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Overview

Combine two of our favourite islands on a Sao Miguel and Santa Maria island hopping holiday.

The two eastern islands of the Azores are a natural pairing. Sao Miguel in the summer is a blast of Azorean culture: magnificent volcanic landscapes, exciting seasonal food and home-grown wines, geothermal swimming pools and daily whale and dolphin watching trips. Santa Maria is different – Santa Maria is where the residents of Sao Miguel themselves go to unwind. It has it’s own beautiful landscapes, it’s own home-grown wines, it’s own cuisine – but the pace of life is slower and more relaxed.

Being close neighbours, the islands are well-connected – it’s a short, fifteen-minute flight between the two or you can cross by ferry on selected days in the summer (although it’s takes a little longer at just over three hours). We’ve suggested hotel stays on both islands but it’s just as easy to self-cater and there are some wonderful traditional cottages on both islands. And with direct flights from the UK on Saturdays and Tuesdays throughout the Summer, and daily direct flights from Boston and Toronto, it’s easy to extend your stay to a full two weeks – just fill in one of our enquiry forms and we’ll do the rest.

Gallery

Itinerary

Day 1

You’ll begin your holiday by flying direct to the Azores. You’ll be transferred by our driver to your accommodation in the south coast village of Caloura.

Day 2

We’ll deliver a car hire to your hotel - you'll head east to the town of Vila Franca do Campo for a three-hour whale and dolphin watching trip. Back home in Caloura for the evening, there's a small harbour which has one of the best fish restaurants on the island.

Day 3

It’s a short drive to Furnas: the most easterly volcano on Sao Miguel. There are over thirty springs and geysers dotted around the village, and the 200-year-old Terra Nostra botanical gardens are home to the town’s most famous geothermal swimming pool.

Day 4

Today you might like to walk the Lagoa do Fogo trail (approximate walking time 4.5-5 hours; walk distance 12km. Grade: Moderate). Lagoa do Fogo - the Fire Lake – sits in the youngest of the island’s calderas and last erupted in 1563. The lava flow stretched 6km down the northern flanks of the mountain, through present-day Ribeira Seca and on into the sea. After your walk, you might like to take drive up to the summit of Pico da Barrosa (947m), one of the highest points on the island, for a magnificent panoramic view of the north and south coasts – and a birdseye view of Lagoa do Fogo itself.

Day 5

You'll return your hire car to the airport before flying to the island of Santa Maria. You'll be collected by our driver for your transfer to your new accommodation in the main town of Vila do Porto.

Day 6

You’ll spend today touring the island with our resident guide. Your day includes visits to the handicraft co-operative in Santa Bárbara, the steep-terraced vineyards in São Lourenço, the Barreiro da Faneca (Santa Maria’s red desert), and the village on Anjos: the first settlement in the Azores (around 1439), where Columbus and his crew were famously arrested following his first voyage to the Americas.

Day 7

You might like to walk the coastal trail from Vila do Porto to Santa Maria’s most popular beach at Praia Formosa (approximate walking time: 3 hours, distance: 7km, grade: moderate). The trail begins at the 17th Century São Brás Fort and passes through the Pedreira do Campo – a protected reserve where quarrying has revealed the Azores’ only fossil deposits.

Day 8

You'll be transferred to the airport for your flight back to Sao Miguel. You'll be collected by our driver once again for your transfer to your new accommodation in Ponta Delgada.

Day 9

You’ll have today free to explore Ponta Delgada; capital of the Azores. It's a great place to shop for local produce and souvenirs, with an excellent selection of friendly restaurants and cafe bars, attractive mosaic pavements and traditional Portugeuse architecture. Ponta Delgada has some of the best restaurants in the Azores – we have a handy online guide to help you choose a venue in the evenings.

Day 10

You’ll spend your final full day with our resident guide, exploring the island’s largest caldera at Sete Cidades. Your day includes visits to the famous viewpoint at Vista do Rei, the twin lakes of Lagoa Verde and Lagoa Azul, and a swim at Ponta Ferraria where the sea is naturally heated by underwater vents from the Sete Cidades caldera.

Day 11

You’ll be transferred to the airport for your direct flight home.

From £1300 per person

We can create a tailor-made holiday to suit your budget.

INCLUDED: international and inter-island flights, accommodation in twin/double en-suite rooms on a B&B basis, airport transfers, a whale and dolphin watching trip, two full-day guided tours and a hire car on Sao Miguel.

Accommodation

Hotel do Colegio A friendly hotel in Ponta Delgada's historic centre From £98 pppn
Caloura Resort Hotel Charming Blue

Activities

Whale watching Join us on one of our exciting whale watching holidays. The Azores…

Location

Santa Maria It’s easy to split your stay between two islands on our Sao…
Sao Miguel Sao Miguel’s direct flight connections with the UK, USA and Canada make…

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