How long in the Azores?
 

Hi! My husband and I are planning a trip to the Azores in late June (without our 3 year old!) and are torn between two itineraries. We only have about 10 days, including travel to and from the West Coast, and we are not sure how much time to allot to each island! We want to go canyoning, whale watching, and do a couple of different walks/hikes as well. We have settled on Flores and Sao Miguel as the two islands, but are debating spending 2 days in Lisbon as well. With the Lisbon stop, we have about 2 1/2 days on each island, without it we have 3 1/2-4 on each. Two days in Lisbon is really sufficient for us and the way we travel right now - we want some downtime, but we also don't need to see every single sight and museum, so the question is really whether the Azores Islands have enough to do to keep us busy (ish) for 7 1/2 days! Thanks for your thoughts!

Well, one summer I spent two months in the Azores but didn't get to Flores, Corvo, or Sta. Maria. Another summer one month and another two weeks. With all that outdoor activity, yes, you should have plenty to do there. Don't forget to rent a car on each island and tour around.

You've chosen the two islands that are at the extreme ends of the Azores group and with such a short time in the area you're going to spend a fair % of your time travelling.

We went to the Azores a few years ago and stayed on Faial in Horta and Terceira in Angra. The transfer between the two islands was fairly brief and gave us more time on holiday without more travelling. We were there for a week and could have filled more time than we had. The central group are easy to get to from each other.

"Don't forget to rent a car on each island and tour around."

Actually public transport and bike hire is just as good a way to see the island as hiring a car.

I think 2 to 3 days an island is not bad. I'd do more but you only have a limited time.

I'd not go to Lisbon, not that it is not nice, but there is so much to see on the Azores. So unless you are flying to the Azores via Lisbon (say from within Europe) (you don't say which West Coast you are talking about) I'd avoid.

Thanks for all of the input! The flight between Sao Miguel and Flores is only an hour an a half, so it doesn't seem like we are wasting too much time getting between them, although we do have to fly out of/into the States (Seattle) through Sao Miguel regardless so there is definitely some backtracking going on. Given the activities I listed above, are there other recommendations for islands? I think we'd like to keep it to 2, for the precise reason mentioned of not spending too much time travelling. Thanks!

Faial is wonderful and from there you can take a short ferry ride to Pico. Unless you have a good reason to go to Flores (say, family there), I'd stick to the central group of islands. Sure it's a short plane trip to Flores but then you could be stuck there for days because of bad weather.

Thanks! One thing I am running into is that SATA only runs flights certain days of the week to most islands, which is really limiting where we can go now. I have heard there are lots of flight delays due to weather, so it seems safer to head out immediately for the furthest island, then end with Sao Miguel so we are already there the day of our flight home. Should that be a concern in late June/early July? Or are pretty safe as long as we, say, fly back to Sao Miguel in the morning for a mid-afternoon flight back to the States?

Curious about your flights from SEA to Azores. I live in Seattle and Azores has been on my list for ages, but thought it would take some real planning to get there. Do you fly SEA to East Coast and then on to Portugal, or do you go BA to London and then to Portugal?

Why are you so interested in Flores ? Is it because of the name "Flores" or Flowers in English ? If so, rest assured that ALL of the islands are covered in flowers esp at the time you are going. The flowers are truly overwhelming !

Barb- The flights are actually pretty simple! Seattle to Boston, Boston to Sao Miguel on SATA. It's only a 5 hour flight from Boston!

Bedar- I had done some reading and it seemed Flores fit the bill for a smaller island, with some great canyoning options for beginners, but with some more research it seems Sao Jorge might be a good choice too, and closer!

Canyoning ? What, rappelling down waterfalls ? Are you sure that's legal in the Azores ? I'd check on that.

I don't know if it is legal to just do it on your own, but several tour companies offer it as a partial day or full day package!

We had 4.5 days on Sao Miguel. Out of that we had two days of rain which means any trip to see the volcanic lakes is not possible. The two main attractions in my opinion on Sao Miguel are - Sete Cidades and Lago do Fogo. Both in my opinion are equally spectacular and not to be missed. Other things that we enjoyed were the town of Furnas including the expansive gardens in Hotel Terra Nostra including the mud bath all in Furnas.The dark sand beach of Mosteiros is also quite lovely. The drive along the coastline is so beautiful and yes the flowers are just about everywhere. But you really do need a clear day for the best views. We went in Aug and were surprised by the weather...its really unpredictable so I think it would be prudent to throw in an extra day or two particularly on Sao Miguel so that you don't miss out on the key sights is required.
Also if you end up going to Lisbon book the last flight out of San Miguel. We had two days of rain and on the day we were planning on flying out the sun was in its full glory. Luckily I think our flight was around 8pm and so we checked in our bags at the airport and headed out to cover the sights we had missed.
The flights between Boston - Sao Miguel - Lisbon worked out very well for us.