Peanut Butter Fingers

Summer has been a whirlwind for our family complete with lots of travel and visitors. I thought I’d have this blog post up weeks ago but finally, a month after our family vacation to São Miguel in the Azores, I’m sitting down to share our trip with all of you! The 5 days we spent in the Azores were filled with some of the most breathtakingly gorgeous seaside views, thrilling hikes, animal experiences and oceanic magic. It was a destination we selected because it seemed like it would offer so much of what we loved about our Alaska family vacation — whale watching, fishing, hiking, stunning nature — but in a warmer climate.

Azores Itinerary

If you can believe it, the Azores first popped up on our radar thanks to ChatGPT. We asked for a list of destinations that would mesh well with our kids’ ages and our family’s interest in nature. We gravitate toward destinations that aren’t too touristy and love it when a trip includes an animal focus. Our 10-year-old son and my husband also love fishing, so a destination that offers the opportunity to fish is a huge plus. Fishing is an easy sell for me and our younger two boys when you throw in the possibility of seeing whales! The more time we poured into researching the Azores, the more and more convinced we became that these lush islands would be a great fit for a family vacation for a crew that shares a love for the outdoors and animals.

From there, we began researching the heck out of the Azores and quickly narrowed our Azores itinerary down to one island: São Miguel. This decision was based on a myriad of factors, mostly centering around our desire to have a “home base” that still allowed us to see and do a lot without spending a ton of time traveling from place to place in what can be very unpredictable weather. This worked perfectly for our family and São Miguel was a fantastic choice for a family with three young kids, ages 5, 7 and 10.

São Miguel in the Azores is big enough to spend days exploring but very, very easy to navigate. (Ryan and I both commented on the quality of the highways and infrastructure.) You can get from the northernmost point to the southernmost point of the island in 90 minutes. And travel from east to west is 20 minutes max! We rented a hybrid SUV and found driving ourselves to be an easy and simple way to get around São Miguel. We only had to refill our gas tank once right before we returned our car!

Where Are The Azores Islands

The VAST majority of comments I received when I shared our family’s plans to visit the Azores were some iteration of, “Where is that!?” The Azores are an archipelago of Portugal composed of nine volcanic islands located in the North Atlantic Ocean. The Azores Islands’ relatively remote location in the Atlantic Ocean has helped preserve a truly dramatic natural landscape, unique ecosystems, and a slower pace of life, largely untouched by mass tourism.

While the Azores are a hidden gem to most Americans, the islands are relatively easy to get to from the east coast of the United States which was a big selling point for our family. (A small number of east coast flights fly direct overnight to São Miguel.) We never in a million years could’ve predicted the intense travel headaches we faced getting to São Miguel but we made it safely and our return flights back to Charlotte, while very delayed, were thankfully much smoother. (You may read about our not-so-fun travel to the Azores here: An Unexpected Two Days in Lisbon, Portugal.)

How Many Days Do You Need In the Azores

Personal preferences will play into this decision, as well as whether or not you wish to visit multiple islands during a visit to the Azores. For our family vacation, we planned for 6 full days but had to do a LOT of last-minute scrambling and shuffling around of our plans due to the travel headaches we experienced getting to São Miguel. We ended up spending 5 days on the island after we postponed our return flights home. We all said we could’ve used another day or two in the Azores, and that was our feeling after visiting only one island! There is simply so much to see and do and explore if you love the outdoors.

What To Do in the Azores

Now onto the fun stuff: What to do in the Azores!! When we were creating our Azores itinerary, our focus was primarily on planning a trip that would work well with 3 young kids, minimize car travel once we arrived on the island and allow us ample time to experience all the natural beauty São Miguel has to offer. When creating our Azores itinerary, the following activities seemed to be most popular on São Miguel:

• Volcanic landscapes and crater lakes

• Hiking trails

• Natural hot springs

• Whale and dolphin watching

• Black sand beaches

• Tea plantations

• Miradouros 

We ended up experiencing all of the above during our trip! Here’s the way our Azores itinerary unfolded:

Night One: Arrive in the Azores

We landed in Ponta Delgada on São Miguel in the Azores late at night and checked into the house we rented in Ribeira Grande around midnight. (The house is about a 15-20 minute drive from the airport. Nice and close!) We selected the house we did for two main reasons: Its location (central to the island and drivable everywhere) and THIS GARDEN.

Incredible, right!? The owner of the home highly encouraged us to pick whatever produce we could find during our stay and we thoroughly enjoyed fresh strawberries every single day, as well as zucchini, potatoes, lettuce and onions. We loved this home and it worked well for our family, but I would strongly advise requesting the owner to drop a pin to its location if you book this home, as it can be quite challenging to find, especially at midnight!

Day One: Whale Watching, Islet of Vila Franca do Campo, Hiking 

• Whale Watching

We began our first full day on São Miguel with whale watching! Whales are some of my favorite animals on the planet and when we read that visiting the Azores from April into early June is prime time to see massive migratory baleen whales (think blue whales, fin whales and sei whales), a trip to the Azores shot up to the top of our list of destinations for our big family summer trip. We prioritized whale watching early on in our trip and ended up seeing two large orcas which were absolutely incredible. We also saw a pod of about 30 bottlenose dolphins playing all around us.

One note worth sharing: Our overall experience on the whale watching boat was admittedly a little rough. We were crammed onto a small boat with no ability to move around, which wasn’t my favorite as someone prone to sea sickness. It honestly made me feel a little panicky which made me feel absolutely ridiculous but I felt almost trapped/claustrophobic. I don’t have a picture of our boat, but two of the same boats went out at once and this is the other one:

I’ve never done whale watching like this before but you basically have to straddle a seat and are not allowed to move. It wasn’t our kids’ favorite experience at all either and we ended up canceling the second similar whale watching experience we had scheduled during our trip. If we were to go back, I would spend time researching alternative whale watching experiences because I think it could be incredible under different circumstances.

• Islet of Vila Franca do Campo

One thing we did love about our whale watching experience was when the boat took us around the Islet of Vila Franca do Campo. The islet formed as the result of a crater from an ancient submerged volcano and has a perfectly circular interior lagoon that attracts swimmers and snorkelers in the summer months. It was not open for visitors yet during our visit so it was a treat to be able to see it up close during our whale watching experience.

• Hiking Rota da Agua – Janela do Inferno

After whale watching, we grabbed lunch and headed off on our first hike! We narrowed in on Rota da Agua – Janela do Inferno for a family-friendly hike we thought would be manageable for all three of our kids. We were warned we might get lost… and we certainly did. Ha! We were not the only ones confused by this trail as we talked to multiple other first-time hikers who made similar mistakes. I’d highly recommend getting your route nailed down before tackling this one if it’s on your radar!

I say all this to say that once we were actually on the right path, the hike was stunning and a lot of fun. It feels like you’re walking through a jungle/rainforest with tunnels and outcroppings our boys especially enjoyed exploring and a small waterfall reward. It’s rated “moderate” but our 5.5 year old didn’t struggle and found it mostly manageable. (He’s a feisty, determined little guy though!) I do wish I would’ve worn true hiking shoes for this one and not just my sneakers as it was muddy and a little slick in certain parts.

After our hike, we stopped by a local grocery store near our house and ate dinner in the backyard garden before calling it an early night. Everyone was exhausted from our late arrival the night before and our early-morning wake-up and we needed sleep!

Day Two: All-Day Fishing for Tuna + Pineapple Plantation 

• Fishing in the Azores

Our second day in the Azores was spent on a boat fishing for tuna for 8 hours. We left out of the marina at Ponta Delgada at 9 a.m. and didn’t arrive back until the early evening. Fishing for tuna was really high on Chase and Ryan’s list of “must dos” and Rhett, Ryder and I tagged along thinking we’d enjoy a day on the water, especially since there was a chance we might see whales. It ended up being a bit of a bust as we didn’t catch a single fish or see any wildlife. I was mostly bummed out for Chase who had such high hopes going into our fishing adventure but he fishes enough to understand that sometimes not catching anything is part of fishing, too. (I just have to highly recommend this fishing + whale watching experience if you’re reading this blog post and Alaska is on your radar. It was INCREDIBLE.)

• Pineapple Plantation

On our way back to our house after fishing, we swung by a small pineapple plantation. It was not a must-see in my opinion but cool enough for a quick stop. I had no idea it takes two years to grow a single pineapple!

Day Three: Donkeys & Friends, Parque da Grená in Furnas, Gorreana Tea Plantation, Complexo Municipal de Piscinas

• Donkeys & Friends

Day three was one of our absolute favorite days in the Azores! We began the day with an easy walk with three rescued donkeys. We were the only ones on the tour which meant each of our kids got to lead their own donkey all over town which thrilled them. The boys had the best time loving on their donkeys and laughing at their silly antics. (Two of the three donkeys were brothers and would periodically mess which each other which cracked us up because same, same in our house.) The donkeys were gentle, great listeners and just truly lovely animals.

Our guide for this experience was Bethany, the woman who owns Donkeys & Friends and cares for the rescued donkeys who take turns joining guests on daily walks around town. She clearly cares deeply for her animals and we thoroughly enjoyed learning a lot more about donkeys and the Azores from someone so knowledgeable and passionate. It didn’t take us long to realize Bethany has the biggest heart and we immensely enjoyed our time with her and her donkeys. This was a 10/10 experience for all of us!

• Parque da Grená

An impromptu visit to Parque da Grená was next up for our family! We initially had a different hike planned but pivoted after Bethany highly recommended this park to our family during our walk with her donkeys. We were so, so glad we altered out plans. Our time at Parque da Grená ended up making every single person in our family’s top 3 list from our trip!

The park is located on the northern shore of Lagoa das Furnas, a lake that sits inside the crater of the dormant Furnas Volcano, famous for its surrounding geothermal hot springs and lush greenery. When we arrived at the park, we immediately saw the steam from the hot, bubbling mud pools and volcanic vents.

We took some time to eat the lunches we packed in the shade of the absolutely gorgeous and impressively massive Japanese cedar trees.

You can also order the island-famous Furnas stew at this park where pots of stew are lowered into a volcanic vent (fumarole) near Lagoa das Furnas and covered with earth and rocks until everything is cooked and ready to eat. When we asked people to share honestly about the stew, we were mostly told it was rather bland and over-hyped, so we opted to skip this one. One thing we were very glad we didn’t skip, however, was paying the entrance fee into the park where we hiked our hearts out! 

I’ll be fully honest here and say that I think a lot of the magic of this park for our family was the fact that our boys were all just really clicking this day. They were adventurous, happy, energetic and really into this hike and park. Had a kid or two been off their game and whining, it wouldn’t have been nearly as magical, but it was such a stunning place and our boys were all-in on walking up, up, uphill to see two breathtaking waterfalls. (Note: We did notice quite a few older people struggling on this hike, so please keep that in mind because it involves a lot of steps at a decent incline.)

I’m so glad our boys were game for continuing on past the first waterfall and hiking higher up the trail to the second waterfall because this area looked like it was straight out of Jurassic Park. The waterfall was so tall — truly enormous — and pictures don’t even begin to capture the lush, green beauty of this place.

To get an idea of the scale of this waterfall, check out its size compared to our 3 boys who are climbing on the rocks at the bottom left of the above picture! We all slipped off our shoes and socks at the base of the waterfall and had the best time dipping our feet in the clear water and soaking up the beauty around us. And popsicles from a truck at the bottom of the trail were another highlight!

• Gorreana Tea Plantation

We were encouraged to visit a tea plantation during our time in São Miguel and since we were able to adjust our drive to pass by one on our way back to our house, we decided to make a quick stop at Gorreana Tea Plantation. This plantation is the oldest tea plantation in Europe and would’ve made a lovely place to stop for a cup of tea and a pastry on their beautiful terrace but we were more or less just passing through to see what it was all about. It wasn’t the kind of place that would be high on our boys’ list of cool stuff to see so it was a rapid-fire visit for our family.

• Complexo Municipal de Piscinas in Lagoa

After once again eating dinner back at our house — fresh tuna our fish captain gave us because he felt bad we didn’t catch anything on day two of our trip paired with potatoes and vegetables from our house’s garden — we caught a second wind and made a short drive to Complexo Municipal de Piscinas in Lagoa. This place was absolutely magical!

Complexo Municipal de Piscinas is essentially an ocean swimming pool and I’ve never seen anything like it in my entire life! If you adore the ocean and swimming, it’s an absolute must-see. There are diving boards and platforms you can jump off directly into the ocean and calmer lagoon areas under bridges for less-intense swimming. Everything is built right into the ocean and it is the freaking coolest!!!! (They also have a regular pool but it was not filled when we visited.) Bonus: It only costs ONE Euro to swim!

One important note: The water was absolutely freeeeeezing when we went in very early June, so keep that in mind if you want to do a lot of ocean swimming during your time in the Azores. The timing for our trip centered around our family’s desire to fish and see large migratory baleen whales but if we were to plan it again, we’d consider shifting our trip to later in the summer so we could take advantage of swimming without freezing our butts off because there are some truly incredible ocean swimming experiences in the Azores. It is busier in the late summer though and we didn’t run into any large crowds during our visit, so there are pros and cons to consider no matter when you go, I suppose!

Day Four: Exploring the Western Side of the Island (Ponta da Ferraria, Piscinas Naturais dos Mosteiros, Sete Cidades) and Dinner at Bar Caloura

• Ponta da Ferraria

São Miguel has a number of natural hot springs but the one at Ponta da Ferraria is IN the ocean. Hot geothermal water from a sulphureous hot spring and cold water from the ocean swirl around together to create a hot/cold experience that was cool and really kind of wild! It intrigued our family a lot more than the calmer hot springs São Miguel is known for because we just couldn’t see our kids enjoying a “soaking” hot springs experience. This one was much more up our alley! We timed our visit to just after low tide to best feel the warm water. (We arrived maybe an hour or two after low tide.) I got in first because the water looked rough and swirly and I wanted to make sure it was safe for the boys.

It was always shallow enough for me and our big kids to stand but fairly rough so I’m glad our kids are all good swimmers, but even still we never let go of Rhett, our 5 1/2 year old. If we would’ve had life jackets on hand, I absolutely would’ve made our kids wear them to be extra cautious, but it felt safe enough. The tide was also coming in versus pulling out which was also good from a safety standpoint. It felt like a shallow ocean wave pool at times which was absolutely thrilling for our gang! It is not something I’d recommend for younger kids or kids who are not comfortable and confident swimmers though.

Also, if you’d going to do this adventure, pack water shoes!!! We were all so, so glad we had them and wore them multiple times during our Azores vacation. Lava rock is not comfortable on your feet, let me tell ya! (These are the water shoes we liked best for our kids.)

• Piscinas Naturais dos Mosteiros

Once we were all dried off, we drove to Mosteiros, a small fishing village for ice cream and fresh bread from a local bakery! Discovering random back-alley bakeries kind of became our thing during our time on São Miguel because the bread was incredible (and so, so cheap). We then visited one of our absolute favorite places on the island: Piscinas Naturais dos Mosteiros.

This spot was absolutely gorgeous; truly the kind of spot where you cannot stop commenting on its beauty the entire time you’re there. (Honestly, all of São Miguel is like that though… just so beyond beautiful.)

Lots of natural saltwater pools filled with crystal-clear ocean water are located on top of black lava rocks and everything is surrounded by black sand beaches. Our kids had the absolute best time climbing all over the lava rocks and kept asking to extend our time here. They discovered little caves and pools away from the main areas and it was such a fun adventure for children who like to explore their hearts out.

• Sete Cidades

Can you see why this view is a must-see? Sete Cidades is arguably the most famous spot on the island because of the twin lakes — one green, one blue — and was one of the most popular spots we visited during our time on São Miguel. (Sete Cidades and a few of the more popular mirdouros aka viewpoints/lookouts on the island were the only places we saw tour buses during our stay.) It was a foggy day when we visited Sete Cidades, but still beyond beautiful. While Ryan and I are impressed by stunning views, our kids’ interests were thoroughly piqued when I told them the story of the abandoned hotel nearby.

Opposite Miradouro da Vista do Rei, the viewpoint everyone visits to see the twin lakes, is the Monte Palace Hotel. It was the first 5-star luxury resort in the Azores and 18 months after it opened, it received the Portuguese Hotel of the Year award. The very same day the director of the hotel flew to Lisbon to receive the award, the hotel staff in the Azores received the devastating news that the hotel had declared bankruptcy and would close entirely a week later. Now it’s totally abandoned and while you’re not technically supposed to enter, it’s a hot spot lots of people explore. We thought the view from the hotel rooftop was the best!

• Dinner at Bar Caloura

From Sete Cidades, we drove to Bar Caloura where we had our favorite meal of the trip! We’re a family of seafood lovers and the food we ordered at Bar Caloura was fresh, flavorful and so, so good. The grilled limpets (lapas) reminded us of a cross between a mussel and a clam and were a favorite for all of us!

Day Five: Typical Breakfast with Goats, Miradouros, Jardim Botânico António Borges, Nonna’s Teeth & Tomatoes for Dinner and La Gelataria for Gelato 

• Typical Breakfast with Goats

Our fifth and final day in the Azores began at a small family farm where we had one of the best experiences of our trip. The experience was called Typical Breakfast with Goats and it was hosted by the kindest, most welcoming man named Ricardo at his home in Ribeira Grande. We joined another family and a couple for a tour of Ricardo’s small goat farm and then ate a traditional Azorean breakfast together in his kitchen.

We were able to interact with baby goats (including one baby girl goat born that morning!) and could not get over the sweet and friendly demeanor of the goats. We said they behaved more like dogs and sought us out for scratches, love and attention. Our kids especially soaked this up and all had a favorite goat by the end of our visit. (Ricardo even let our youngest name a baby goat and Rhett proudly announced the goat’s new name over breakfast: Oreo Marshmallow!)

After we all had the opportunity to milk a goat, we made our way to the large kitchen table for breakfast.

The spread included a variety of fresh cheeses made with their goats’ milk, lots of jams and spreads (the pineapple one made by Ricardo’s wife was my favorite), fresh breads (including my absolute favorite bolo levado — a must try!), and a seasoned pork dish we ate on top of corn bread. We sipped on coffee and juice as we chatted about the island and I swear Ricardo would’ve let us all stay all day if we wanted. He was just the loveliest man. If you love animals and want a truly unique local experience on São Miguel, you must book this one!

• Miradouros

Throughout our time in the Azores, we followed the advice we heard over and over again: Take the time to stop by any miradouros you see as you drive around the island. Miradouros are scenic viewpoints peppered throughout the island. They often offer truly stunning panoramic views of volcanic crater lakes, dramatic ocean cliffs and lush green landscapes, along with picnic tables and parking for easy access. We prioritized stopping by a few more miradouros on our final day in the Azores, including one that had the coolest pump track that had our boys wishing for their bikes!

• Jardim Botânico António Borges