In the middle of Atlantic Ocean, between Lisbon and New York, you can find the paradise of Europe: The Azores!
They are not wellknown by many, but if you are a naturle lover, the Azores are a must-go-to.
And because I am, my friend and I booked a trip to the Azores in September.
Since you have different islands to deal with, we asked a travelcompany to compose a trip for us. But that was so pricy, so we decided to compose our own. It was a bit of work because you have to book flights between the islands, accomodations and a rental car on all the island. But in the end it was not hard at all.
Going to the Azores
The best way to go to the Azores is by booking a flight. You can arrive on some islands, others you can only visit by boat or with a domestic flight. Between the islands you can also travel by boat, but this is time consuming.
We had during our 11-day-trip a rental car on Terceir, Flores and São Miguel. We went to corvo by boat with a day-trip from Flores and took a cab there.
A rental car on three different islands, with three different companies in such a short amount of time gave us some trouble. The deposit on the cars takes hours to days before it is refunded (on the Azores the latter one). And therefor we had a credit card limit problem. So I recommend to book with one company or take several credit cards with you. That safes a lot of calls and time!
But having a rental car on these island is really recommend. We used it a lot to go from place to place.
You can book the domestic flights online by Azores Airlines. This was easy as what.
The planes are really small and it was funny see we could choose our one seats on them.
Accomodation on the Azores
I don’t really care for nice accommodations. If I have a bed and a shower I am sattisfied. But there are a lot of options in the Azores. From beautiful hotels to free campsites.
I booked my accommodations on Booking.com and Airbnb. I searched for the cheapest (taking care of the reviews) and spend between 25 and 45 euros a night per person. Most of the time breakfast was included.
Because the Azores are becoming more and more popular and accommodations are still quite scarce. If you have set a fixed travel itinerary, it is best to book your accommodations in advance.
Weather on the Azores
They warned us: The Azores means four seasons in one day. And yes they were right! Okay, not totally, we haven’t seen snow and ice.
But we arrived with bright sunny wather and just before we reached our first accommodation it was raining cats an dogs.
But hey, the Azores a green paradise with colored flowers, it needs some water to be this beautiful…..
It has never been cold, with temperatures up to 27 degrees celsius during the day, we alternated between a t-shirt, tank top and raincoat. In the evening it cooled down and then long trousers and a sweater are a must. In terms of raincoat I would take a breathable one because of the humidity and temprture.
The nice thing about the climate in the Azores is, that it hardly ever rains for hours and because of the nice temperature everything will dry quickly.
Food and drinks
For food and drinks you will pay about 15 to 20 Euros a day and alcohol is about 2 euros per glass of beer/wine.
The menus are European oriented with fish. meat and vegan options.
Terceira, Flores, Corvo and São Miguel
Green, greener, greenest! All these islands have a beautiful green nature. Since we were in the Azores in September, most of the flowers had already finished blooming. But the landscape as from Jurassic Parc, with still some blooming flowers, was really beautiful. So the Azores are also highly recommended in September.
Terceira was very diverse as of sightseeings, the crater at Corvo made the most impression there and Flores, in my opinion the most beautiful island we visited, especially surprised us with the many waterfalls and lakes. São Miguel, the largest island, is a bit more organized, paved and cultivated. But among all this, the natural beauty is still there.
If you are not convinced yet to book your trip to the azores, I am sure you will be after reading my blogs about the island I visited. Mark my words!
Here are the links to the seperate islands:
The island Terceira
The island Corvo
The island Flores
The island São Miguel
