The first thing about the Azores Islands, the Portuguese archipelago thrust way out in the North Atlantic, is that it\u2019s really difficult to get to. It\u2019s surrounded by weather systems that can go haywire at any time. So it literally took us two days of aborted landings to arrive there, with wind gusts and storm bursts getting us so close to a touchdown you could swipe your hand along the runway, only to veer back up into the sky several times.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We had to return to Lisbon, Portugal, without landing on S\u00e3o Miguel island – over two hours away – and over the next day fly back to the Azores<\/em> two more times. I was traveling with my husband and three other friends, all of whom work for a European airline, so bouncing around in bad weather and failed touchdowns are business as usual, while understandably the rest of the plane was freaking out.\u00a0<\/p>\n While it was disappointing to arrive a couple of days later than expected, the approach was a thrill in itself (perhaps not so much for some of our fellow passengers) and an excellent intro to what to expect from the islands.\u00a0<\/p>\n But then finally, I get my first whiff of the Azores stepping directly out of the plane onto the tarmac: a heady, humid cocktail of salt spray and emerald volcanic vegetation, awash in geysers, waterfalls, crashing waves, rivers, lakes, hot springs, and just water, water everywhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n The sensation is elemental and also a bit atemporal, like you just walked into \u201cJurassic Park.\u201d A dinosaur could lumber around the corner and you wouldn\u2019t be terribly surprised. In mid-Feb, when we were there, it was damp and cool, but not cold. You could get away with hiking shorts, a t-shirt and a windbreaker. The weather is generally better in summer – though fair warning, it\u2019s constantly changeable year-round – but it\u2019s a personal quirk of mine to try to avoid high season, with the consequent bigger crowds.<\/p>\n Behold some vignettes and snippets of the experience, not in chronological order but yes with useful highlights.<\/p>\n Not Your Package Vacation<\/u><\/p>\n Most people hear “island vacation” and think of white sand, lukewarm turquoise shallows, a five-star resort with a cocktail in your hand. If that\u2019s what you\u2019re looking for, stay on the plane. Fly to the Bahamas. The Azores are the opposite, baptizing you in the cold, chaotic energy of the deep ocean. This is a vertical, dripping, basalt-enclosed fortress where water is the architect and the primary antagonist.<\/p>\n I didn’t come here to tan.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Mouth of the Earth<\/u><\/p>\n Nothing is that far away on the islands, but an easy initial base camp close to the airport is Ponta Delgada on the island of S\u00e3o Miguel, and the city is a polite suggestion of civilization. It\u2019s lots of whitewashed walls and black volcanic stone, a charming local farmer\u2019s market, and in general a tidy, Portuguese colonial dream that still feels on the verge of being swallowed by the peaks rising behind it.\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite Ponta Delgada\u2019s European charm, the air is still thick with the Atlantic\u2019s salt, a port-city reminder that the wilds are only a fifteen-minute drive away. It\u2019s good to stay for a night or two but it doesn\u2019t need to be the anchor for a longer trip.<\/p>\n And so we left the city. Within an hour, we got to the rim of Sete Cidades, looking down at high-mountain twin lakes so often enshrouded in mist that moves so quickly it looks like a time-lapse.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Later, we trekked a bit further to get to the Reserva Natural Lagoa do Fogo, \u201cFire Lake\u201d. Another high-altitude crater lake that came at us like a prehistoric myth. The wind whips across the caldera, and I thought to myself that it\u2019s not just a lake, but the mouth of a sleeping volcanic giant.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n For meals, we ended up eating at the same restaurant three times, the Restaurante Associa\u00e7\u00e3o Agr\u00edcola de S\u00e3o Miguel, a farmer\u2019s cooperative that highlights beef, cheeses, wines, and other products all sourced fresh from the island\u2019s small-batch producers.\u00a0<\/p>\n There were also plenty of fresh fish options across the island, unsurprisingly. It\u2019s also a huge producer of pineapple products- great gifts to bring back home are all sorts of pineapple iterations, like jams, chocolates, cookies, etc. We enjoyed a number of pineapple-based cocktails, well-deserved after long hikes.<\/p>\n Your Town is On Fire<\/u><\/p>\n But the real nuts stuff started in the town of Furnas. Your vacation will include a helping of malodorous sulfur.<\/p>\n This is a village where in its center geysers are literally the town square, not just a tourist attraction. We walked past past fountains and across paths where in most places there would be cute beds of petunias or a little plaque commemorating a town ancestor, but where here sulfurous water chugs out of any number of warning-labelled fountains at boiling temperatures.\u00a0<\/p>\n The hydrogen sulfide smell of rotten eggs takes the place of what would otherwise be the charming perfumes of a farmer\u2019s market. Suffice to say we had lunch that day in another town.<\/p>\n It\u2019s glorious but really more a place to visit than a place to stay.<\/p>\n Your All-Inclusive Rust-Stained Resort<\/u><\/p>\n We ended one day of the trip at Parque Terra Nostra, a hotel complex \/ botanical garden \/ hot springs \/ mud bath \/ culinary extravaganza. The centerpiece is a massive, circular pool filled with thick, opaque, stain-y, orange-brown water. It looks like the byproduct of a heavy-duty industrial accident and you should spend as much time as you can in it.\u00a0<\/p>\n One of my friends made the sartorial error of choosing a pristine, resort-ready, white bathing suit, Greek goddess style. But the thermal mud spring was so iron-rich it looked like she\u2019d ventured through a liquid tunnel of rust. A word of advice for the uninitiated: leave your designer gear at home.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sliding into that 38\u00b0C (100\u00b0F) liquid as rain started to drizzle down on us was pure watery bliss. We were hot, we were cold, and it\u2019s hard to feel more alive.<\/p>\n The park is only for hotel guests in the evening, but open to the public during the day. At night, the steam rises into the dark sky, and you\u2019re left floating in this primordial broth, listening to the island drip around you.<\/p>\n Hiking Through the Veins of the Island<\/u><\/p>\n If the interior of the islands is about heat, the trek to the Cascata Salto do Cabrito waterfall is just about being wet. It\u2019s not a hike to<\/em> water, it\u2019s a hike through<\/em> it.\u00a0<\/p>\n The trail took us past the Faja do Redondo Dam, a crumbling piece of concrete covered in moss that looked delightfully post-apocalyptic. Most of the time, we were walking on rickety metal catwalks suspended directly over rushing water, or through narrow valleys where the humidity is 200%. It\u2019s inland, but we were surrounded by water above us, below us, and pushing through the huge industrial pipes that line the path. The waterfall at the end is a roar cutting through the rock, and by the time we reached it, we realized we\u2019d been functionally underwater for the last few miles anyway.<\/p>\n Then at Ribeira Grande – an excellent co-working \/ co-living town by the way – the Atlantic smashes into the shore, so much so that the \u201cpiscinas naturais\u201d get closed every once in a while simply because of dangerous waves and storm damage. We didn\u2019t get to take a dip when we were visiting but locals assured us it was the place to see and be seen in calmer weather, assuming of course you don\u2019t need a lifeguard rescue.<\/p>\n Nearby, we stood on high cliffs watching waves the size of houses disintegrate against the black lava rock. Villages like Agua de Pau get consistently soaked by spray and the waves are literally explosions.<\/p>\n The Thalassophile\u2019s Fever Dream<\/u><\/p>\n By the end of the trip, I realized why the other travelers I saw had such a grim determination to be soaking wet out in the elements. The salt crust formed on my skin after five minutes near the blowholes; the environment is tactile. It\u2019s an outdoor adventure place, not a resort place. There are a number of Azores islands to choose from (9 in total) but they\u2019re all small and accessible. Most flights come in from Lisbon to Ponta Delgado (PDL) or Terceira (TER).\u00a0<\/p>\n The Azores are a destination that engages rather than relaxes, and for people who would rather be cold and awestruck than warm and bored. If you\u2019re looking to find yourself, go to a spa in Bali. In the Azores, we were constantly touched by the elements. Come here for the sensory reset.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/storage.ghost.io\/c\/72\/7d\/727d46f7-79ab-47af-9183-0035d3c79966\/content\/images\/2026\/06\/IMG_7229.jpeg\")
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