Azores – nice, but where is it! And how to get there?

When we told our family and friends where we were going, this was the reaction – oh, but cool! But where are the Azores actually! What are you guys going to do there? Well then, we hurry with the answers :)

If you follow our profile on FB, you probably know that in June we went in a rather unusual direction. Everyone flies to the Canaries, the Greek islands or further afield whether it’s the Caribbean or Thailand. Vacations are for getting a big dose of sun, relaxing on a deck chair or beach and doing the usual NOTHING. Well, it’s not for us ;)

In the next few posts we want to show you an interesting idea for a vacation, more alternative, but we assure you interesting. Although I must admit that the Azores is not for everyone and will not appeal to everyone. These still unknown, not very popular, somewhat mysterious islands somewhere far out in the Atlantic Ocean. They can surprise you with nature, hot springs, volcanoes, trekking routes, but they can also discourage you through lack of beaches, cold ocean and cloudy weather. However, do not be discouraged!

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What are the Azores like?

What we remembered Azores? Green! But such a green green;) Juicy, intense green was almost everywhere. After Madeira, we thought greener was not possible. It can be done – all you have to do is fly further west, just to the Azores! :)

In subsequent posts you will see richly vegetated hillsides, beautiful bright green grass on which happy cows graze, and overgrown, almost tropical forests. The landscape of the Azores is dominated by volcanic cones and numerous hills, which are dotted with numerous viewpoints. It is here that we can walk along the edge of the volcano, go around it and admire the Atlantic on one side and the green lake in the caldera on the other. Other than Iceland, we have not yet been to a place where the environment is so clean, fresh and natural, and the food is local and organic. Speaking of food, you may not know this, but the Azores are famous for, among other things. Of steaks, dairy products and…. pineapples!

Weather and climate in the Azores

The Azores has an ideal climate – it’s warm and humid, which suited me just fine. During the whole stay it was about 20-25 degrees, but even those 20 degrees were like at least 25 degrees in Poland. We flew almost the entire trip in short pants or long, airy ones and it was perfect.

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Even when it was cloudy, it was very pleasant. Well, the only thing is clouds – this lonely archipelago is a natural barrier to clouds traversing the Atlantic. We often had cloudy skies – out of 7 days, 2 we had completely sunny, 2 with fleeting rainfall, and the rest were so once sunny, once clouds. Did I already say that not everyone will like these islands? ;)

But don’t let the weather fool you – the sun is breaking through, and quite intensely, especially on the coast. We didn’t know when, and by the first or second day we were getting a tan, so from then on we used sunscreen intensively, even when it was cloudy.

Volcanic Azores

Flying to the Azores, we were not at all looking forward to swimming in the ocean. Cold water is known. Beaches as scarce, although there are some, and daredevils for swimming are in short supply. BUT… and it’s a really big BUT – the Azores have natural springs with warm (ba, hot!) water, where you can use the specially taken bathing suits ;) And I don’t just mean special thermal pools, but also bathing in the Atlantic right next to active hot volcanic slopes. So we took a bath and a warm one (!) in the Atlantic :)

It should be added that the Azores are islands of volcanic origin, and they lie in a very active area, because it is the junction of three tectonic plates and it is the place where magma escapes to the ocean floor. There are often earthquakes here, and by often I mean 2-3 times a day, but they are minimal, and we felt none during our stay.

São Miguel Island

Who will like it in the Azores? To all those who do not like crowds of tourists. Being on the island of São Miguel, we repeatedly met people with whom we flew on the plane – it is a small island with several distinctive tourist spots, so it is not surprising that where you do not go you see familiar faces ;)

There are 140,000 people on the island and 243,100 on the entire Azores. Anyway, size-wise, these are also not small islands. On São Miguel, it will take a maximum of 40 minutes to get from the center of the island to the tip.

It is an island where life flows peacefully and tourism is just flourishing. More and more hotels, guesthouses and apartments are springing up, and residents are only now beginning to feel the increased tourist traffic. Still, many of the attractions are free, and you’ll get into the restaurants without too much trouble (although we stood in line once!).

During our stay there, we did not experience any inconvenience from the influx of tourists, you don’t see that many. What was our surprise when we learned that the island of São Miguel alone receives more than 750,000 tourists a year!

We already know where the Azores are, so how do we get there?

How to get to the Azores?

As I mentioned, we were stationed on the island of São Miguel, which is located in the eastern part of the archipelago. Although the Azores is about 1/3 of the way between Europe and the Americas, in practice the flight is not that long, although you can’t do without connecting flights.

We flew to the Azores on the Portuguese carrier TAP from Warsaw, with a connecting flight in Lisbon. The trip took us almost a full day, with most of the time spent on the plane to Lisbon and at the airport in the Portuguese capital. The flight itself between Lisbon and the Azores took less than 2 hours.

Alternatively, you can also use Ryanair or Easy Jet, which also fly to the Azores. However, such a trip already requires an overnight stay in Porto, Lisbon or London.

The planes we flew (on each leg) were very decent. They were probably after a fairly decent refresh, very neat, clean and everything worked flawlessly. They had a few bits and pieces, such as special tabs to hold a tablet, e-reader or larger book.

We had a hot meal on board, drinks and spirits were included.

When it comes to traveling with a baby, unfortunately, TAP does not provide any meal for infants. There were several children on the plane, including one girl a little older than Olivia, but they got along and made a mini-crèche in the aisle of the plane ;) No one seemed to mind, in fact, people around were chatting, playing, smiling. I don’t think we’ve ever had such a friendly atmosphere on an airplane :)

Olive also slept a lot (almost halfway), so she was fully rested at the airport when we waited 3 hours for the connecting flight.

The flight from Lisbon also went smoothly. We were also surprised by the meal on such a short flight (modest because it was modest, but it was there, not like in Polish LOT). On the way we had a bit of turbulence, but nevertheless, it was a very calm and comfortable flight, by the way, Olive slept through the whole thing (probably already from fatigue).

We landed in the capital, Ponta Delgada late in the evening, so we couldn’t enjoy the views from the planes. When we picked up the car, we packed up and after just 20 minutes or so we were outside our accommodation in Ribeira Grande. Such a small island :)