What to do in the Azores

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Ex-SolentBoy

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We will spend some time here this summer. The sailing side is all sorted. What I would like is advice on is what to do, what to miss, and what not to miss on land.

Any help much appreciated.
 
Whaling museum on Pico (ferry from Horta)

On São Miguel hire a car and go round the island via Sete Cidades and Furnas. See if you can spot this house.

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Santa Maria - visit some of the small churches

Terceira - Angra do Heroísmo nice town.
 
Don't miss Horta and Cafe Sport is a must though will be busy early June with OCC rally there. Ponta Delgada is full of tourist going on whale watching trips.

Plank
 
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Eat Albacore steaks,
Avoid the local wine!
We had some 'house wine' in a local eatery, truly undrinkable.
When buying beer in the supermarket, watch out for stuff called (IIRC) 'Tortel', it tasted OK, but three days out we realised it was alcohol free and felt cheated.
Take a paving slab and paints with you on the boat, then you can arrive, gripfil it to the harbour wall, having painted your yacht's name etc on it on the way over. Avoids wasting valuable drinking time.
 
Angra do Heroisomo on Terciera. UNESCO World Heritage Site. Pretty good marina too. Visit the fumeroles, all over the island. On Faial the slightly spooky landscape at the west end of the island well worth visiting. Go drinking at Peter's Cafe Sport, take a look at the scrimshaw collection.
 
Terciera also has a variation on the bull run, see Touradas_à_corda on Wikipedia. Apparently this happens throughout the spring and summer. A friend of mine tried it leading to a hasty exit up a lamp post & over a wall
 
Rather than the Whaling Museum at Larjes do Pico go to the Whaling Factory which does tours. I love whales and found it very very emotional. They do an excellent film which shows that in the old days the whalers in the Azores were really at as much risk as the whales themselves, which is also evidenced by the Baleiros memorial at Pico.

I find Flores irresistible. It is probably the prettiest place I have ever been and is enhanced by the fact it is not possible to buy either a T shirt or a postcard. It is possible in the first bar up the hill from the anchorage at Larjes to buy cheese from Corvu which is some of the nicest I have ever tasted. I was last there in 2010 and I was disappointed to see them building a marina which I think will spoil the island. I tried to get into the harbour on Corvu once but found it difficult to turn around and impossible to anchor and I wouldn't lie alongside the concrete wall.

The cheese from Sao Jorge at the Calhetta mini supermarket is almost as good as Corvu cheese. Calhetta on Sao Jorge is a difficult anchorage but very rewarding if you walk around the town and the nesting Shearwaters are a delightful way to be kept awake at night.

Tereceira as a few people have mentioned is well worth a visit for both the volcanic caves and the 'first city of the New World' as they like to call Angra do Heroismo. I think the ladies toilets in the old Jesuit College deserve a world heritage listing themselves. Very good supermarkets in Praia do Vittorio, and my favourite restaurant/cafe in the Azores 'Tropical Point'.

I find Peter's Cafe de Sport at Horta an abomination with cold food and too loud people. But then I think the worst place in the Azores is Horta. There are much nicer places.
 
I spent a week there about 10 years ago, marlin fishing. I'd agree with all of the tips above and would add that the sea food is pretty good and if you've never tried limpets (yes, limpets) then a local delicacy is limpets in garlic butter, aa bit like marine version of snails and very nice.
 
Only been to Horta/Faial and that was seven years ago. The piers at Horta to see the murals. El Capitan (?) restaurant, if it's still there, was v.good. The festival at the start of August was excellent. The market was interesting too - fantastic fish on offer. Avoid the local firewater or don't make any plans for a couple of days afterwards if you do have an evening drinking it.
 
Ex-SolentBoy said:
We will spend some time here this summer. The sailing side is all sorted. What I would like is advice on is what to do, what to miss, and what not to miss on land.

Any help much appreciated.
Click to expand...

All of the above...+

Graciosa walk from the harbour into the crater through the tunnel and down into the cave, good seafood next to the harbour.
Sao Miguel, furnas swim in the hot springs and hire a scooter for a trip to the crater lakes in the west
 
Santa Maria, world music festival and lovely peaceful island. San Miguel, swim in the hot sulphur pools. Faial, go and meet all the boats coming back across the Atlantic. Terciera, bull on a rope, scary but hilarious, visit the local vinyard, we loved the wine, festivals fantastic.
 
If you are arriving by sea the new Marina at Velas , Sao Jorge is lovely and the Shearwaters will entertain you at dusk, Jose the harbour master is a fountain of knowledge about the Island. if you visit Pico and hire a car a meal at Canto do Paco , Prainha , is worth a detourThe pulpo stew is superb!
 
Visit Il de Flores the northern most small island. It is enchanting. Then on to Fail into Horta. See the sights. Take some small jars of acrilic paint and paint your message on the walls the same as every yacht/ship does who visits then pop over to Pico. Too much to see and do even on those three islands.
 
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