thinking about holidays for a week in August - anyone been to the Azores? It looks nice in the brochure but would like to hear from someone who has had first hand experience
Once again, sorry for resurrecting an old thread! Am going to the Azores on July 18th. Has anyone been there, whats it like? Anything that should not be missed and is there anything that we should pass on?
I was there a few years ago. They are a collection of volcanic islands halfway between europe and america. Portugese is the language.
Climate - very warm but not hot. It can rain at any time however (but not as wet as here).
People - Friendly and very little crime.
Getting around - you will really need to use the local airline to do any major island hopping.
Sao Miguel - the main island and probably your start point. Make sure to visit the amazing volcanic caldera containing lakes, lush flora, smaller calderas and a few towns.
Terceria - the hottest and driest of the islands (from my own experience).
Pico - the island with the huge suggestively shaped volcano. A lot of whale watching options here.
Faial - beautiful island. It's main town is very attractive and the harbour is used by yachts as a stopover point between europe and america.
São Jorge was my favourite island - very beautiful and green. It's a really long and narrow island - really just a single ridge sticking up out of the ocean. filled with flowers and some tradtional coastal windmills. the north coast has the "fajas" which are old landslides jutting into the ocean. A few of them have friendly hippie communes on them.
You should have a great trip - but do bring a light raincoat or brolly.