Azores

São Miguel — the largest Azorean island, 65km long, completely volcanic — with Sete Cidades (a twin-lake caldera in the northwest, the two lakes separated by a bridge — one blue, one green — surrounded by 300m crater walls) and Furnãs (a caldera village where hot springs and fumaroles boil from the ground in the park, and the local cozido (stew) is cooked underground in a volcanic pot).

💡 The twin lakes of Sete Cidades (Lago Azul and Lago Verde) are the same body of water — they appear different colours due to differences in the angle of light reflection and the depth of the water at the point where they connect under the bridge. The caldera was formed 36,000 years ago by the collapse of a large volcanic complex.

A full day — the viewpoint walk around the Sete Cidades crater rim (6km circuit, 400m above the twin lakes) and Furnãs — where the cozido das Furnãs (pork, sausage, blood sausage, chicken and root vegetables slow-cooked for 6–8 hours in a clay pot lowered into the volcanic earth, the only geothermal restaurant cuisine in Europe) is served from the Vale das Furnãs every day.

💡 Cozido das Furnãs — the stew cooked underground in volcanic heat (at 97°C, just below boiling) for 6–8 hours — is the defining dish of São Miguel and one of the most extraordinary cooking methods in the world. The pots are lowered into the steaming ground at 6am and lifted at 12:30pm, serving hundreds of portions daily.

40 min flight. Faial — the island of blue hydrangeas (hortensia hedges line every road from June to October), with the Caldeira do Faial (a 2km-wide caldera at 1,043m — a forested rim walk with views into the 400m-deep bowl below) and Horta marina (the most important transatlantic yacht stop in the world — sailors have been painting their boat names and flags on the harbour wall since 1941).

💡 Horta marina’s painted wall (a continuous 2km mural of yacht names, port emblems, flags and messages painted by sailors since 1941) is the most important sailors’ superstition in ocean racing — it is believed that any yacht that fails to paint their emblem on the Horta wall before departing will suffer misfortune on the next Atlantic crossing.

20 min ferry from Faial. Pico — dominated by Pico volcano (2,351m, the highest peak in Portugal, an almost perfectly conical stratovolcano rising from the sea) and the Pico vineyards (UNESCO World Heritage — a system of black lava-stone walls (currais) dividing the volcanic hillside into tiny vine plots, protecting each vine from Atlantic wind, producing Verdelho wine from the most extraordinary viticulture landscape in Portugal).

💡 The Pico vineyards (currais system) were created from the 15th century onward by building low lava-stone walls on bare volcanic rock to protect individual vines from Atlantic salt spray and wind. The Verdelho grape produces an off-dry white wine with extraordinary mineral character that was one of the most prized wines in Europe in the 18th century, shipped to Russia, the UK and Brazil.

45 min from Faial. Flores — the westernmost island of the EU, with the most dramatic waterfall landscape in the Atlantic islands (seven major waterfalls including the Poco do Backelho — a series of turquoise volcanic pools connected by cascades in a lush canyon) and Faja Grande (a tiny coastal village backed by a 300m cliff wall, the most dramatic village setting in the Azores).

💡 Flores is technically the westernmost point of the European Union — 39° 22′ W, further west than any point on the European continent. The island sits on the North American tectonic plate rather than the Eurasian plate that underlies the rest of the Azores.

A full day on Flores — diving the Ilheu de Maria Vaz (a tiny offshore rock with exceptional clarity, black coral and large grouper) and a whale-watching boat (Flores is in the core of the Azores whale sanctuary — sperm whales are resident year-round, with fin, sei and blue whales passing April–October).

💡 The Azores whale sanctuary is one of the most important cetacean habitats in the Atlantic — 28 of the world’s 90 whale and dolphin species have been recorded in Azorean waters. Sperm whales are year-round residents; the islands were the centre of the 19th-century American whaling industry before whale hunting was banned in 1984.

Return flight to São Miguel. The Terra Nostra Botanical Garden at Furnãs (a 12-hectare garden established in 1775, the oldest in the Azores, with a thermal pool of brown iron-rich volcanic water at 39°C — open for bathing — surrounded by a collection of tree ferns, camellias and 600 plant species from around the world). Fly from São Miguel Ponta Delgada (PDL).

💡 Terra Nostra Garden’s thermal bathing pool (a large outdoor pool of naturally heated volcanic water at 39°C, coloured brown by dissolved iron and minerals) is the most unusual bathing experience in Europe. The iron-rich water stains swimwear — wearing an old swimsuit or renting one is strongly recommended.