Azores Itinerary: 6 Days on Sao Miguel

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The Azores archipelago sits in the mid-Atlantic and is an amazing destination as the volcanic islands offer up dramatic scenery and lots of options to get off the beaten path. Sao Miguel island is the largest and is where most people start their Azores vacation. Sao Miguel definitely feels like an island paradise. With several large crater lakes, hot springs, and Europe’s only tea plantations at Gorreana, Sao Miguel is worth spending a few days on. While the architecture looks much like Portugal, the landscape looks more like Hawaii. It’s the combination you didn’t know you needed.

Sao Miguel is the largest island in the Azores, yet still small enough that you can base yourself in one place and explore. I love that this is a road trip destination where you don’t have to continuously check in to new accommodation.

I loved the sweeping views of the coast and the adorable Portuguese towns that dot Sao Miguel. When visiting, I quickly learned that every sign that says ‘Miradouro’ is worth stopping at. The breathtaking views from these lookout points are really something. I have the exact itinerary I used for six days on Sao Miguel below, including my favourite miradouros. If you’re looking for other fantastic European road trips with gorgeous scenery, check out my posts on Croatia & Slovenia, Normandy + Loire Valley in France, Southern Spain, or Iceland.

Need to Know for Visiting Sao Miguel

Getting to Ponta Delgada

If you’re lucky you will be able to get a direct flight to Ponta Delgada. Azores Airlines or Delta are your best bets for getting direct flights from Canada or the United States to the Azores. From Europe, Ryanair or TAP Air Portugal will likely be your best bets.

The airport in Ponta Delgada is one of those delightfully small airports that are extremely quick to navigate and get checked in at.

Best Time to Visit the Azores

For the best weather, visit between May-October. July and August are the peak times to visit the Azores so it is when you will encounter more tourists. The Azores has a rather temperate climate so even in the coldest months, the lows are around 10 C, while the highs in the warmest months are 25 C.

I visited in June and had great weather, except for having to deal with some fog. If you are planning a trip to the Azores and want to see whales, April and May are the best time to visit.

Renting a Car in the Azores

A rental car is a must for this itinerary. While you can use tours to explore the Azores, a rental car will give you a lot more flexibility.

Especially because it’s a small island, try to book your car in advance to ensure the best price and availability. I recommend and use Discover Cars. It compares local and international companies so you can get the best deal. Even though it can be tempting to go with the cheapest price, don’t go with a company with low ratings. In the Azores, I picked up and dropped off at the Ponta Delgada Airport.

Roads in the Azores are quite narrow so you do have to be mindful of that. Another point is if you are not comfortable with manual driving you may want to pay extra for automatic. There are a lot of steep roads with switchbacks and it is very easy to stall out.

Combining it with Mainland Portugal

If you want the best of both worlds, a trip to Europe and an island vacation, the Azores is a great choice. There are tons of flights to and from Portugal’s mainland and it would be easy to plan a week in the Azores with a week in Portugal exploring Porto (which has great beaches and food!).

Where to Stay in Sao Miguel

I found it most convenient to stay in Ponta Delgada. If I was staying for longer than 6 days I would likely stay in two places, perhaps choosing somewhere closer to the north side of the island like Ribeira Grande. Although there is back-tracking because you drive through some areas twice, it wasn’t worth the trouble of changing accommodations. The island is small so the furthest anything is a 2-hour drive. Most sights are a 30min-1hr drive from Ponta Delgada. The capital of Ponta Delgada also has a good variety of restaurant options and is as central as can be for this itinerary.

Budget-Friendly Option: In Ponta Delgada, I stayed at the Vintage Place Azorean Guesthouse. I thought it was in a great location as it was not a far walk to the historic area of Ponta Delgada. Crucially there is also a shared kitchen that you can use and includes breakfast. This helped to save money on breakfast and lunch as it was possible to prepare sandwiches there. Super friendly staff and owners and a spacious room. I would definitely stay there again.

Historic Hotel: The Hotel Talisman is set in a beautiful building with a historic style. Rooms are all air-conditioned with hardwood flooring and some rooms feature separate living rooms. The hotel has a terrace as well as a garden and on-site restaurant. It’s just a short walk to the center of Ponta Delgada and has great reviews.

Food Not to Miss in the Azores

Pineapple
Seriously, they grow these adorable mini-pineapples in the Azores that are delicious. There is a pineapple farm you can visit near Ponta Delgada. I tried twice to find it and got hopelessly lost.

Portuguese Wine
Being part of Portugal, you can find some very good Portuguese wine here. My favourite is a type of white wine known as vinho verde. There are some wines grown on the island of Pico but the production is still quite small.

Tea
Trying some of the locally grown tea from the Gorreana tea plantation is a must when you visit the Azores. You can purchase black, green, or oolong tea from Gorreana. It makes for a great souvenir to bring home a bag of tea.

Sao Jorge Cheese
This cheese produced on the Azorean island of Sao Jorge is seriously delicious. You will see it on restaurant menus so it should be easy to sample while you are there. I tried it in an omelette and it was delicious.

Itinerary for Six Days on Sao Miguel, Azores

If you have more than six days, you can add on one or more of the other islands in the Azores archipelago like Pico or Flores. If you’re only in the Azores for a day or 2 on the way to Portugal, I would look at doing day 2 or 3 of this itinerary. Sete Cidades is close to Ponta Delgada so it’s a popular day trip for those visiting as part of a cruise.

If you prefer not to drive, you can visit many of the sights in this itinerary using a guided tour. This day tour of the west side of the island takes in Sete Cidades as well as Lagoa Fogo and Ribeira Grande. To visit the northeast, this tour takes you to Nordeste and along the coast.

Day 1: Around Ponta Delgada

Like a lot of people, I arrived to Sao Miguel in the Azores on an overnight flight. Which meant I was extremely tired on my first day in Ponta Delgada. The capital city of the Azores, Ponta Delgada is a charming city to walk around, even on little sleep.

I loved exploring the streets and looking at all of the patterns made with black and white stone on the sidewalks.

After exploring around the city, I walked to a nearby botanical garden, Jardim Antonio Borges. This garden is full of huge tropical trees and a great place to have a relaxing afternoon.

I had a dinner of an omelette with Sao Jorge cheese, produced on the Azorean island of Sao Jorge. After dinner it there was time to enjoy strolling on the Ponta Delgada promenade before heading to the hotel for a much-needed sleep.

Day 2: Hiking in Sete Cidades

Today started out as one of those vacation days where jetlag makes you sleep in until 11 am. Waking up at 11 am was a total shock and lead to a rushed time getting ready. Today also turned out to be one of the foggiest days.

By 1 pm, I was in a cab to go hiking in Sete Cidades. I was thankful to have a cab driver instead of driving myself as the roads are quite winding and I felt a bit jetlagged. I also used a cab instead of picking up the rental car today because the hike is linear and you end up quite far from the starting point. If you use a cab to get to Sete Cidades, make sure you grab their phone number so you can call when you want to be picked up again.

When I visited, I missed stopping at the Miradouro da Boca do Inferno as it was extremely foggy when I started my day at Sete Cidades. This viewpoint is probably the most famous in the Azores so you should definitely try and stop there if you have good weather.

Sete Cidades has a massive, 3 mile across, volcanic crater that contains two crater lakes. Both of the lakes are a beautiful colour and are named based on this attribute, Lagoa Azul and Lagao Verde, blue and green lake. I chose my hike in the hopes that I would get to hike above the crater and see the lakes below.

In Sete Cidades, I did the hike Mata do Canario Sete Cidades. This hike starts off near an aqueduct and takes you up a steep hill until you are high above the lakes. It’s easily one of my most memorable and favourite hikes I’ve ever done. It should take around 3 hours but I kept getting distracted with the gorgeous views of the lakes and out towards the ocean so it ended up taking me 5.

After exploring around the lakes, make sure you check out the Church of St. Nicholas in Sete Cidades. There is a charming path up to the church lined with blue hydrangeas and tall fir trees. Get your cab back to Ponta Delgada for dinner.

Day 3: Visiting Lagoa do Fogo and Black Sand Beaches

Finally on day 3, it was time to pick up the rental car. The first stop was a pottery factory in Lagoa. After seeing the beautiful blue and white tiles around Ponta Delgada, I knew I wanted to buy some Azorean pottery as a souvenir. Ceramica Viera in Lagoa is a workshop that sells all kinds of hand-painted pottery including bowls, cups, and tiles. I love the blue and yellow designs they do here and found everything reasonably priced.

After a stop for pottery, it was up the winding and foggy roads to the first stop of the day, Lagoa do Fogo – Lake of Fire. Like the lakes in Sete Cidades, Lagoa do Fogo is also a crater lake. It’s also the highest lake on Sao Miguel and almost the centre of the island. No hiking is needed to see this lake, there are plenty of miradouros, lookout points, to look down into the crater.

The Lagoa do Fogo is my favourite lake I visited on Sao Miguel and definitely one of the must-see sights in the Azores. Luckily, this area is protected from development so there are no settlements here.

I would have been happy just with the drive and seeing Lagoa do Fogo but Sao Miguel has so many things to do, next up was visiting hot springs. Being a volcanic island, there are several hot springs you can visit on the Azores. Just a short distance from Lagoa do Fogo on the same volcano is Caldeira Velha.

A short walk through a forest of huge fern trees takes you to a hot waterfall and several hot springs pools. The Caldeira Velha pools are orange coloured because of iron in the water.

Continue the drive down the volcano to the oceanside town of Ribeira Grande. Like a lot of towns on Sao Miguel, this was a difficult one to navigate. There are a lot of narrow and one way streets here and the towns can feel a bit maze-like. It’s a cute town but I basically just drove through it. Just outside of Ribeira Grande is a black sand beach, Santa Barbara beach. This beach is used by many surfers as it has strong waves. I’m not sure I would swim here but I loved seeing the volcanic black sand and cliffs.

After spending some time on Santa Barbara beach, it was time to return to Ponta Delgada, driving through Lagoa do Fogo to see it once more. Initially the plan was to try and return to Sete Cidades to see it with less fog but by driving back through Lagoa do Fogo I got to see it fog-free so the teal of the lake was especially bright.

Day 4 Gorreana Tea Plantation and Furnas

The first stop on day 4 of this Azores itinerary was Caloura, right on the ocean. I stopped here just to see the ocean and view the Caloura Convent. This 16th-century convent is decorated with impressive blue and white azulejo tiles. There are so many places you can stop on the coastal road here so it’s worth allowing some time in your itinerary for random points of interest.

Afterward, it was a drive up to Our Lady of Peace Chapel, or Nossa Senhora da Paz. To get to this chapel, you have to drive up a extremely steep road with a few tight corners. It can be a bit tricky to find the road to get to this chapel but it’s well worth it. The church at the top is a stunning sight, with many stairs up to the chapel. The stairs were actually built to represent prayers, with the 10 flights representing the Ave Maria prayer.

From the chapel, there are fantastic views over the town of Vila Franco do Campo and the volcanic islet located just offshore. Up until 1522 Vila Franco do Campo was the capital of the Azores until an earthquake and mudslide killed 5000 people in the town. After the mudslide, Ponta Delgada became the new capital.

Head towards the only area that can grow tea in Europe, Gorreana Tea Factory. This tea factory has been operating since 1883 and you can do a self-guided tour of the factory here. On the tour, you learn how they sort the tea leaves and how everything is dried. You can sample the tea and purchase it here as well. Gorreana produces black, green, and oolong tea. Each type of tea is harvested from the same bush, it’s the manufacturing process after which determines the type. I love how the tea bushes look like they slope down into the Atlantic.

After a visit to Gorreana, head to nearby Furnas. Furnas is a town that is full of hot spring and contains another famous crater lake, Lagoa das Furnas. Unlike the crater lakes of Fogo and Sete Cidades, the lake at Furnas is a lot more of a yellow to almost lime green colour. Before heading into the town, make sure you stop at a viewpoint that overlooks the town, Pico do Ferro.

Drive down to Lagoa das Furnas and explore the bubbling pools of water and fumaroles (steam vents) that are right next to the lake. It’s stinky as it smells strongly of sulphur but interesting to see. This is one place you want to stay on the boardwalks, I saw a metal manhole cover that had been destroyed by the vents here.

The Poca da Dona Beija hot spring is located right in the town of Furnas and is cheap to visit. It’s made of several pools that have been created out of the river that runs through the town. The water is full of orange deposits of iron. So if you bathe here, prepare to come out of the water looking a bit like an Oompa-Loompa. It’s a great place to relax. If you have time after the hot springs you can also visit the Caldeiras Vulcânicas nature preserve in Furnas to see more fumaroles.

On the drive back to Ponta Delgada, I stopped at several miradouros on the way, including one with a great view over the town of Furnas.

Day 5: Visiting the Northeast Coast of Sao Miguel

Day 5 on this Sao Miguel itinerary is probably the most driving intensive day as it takes in the northeast of the island. Drive north across the island towards Ribeira Grande and then head east towards Nordeste. Even though it’s a long driving day, some of the most captivating views on Sao Miguel island are on the northeast coast.

The first stop of the day was at the Santa Iria miradouro, which offered up a stunning view of the coastline. Another notable viewpoint on this drive was the Salto do Farinha viewpoint where there is a waterfall. I stopped any time there was a sign for a miradouro as I could not get enough of the gorgeous Azorean coastline.

After seeing the impressive coastline, the Ribeira dos Caldeiroes park is a fantastic place to stop. There is a nice path in a river valley leading you several waterfalls as well as an old stone mill. The road through here is twisty but it feels like you are driving through a rainforest as the foliage is lush and tropical.

Continue driving to Nordeste where you can stop and look at the church and wander around the town. Just outside of Nordeste there is a miradouro where you can view the island’s first lighthouse. After that, you can stop at what is probably my favourite miradouro on Sao Miguel’s coast, Ponta do Soussego. Ponta do Soussego has a small garden to walk through that is full of beautiful flowers and trees. Most importantly, there are jaw-dropping views of the coast. I felt lucky to have a clear view of the coastline here.

On the drive towards Ponta Delgada, make sure to stop at a few more miradouro to view the town and coastline. The final stop of the day was Fogo Beach in Ribeira Quente. This nice sand beach is a great place to take a dip in the ocean. Several underwater vents make the water a bit warmer than usual for the Azores. After a quick swim, it was back to Ponta Delgada for dinner.

Day 6: Flight Home

Depending on when your flight leaves today, you may have time to fit in a few activities.

For me, it was a great time to revisit places close to Ponta Delgada that were initially foggy the first time around. I went to Lagoa do Fogo (yes, again!) where it was completely free of fog. It was a very different experience and amazing to see the views of the lake and around the island as well.

After, there was time for stopping at Jose do Canto botanical garden. This garden had lots of huge twisty trees, a bamboo grove, and some interesting flowers. Definitely a good place to spend a bit of time before getting on a flight.

Sao Miguel, Azores

Overall, the Azores make for a fantastic vacation destination. It has a little bit of something to offer most travelers. Sao Miguel could make for a great honeymoon destination if you are considering an island destination as it is budget-friendly. I loved my time in the Azores and I only wish I had spent more time to explore the other islands in the archipelago and do more hiking.

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