty of these islands and the great walking available. Our highlights were many but included Sete Cidades, the whale watching trip, Furnas Lake and the fabulous botanical gardens. We also were lucky enough to enjoy some stunning views from the central caldera rim at the start of Ten Volcanoes walk and it felt like a real achievement to complete the longer walk. However this walk is very challenging on the knees and if you are not sure we would still recommend a trip to walk the rim as the Inntravel short options still involve a lot of downhill while missing those initial stunning views. We loved the variety of this holiday, different accommodation and the friendly welcome from our hosts and the taxi drivers. As others have mentioned the food is simply cooked but there are options for some lovely fresh fish and seafood, particularly on Sao Miguel and Faial. While staying in Maia we went twice to the restaurant Casa de Pasto in Porto Formesco and the daily fish specials were very good. As others have mentioned Atletico resturant in Horta is also worth a visit although it took several attempts to book but we made it on our last night. 

Amazing Islands which are so remote and diverse. You really get to experience the different environments which change so much with the narrow land and great heights giving very different climates and geography. The walks can be challenging as a result of this as they nearly all contain a lot of up and down sections. We loved this holiday, the simplicity of life and the unusual hotels we got to stay in!

Re restaurants in Velas the family run Velense near the harbour is very good value, though they don't speak English.
Re restaurants in Horta, the Tasca O Capitolio is now closed down. Genuino is very good and a small one opposite called Taberna de Pim is also worth recommending. As is Medalhas in Rua Conselheiro Medeiros. They offer some different dishes.

Re restaurants in Maia we definitely recommend the O Estrella on the beach. Very friendly and good service and food. Fim de Seculo is also excellent with a very efficient waitress. And it is now open on Mondays. 

As usual, our in holiday was immaculately organised and documented. Thank you! Any glitches were beyond your control. (Weather in the Azores is always going to be unpredictable and TAP is a law unto itself). The walks are well chosen and very well documented. The hotels are generally small and therefore idiosyncratic. I love that! 

Age is catching up with us and in future we will need to choose easier grades, but that is a reflection of our aging bodies and not the walks or the description of the walks.

Overall, we had a delightful walking holiday.  The Azores are beautiful, with so many wild flowers, trees, birds etc to see, not to mention the striking landscape of mountains, sea, volcanoes, lakes and beaches.  A great place to go if you love the outdoors and have a penchant for sailing. Plenty of boats to admire in the yacht harbours and we got to meet interesting people who were, for instance, crewing a sail-powered cargo ship or sailing from the Caribbean to Ireland in their own boat.
Inntravel put together a good selection of varied walks, covering 3 islands, and arranged all the connecting travel and hotel bookings flawlessly. The walking notes and directions were excellent on the whole. We had occasion to use their emergency out of hours service when we discovered we'd left one of our cabin bags on a bus on the way to our departure airport.  Electronic copies of all the essential documents arrived within 30 mins and we were able to print out the important ones at the first hotel.
All the accommodation was on a B&B basis and whilst this gave us the freedom to choose our own restaurants for evening meal, it did get a bit challenging to find high-end dining and a wide range of dishes - the food was wholesome, local and simple with wonderful fresh fish and beef.
Two weeks of walking was quite a lot and lots of training walks with some 900m+ descents would help you get in training.  We were flagging a bit by the end, but the option of driving tours on the last island helped.
All in all, an enjoyable 2 week break to an unusual relatively unspoiled location.

Combining Lisbon and Sintra with the Azores really made this a much more memorable holiday. Both are absolute musts and accommodation and guidance were both outstanding. Each of the islands visited in the Azores were very different and accommodation was a bit variable. On the walking side, a lot of the tracks are wide cinder tracks that can get a bit boring, although the 10 volcanoe walk was outstanding with a lot of variety. However, it was hard expecially when humidity is high and its a hot day. The Inntravel walking routes really did make the best of what can be seen on the islands. It was very clear that a lot of thought and planning went into this holiday and that did make it enjoyable and good value for money.

The Azores are incredible and most definitely worth visiting! Every island is different and the scenery breathtaking. We travelled in late June to be able to see the hydrangeas and they are spectacular. The walks are very varied and show all the different landscapes of the islands. Walking is definitely the best way to explore these amazing islands. 

We would describe the Azores and this particular holiday as the perfect mix of beautiful green,flower filled scenery, good hiking, interesting culture and friendly people. It is not a destination for "foodies"; food was palatable but not memorable.  We felt the overall experience more than compensated for the average food. 

Our second trip with Inntravel was as wonderful as the first. Although the weather can sometimes be challenging, the hikes and botany in the Azores are great. Inntravel has a good attention to detail that is commendable. 

A wonderful variety of accomodation in interesting locations. We got a great taste of the three different islands. Everything was really well organised - especially the taxi arrangements and picnics.

The Pousada in Faial was really fantastic. There was a nice swimming pool, tasty breakfast, friendly staff and gorgeous views from our room.

The owners and staff in Solar do Lalem were exceptional and made us feel very welcome.

This was a wonderfully relaxing holiday exploring the volcanic islands.

A fantastic location with varied islands with great walks and lovely friendly people. Jorge the taxi driver on San Miguel is a treasure as is Olga in the bar in the Solar de Lalem. Try to eat at the Atletico in Horta for an excellent fish restaurant (get there early).