Azores: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
The Azores are nine volcanic islands in the middle of the Atlantic, a third of the way to America, and Ponta Delgada on São Miguel is the largest town. It is built in black basalt and white plaster, and its history includes a Jewish community from Morocco that built the first synagogue in Portugal after the expulsion. Ninety minutes, flat.
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A short history of Azores
The nine islands of the Azores lie in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, about 1,500 kilometres west of Portugal. They were discovered by Portuguese navigators around 1427, and settlement began in 1432. For centuries ships returning from India and America called at the town of Angra do Heroísmo. In the 1940s Lajes Air Base was built on the island of Terceira. In 1980 a severe earthquake struck Angra, and three years later its centre was declared a World Heritage Site. Since 1976 the islands have been an autonomous region of Portugal.
The ten best sights in Azores
1Portas da CidadeThree basalt arches, the symbol of the city
2Igreja MatrizA Manueline doorway of carved stone
3Sahar Hassamain SynagoguePortugal’s oldest synagogue since the expulsion, restored as a museum
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4Santo Cristo dos Milagres
The convent of the islands’ most revered image
5Forte de São BrásA sixteenth-century fort with a military museum
6Museu Carlos MachadoNatural history in a convent: whales, birds, volcanoes
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7Jardim António Borges
A romantic garden of giant trees and a grotto
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8Vista do Rei
The classic view of the twin lakes
9Boca do InfernoThe highest viewpoint over the whole crater; ten minutes’ walk
10Lagoa das Sete CidadesA green lake and a blue lake in one crater
Scan with your phone camera to open the map there
What is an audio walk?
Tours in Azores →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Azores:
Free walking tours in Azores
Ponta Delgada in black and white
The Azores are nine volcanic islands in the middle of the Atlantic, a third of the way to America, and Ponta Delgada on São Miguel is the largest town. It is built in black basalt and white plaster, and its history includes a Jewish community from Morocco that built the first synagogue in Portugal after the expulsion. Ninety minutes, flat.
- Portas da Cidade · Three arches of black basalt built in 1783 as the city’s gate on the harbour. When the seafront avenue was built in the twentieth century they were taken down and moved back a few dozen metres to the square where they stand now.
- Igreja Matriz · The main church was built in the early sixteenth century, after the old capital at Vila Franca was destroyed, and its doorway is carved in pale limestone brought from mainland Portugal, in the Manueline style of ropes and knots — the island’s own stone is black.
- Sahar Hassamain Synagogue · In the 1820s Jewish merchants from Morocco settled in the Azores, and in 1836 they opened Sahar Hassamain, Gate of Heaven, in a house on this street — the first synagogue built in Portugal since the expulsion of 1497. When the community dwindled it stood closed for decades; it was restored and reopened in 2015, with its benches, Torah ark and archive.
- Forte de São Brás · A sixteenth-century fort built against pirates and privateers, who hunted the treasure fleets returning from the Americas and India: the Azores were their last stop before Europe, and the waters around them were full of raiders.
- Santo Cristo dos Milagres · In the convent of Esperança is an image of Christ crowned with thorns, said to have been given to nuns of the island by the pope in the sixteenth century, and covered over the centuries with gold and jewels. On the fifth Sunday after Easter it is carried through the streets, carpeted with flowers, in the biggest festival of the Azores.
- Mercado da Graça · The town market, where the island’s pineapples — small, sweet and expensive — sit beside cheeses from the other islands, passion fruit, and fish. São Miguel grows pineapples under glass, and each plant takes about two years to give one fruit.
The crater of the twin lakes
The west of São Miguel is one huge volcano whose top collapsed into a crater five kilometres across, now filled with two joined lakes, one green and one blue. Around it the coast is black lava, and at one point a hot spring runs into the ocean. Half a day and a car; clouds come and go, so be patient.
- Pineapple greenhouses · In the nineteenth century, when the island’s orange trade collapsed from disease, the growers turned the orangeries into glasshouses for pineapples. To make all the plants flower at once they still fill the greenhouses with smoke from burning leaves, as they did then.
- Boca do Inferno · A short walk along a ridge leads to the highest view over the whole caldera, with the lakes, the village of Sete Cidades and smaller craters inside it, and the sea on both sides of the island.
- Vista do Rei · Named for the visit of King Carlos and Queen Amélia in 1901. The legend says the lakes were formed from the tears of a princess and a shepherd forbidden to marry — hers blue as her eyes, his green as his.
- Lagoa das Sete Cidades · The green lake and the blue lake are one body of water divided by a bridge; the colours come from the depth and from what grows in each. The name, seven cities, comes from a medieval legend of seven Christian bishops who fled the Moors to an island in the Atlantic.
- Mosteiros · A village at the foot of the volcano with tall sea stacks standing off its beach of black sand, which the first settlers thought looked like monasteries — hence the name. The sunset behind them is the island’s best.
- Ponta da Ferraria · At the foot of a lava cliff a hot spring flows straight into a rock inlet of the ocean, and at low tide the sea there is as warm as a bath. Ropes are strung across the pool to hold on to when the waves come in.
Fire, water and steam
The east of São Miguel is still alive. In the valley of Furnas the ground steams and boils, lunch is cooked in holes in the earth, and gardens grow around pools of warm iron water. On the way are a crater lake, a tea plantation and hot springs in a forest. A full day and a car; bring a swimsuit you do not mind staining orange.
- Lagoa do Fogo · A lake in the crater of a volcano that last erupted in 1563, with no roads or houses around it, only white beaches on its shore and a protected forest. On many days it is hidden in cloud, and then suddenly appears.
- Caldeira Velha · In a gully of giant tree ferns, a waterfall of warm iron-rich water pours into a pool, and smaller pools nearby are hotter. The ferns are relatives of the forests of the age of dinosaurs.
- Chá Gorreana · Tea was planted here in the nineteenth century, and Gorreana, working since 1883, is one of the very few tea plantations in Europe. Because the islands have no tea pests, it is grown without pesticides, and some of the machines in the factory are the originals.
- Lagoa das Furnas · On the shore of the lake are boiling springs, and in the hot ground beside them the restaurants of the village bury pots of meat, sausage and vegetables in the morning and dig them up at lunchtime, cooked for about six hours by the volcano. The dish is the cozido das Furnas.
- Caldeiras das Furnas · In the middle of the village the ground boils: mud pools, steaming vents and springs of different minerals, some of them good to drink. The villagers boil corn on the cob in them, and sell it in the street.
- Parque Terra Nostra · The garden was begun in 1775 by Thomas Hickling, an American merchant and consul in the Azores, and its centre is a large pool of warm orange water, coloured by iron, at around thirty-five to forty degrees. Around it are one of the great collections of camellias and tree ferns.
Getting to Azores and getting around
- Ponta Delgada Airport · Ten minutes from town; flights to the other islands too
- Marina de Ponta Delgada · Whale and dolphin boats leave from here; book a morning trip
Cheap eats in Azores
Azorean food is farm food from green pastures and a cold ocean: beef and milk from the cows that outnumber the people, strong cheese from São Jorge, limpets grilled with garlic, small fried fish. Bolo lêvedo is a soft, slightly sweet flat muffin from Furnas, eaten warm; queijadas of Vila Franca are little cheese tarts. To drink: tea from the island, passion-fruit liqueur, and the local passion-fruit soda. A bolo lêvedo costs about a euro.
- Lagoa das Furnas · Watch the cozido dug up at midday
- Caldeiras das Furnas · Corn boiled in the springs, and warm bolo lêvedo
- Mercado da Graça · Island cheeses and pineapple to taste
- Ilhéu de Vila Franca · Queijadas, the cheese tarts of Vila Franca
- Chá Gorreana · Green and black tea, tasted free
- Caloura · Grilled limpets at the little harbour
Museums in Azores
The museums of São Miguel are small: the natural history of an ocean island, a fort, the art centre in an old alcohol factory, and the synagogue of a community that came from Morocco.
- Sahar Hassamain Synagogue · The synagogue and its archive
- Museu Carlos Machado · Whales, birds and volcanoes in a convent
- Forte de São Brás · A military museum in the fort
- Ribeira Grande · Arquipélago, the contemporary arts centre
- Cerâmica Vieira · Hand-painted pottery made on the spot
Nature and day trips near Azores
The Azores sit where three tectonic plates meet, and São Miguel is volcanoes, crater lakes, hot springs and green fields walled with hydrangeas. The ocean around them is one of the best places in the world to see whales; the old whalers’ lookouts on the cliffs now guide the whale-watching boats.
- Marina de Ponta Delgada · Whale watching with the old lookouts
- Lagoa do Fogo · A trail down to the crater lake
- Lagoa das Sete Cidades · Walk the crater rim
- Salto do Prego · A valley walk to a waterfall
- Ponta do Sossego · The green remote north-east
- Caldeira Velha · Tree ferns and warm waterfalls
Things to do in Azores with kids
For children São Miguel is an adventure: whales and dolphins from a boat, swimming in warm pools in the forest, lunch cooked by a volcano, and corn boiled in a spring.
- Marina de Ponta Delgada · Dolphin boats
- Parque Terra Nostra · Swim in the warm orange pool
- Caldeiras das Furnas · Boiling mud and steam
- Poça da Dona Beija · Hot pools in the evening
- Caloura · A safe sea pool
- Praia de Água d’Alto · A sandy beach
Holy places in Azores
The islands are deeply Catholic, with festivals of the Holy Spirit in every village, and the great procession of Santo Cristo in Ponta Delgada. Beside them stands the synagogue of the Moroccan Jews.
- Sahar Hassamain Synagogue · The first synagogue in Portugal after the expulsion
- Santo Cristo dos Milagres · The great procession in May
- Igreja Matriz · The Manueline doorway
- Ilhéu de Vila Franca · The pilgrimage chapel above the old capital
Nightlife in Azores
Nights in the Azores are quiet: dinner by the harbour, a drink on the marina, and the hot pools of Furnas, which stay open after dark.
- Marina de Ponta Delgada · Bars along the marina
- Portas da Cidade · The squares of the old town at night
- Poça da Dona Beija · Hot pools under the stars
- Mosteiros · Sunset over the sea stacks
Frequently asked questions about Azores
What is there to see in Azores?
The top sights in Azores are Portas da Cidade, Igreja Matriz and Sahar Hassamain Synagogue. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Azores?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Azores without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Azores?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Azores, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: Ponta Delgada in black and white.
How do you get to Azores and get around?
The main ways are Ponta Delgada Airport and Marina de Ponta Delgada. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Azores, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Azores that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in Azores for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.