Sete Cidades, São Miguel
Courtesy of Fun ActivitiesAmong a certain set of travelers, there’s an understanding that the harder a place is to reach, the better it is. Let the masses stay in the gateways, the thinking goes. If we press on for one more flight (or drive or ferry), the rewards will be great. At least the bragging rights are.
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By that logic, I would have passed straight through São Miguel, the biggest and most populated island in Portugal’s Azores archipelago (and the one that welcomes low-cost and international flights, including from North America). In fact, I did, last year when I went to Terceira and Pico in search of the “real” Azores.
But it turns out that São Miguel is very much a destination in its own right, not just a layover on the way to someplace less traveled. And while it’s true that there were some cruise ships and package tours before the pandemic, it was never a place for mass tourism.
“São Miguel is a place you go when you know why you want to go there,” said Triin Medeiros, as she led me along the breathtakingly beautiful hiking trails of Sete Cidades (“seven cities” in Portuguese, but in fact seven volcanic craters and lakes that are covered with otherworldly vegetation) and Lagoa Azul (“blue lagoon,” probably the most photographed spot on the island). Medeiros, a well-traveled Estonian who has lived in São Miguel for decades, is a guide for her husband’s adorably, understatedly named adventure travel company, Fun Activities, and she has a pretty good idea about the people who come to her island.
Lagoa do Fogo
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They are not people who book a flight to some place they can’t pronounce just because there’s a promotion. (The Portuguese spelling, Açores, is a head-scratcher.) They are not people whose idea of an island vacation is lying on a sandy beach in the sun. They aren’t people who are afraid to get muddy or wet. (This is one of those places where tour guides and hoteliers like to trot out that cliché about four seasons in one day.)
Rather, they are people who appreciate nature at its most jurassic, technicolor and surreal (and people who own hiking boots and rain pants). The blues and greens of the lagoons and mountainsides are almost electrically charged—so vivid they practically make your eyes hurt. Seagulls build their nests in the lush vegetation, especially around the island’s other famous crater lake, Lagoa do Fogo. Candy-colored hydrangeas line the winding roads as a practical matter (their strong roots defend against erosion), and in spring, everything lights up hot pink with azaleas.
Thanks to all the rain, the are waterfalls at every turn. One Fun Activity is rappelling down them. Triin’s husband, Paulo Medeiros leads canyoning excursions around the islands, starting with the beginner-friendly half-day at Ribeira dos Caldeirões (“hot springs stream”) a relatively easy downstream trail with some rock slides and and small jumps. It’s cold, even with the thick, top-quality wetsuits they provide, but a good way to warm up is the second half of one of their adventure days, an e-bike ride across the undeveloped northeast corner of the island.
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Common dolphins off the coast of São Miguel
Courtesy of FuturismoAlso, some of the people who visit São Miguel are people who really like marine mammals. With their almost forlorn location in the middle of the Atlantic, the Azores have a front-row seat to the migration of various kinds of whales, and their nautical ecosystem is a comfortable home to bottlenose and common dolphins. That lets companies like Futurismo brag about their tours to see “three resident species in one day!”
But for people who know why they want to go to the Azores, that borderline absurd nature isn’t the only reason. There are also some awfully nice, coddling places to stay. My trip was organized by a Portuguese tour operator called We Love Small Hotels. I’ve written before about how that’s a curious name for a company that focuses on hiking and adventure trips, but they do have excellent taste and connections in the world of small Portuguese hotels.
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Furnas Boutique Hotel
Courtesy of the hotelOn São Miguel, that meant an introduction to the lovely new Senhora da Rosa hotel, a passion project of an islander who came back to the island midway through a successful international hotel career to rehabilitate her parents’ hospitality project, and nights at White (the property that brought the chic, minimalist design hotel concept to the Azores) and Furnas Boutique Hotel, a modern reinvention of an old thermal waters hotel, where people used to go in hopes of being cured of a variety of ailments. (You can still taste 22 kinds of medicinal thermal water just outside the property—ask experience manager Nuno Fevereiro for a tour.)
This being Portugal, the other main reason to visit is the food. There isn’t a huge amount of variety (particularly for people like me, who don’t eat meat) but most of the Azores’ best restaurants are in São Miguel, including the homestyle A Tasca in the center of Ponta Delgada, the boisterous seafood hall Cais 20 in São Roque, and the sushi spots Otaka and the restaurant at the Santa Bárbara beach hotel.
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But the best things to eat aren’t in restaurants. An initiative from a Portuguese food communications agency, the Art of Tasting Portugal introduces visitors to top chefs throughout the country, and also to their producers and suppliers. What started as a client showcase has turned into something more soulful.
Chefs cooking lunch outside
Courtesy of the Art of Tasting PortugalOn São Miguel, their ambassador is Cláudio Pontes, the former executive chef at the Azor Hotel. Along with sommelier João Couto, Pontes takes guests on a heritage food tour around the island, with stops at the organic farm and social project Kairos, which supplies vegetables to many of the top restaurants; the geothermal cooking pits near Furnas, where traditional meat stew (or in my case, cake-like bread) is slow-cooked for hours underground; the tea plantation Gorreana; and then a stop in the fishing village of Ponto Formoso.
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There, Pontes picks up some fish that is practically still breathing, and gets to work. Guests can opt for a guided walk along the clifftops or a cruise around the bay on a working fishing boat. (There’s also the option of organizing the day differently and going out at sunrise to catch fish with the local fishermen.)
They end up at a private home, where a table is set up on the lawn, overlooking the bay and the beautiful church, and then piled high with local cheese, volcanic bread, mackerel ceviche, and fresh salads. Pontes and his team cook everything outside, over fire, and the procession of dishes that come out is impressive: fish stews, local shellfish (limpets), tuna steaks, and sweets. Couto pours wines from Pico, and the feast lasts for hours. It’s wise not to plan any afternoon activity that day.
It’s an experience unlike anything else, and all the more reason not to skip São Miguel.
João Couto pours wines for a lunch organized by the Art of Tasting Portugal
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Getting there: SATA Azores Airlines has frequent service from Lisbon and Porto to São Miguel (about two hours) and regular service from Boston, Toronto and Montreal (about five hours).