This trip isn't just a vacation; it’s an 8 day immersion into a land where the earth is still "young" and every corner holds a secret. 🗺 ITINERARY HIGHLIGHTS: 1️⃣ Independent exploring in a rental car 2️⃣ Hike in the national parks: Experiencing Boca do inferno, Cida des lakes, Furnas Valley, Terra Nostra park, Salto cabrito waterfall and Lagoa do Fogo across the different routes 3️⃣ Head out on a full day canyon through the waterfalls of Parque natural de Ribera dos cal dearo es. 4️⃣ Eat the local delicacy of Cozido - a stew cooked by volcanic heat 5️⃣ Discover the culture at the Chapel of Nossa Senhora da Paz, Gorrean tea factory and Caldeira Velha hot springs 6️⃣ Pineapple wine tasting - the only place in the world you can do this other than Hawaii! 7️⃣ Explore Gorrean tea factory 8️⃣ Take in the culture of the walkable city Ponta Delgaga Disclaimer: As much as Tripleaders try to stick to our plans, itineraries can be subject to change due to weather, travel logistics, safety or other unexpected reasons. 👥 OUR GROUP: We will be a group of 4 (including myself). I am looking for TripMates similar to myself - laid back in character but organised enough to get ready to leave on time by themselves! Happy to have good conversation whilst spending time in our group but also independent enough to be able to make their own choices and explore themselves as well. People who as I would describe are 'all-rounders' - you love a mixture of chilling on a beach, the adventure of a hike, the want to learn and explore culture and at the same time have downtime for a wine or to read a book/watch a movie/enjoy the sunset. If you request to travel as part of the group, I will set up a call with you prior to accepting the request. This was I can ensure we have the right fit for the most pleasurable experience for all of us. 📍 MEETING POINT: John Paul II Ponta Delgada Airport 📝 VISAS: Please check BEFORE booking that you are eligible for a visa & you have a valid passport – these essentials are down to yourself to check & ensure validity. You will also need to check if the Azores has any alternative entry requirement forms, documents or vaccinations essential to be granted entry to the country for your nationality. Most nationalities can obtain a visa on arrival for the Azores and don't need anything else essential to enter. ❤️🩹 INSURANCE: Travel insurance is included if you are a resident of Germany or Austria. You can view all the inclusions & exclusions of this insurance here: www.joinmytrip.com/en/t/travel-insurance. For any other TripMates, you will need to purchase your own Travel Insurance, which also covers you for Medical expenses should you need it whilst we are away. 📱WHATSAPP GROUP: I will be making a ‘Azores’ specific group WhatsApp before we depart for us to start these conversations where I can answer any questions you may have about the trip.
🙋🏽♀️ ABOUT ME: I'm Jemima! 🍰 34 🇬🇧 British 🇶🇦 Living in Doha, Qatar 🌍 Just finished travelling to my 80'th country 💸 After 12 years working in the travel industry, I am now an independent travel agent I LOVE a hobby: 🏐🏇🏻⛷️🏄♀️🛥️🛼🎨✝️🥾🧳🐚🥢🏋️♀️🎥 🔧 I design my trips with the following in mind: Keeping costs minimal but with comfort. Maximising time on ground but allowing for flexibility and independent exploring. Experiencing as many different sides of a country as possible - if a country has beach, forest, mountains AND cities to experience... you best believe I will be allocating the appropriate number of days there to get to see a bit of it all! Ensuring a range of activities that suit my multiple personalities! To find out more about me, please head to my profile 😌
🛖 WHERE YOU'LL STAY: We will be staying in a private holiday home in the centre of Ponta Delgada with restaurants, grocery stores and cafes and bars just a stones throw away. Each TripMate will have their own private room and we have have all the usual facilities you'd expect from dishwasher to washing machine. The house is a typical authentic Azores design, you'll be able to take a step back in time as you settle in. We'll embrace the true "villa life" by cooking together. We’ll hit the local markets for fresh Atlantic produce and then work together whipping up communal breakfasts and dinners. Lunches will probably be a mixture of eating in and out depending on how we feel. 💸 KEEPING IT FAIR: To keep things affordable and stress free, we’ll use Splitwise to track all shared costs (groceries, drinks, and fuel) ensuring we only pay for our fair share of the "kitty."
Was ist inbegriffen?
Private villa next to the beach
Car rental
Activities specified in the itinerary
Travel insurance (Germans & Austrians)
Destination specific WhatsApp group
Pre-departure guidance
No booking responsibility
Experienced & knowledgeable trip leader
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Du kannst mit Jemima chatten, sobald du deinen Platz reserviert hast.
Reiseverlauf
1
Ponta Delgada
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DAY 1: Start your trip with a flavour you can't find anywhere else (well, nearly anywhere else!) We'll meet in our villa at Ponta Delgada - a city built from the very lava that created it. Forget everything you know about typical island capitals. Ponta Delgada is a moody, cinematic masterpiece of black basalt and whitewashed walls, where 16th-century history is literally etched into the volcanic rock. Imagine wandering through narrow, cobblestone alleys that smell of salt air and fresh espresso, leading you to grand arched gates that look like they belong in a gothic fairytale. 🍍 Did you know the Azores is the only place in the world that grows pineapples in glass greenhouses? It takes two years to grow a single fruit using a traditional "smoke" method to force flowering. We’ll visit a local factory to taste pineapple wine - a crisp, golden liquid that tastes like the island’s history. We'll head to the grocery store to get what we need for the week before rustling up a delicious welcome dinner together!
2
Miradouro do Inferno
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DAY 2: Hike to the "Postcard View" of the Azores 🥾 After a 15–20 minutes walk from the car park you’ll see a steep wooden staircase up to the viewpoint over Boca do Inferno. This is the "Postcard View" of the Azores! Once you reach the top, you are standing on a narrow ridge. You aren't just looking at one lake; you’re looking at four. You’ll see the Blue and Green lakes of Sete Cidades, Lagoa do Santiago, and Lagoa Rasa, all nestled inside different volcanic craters. Its name means "Mouth of Hell," named for the dramatic, jagged volcanic cliffs that drop off on either side of the ridge. Local legend says the two lakes (Cida des lakes - one emerald green and one sapphire blue) were formed from the tears of a green-eyed princess and a blue-eyed shepherd who were forbidden to be together. When you stand on the ridge, you're looking at a collapsed volcanic caldera that is over 30,000 years old. 🍴 Once we've taken our photos at Boca do Inferno, we'll start the actual hike - you literally walk along the giant rim of the volcanic crater. It’s about 12km (roughly 3 hours) and mostly downhill or flat once you’re on the ridge. The trail winds down through fields of hydrangeas and past curious cows, ending right in the heart of Sete Cidades village at the bottom of the crater. This is a one-way hike. We'll leave the car at the top, hike down to the village for a cold beer and lunch, and then take a 15 minute taxi back up to the car. There's a taxi stand close by!
3
Lagoa do Fogo
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DAY 3: Soak in a warm waterfall while giant ferns tower above you like it’s 65 million BC 🏔️ We head to Lagoa do Fogo (the Lake of Fire), the highest lake on the island. Because it’s so high, it creates its own weather system; one minute you’re in a cloud, the next, the "fire" reveals a turquoise paradise. It's essentially a massive, turquoise crater lake sitting high in the center of the island, and because it’s a protected nature reserve, there are zero buildings around it. No houses, no cafes—just you and the elements. If you want to escape the crowds and see the "wild" side of the lake, this is the official hiking trail. A long, flat stretch following an irrigation channel through lush endemic vegetation. You eventually emerge into the caldera at a point where cars cannot reach. 🔥 We’ll warm up in the Caldeira Velha hot springs - essentially a natural spa hidden in a prehistoric jungle. The ground temperature here reaches over 100°C, and the steam you see is literally the volcano venting. 🌊 We finish at Mosteiros Beach for sunset, where the giant rock formations in the sea are said to be the remains of a lost continent.
4
Furnas Valley- Casa Vista da Eirinha
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DAY 4: Eat a meal cooked by a volcano, then swim in water that heals the soul. 🌋Today we enter the Furnas Valley, this is a 9.5km circular loop that is relatively flat and easy, taking about 3 hours. It’s less of a climb and more of an exploration of three distinct worlds. The hike starts at the lakeside caldeiras. This is where the earth bubbles, hisses, and smells of sulfur. You’ll pass the Capela de Nossa Senhora das Vitórias, a stunning neo-Gothic funeral chapel sitting right on the water’s edge. It looks like a haunted castle from a dark fairytale. It’s the ultimate "moody" photo spot. The trail moves away from the lake and into a dense, lush forest before the loop brings you back into Furnas village, where you can finish the day by seeing the other set of boiling springs right in the middle of the town’s residential streets. 🥘 Forget ovens, our lunch is Cozido which is lowered into holes in the volcanic soil and slow-cooked by the earth's natural geothermal heat for six hours. Afterward, we’ll swim in the "Iron Water" of Terra Nostra, a golden-hued thermal pool that has been a sanctuary since the 1700's.
5
Gorreana Tea Plantation
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DAY 5: Wander through waves of tea plantations that roll right into the of the Atlantic ocean. ☕️🥾 We visit Chá Gorreana, the oldest and only tea plantation in Europe. Since the Azores have no natural pests, this tea is 100% organic and processed using 19th-century machinery. It’s a literal time capsule. Pootle through the Tea fields and then start the Chá Gorreana Loop - this is the main trail & it starts just across the road from the factory. It’s a 3.4 km (approx. 1.5 hours) circular route that takes you up through the rows of Camellia sinensis shrubs. The views of the rolling green hills against the backdrop of the blue Atlantic are stunning. Next we'll head onto the "Water Trail" - A shorter, "hidden gem" option. It follows an irrigation channel through a lush forest and ends at a peaceful waterfall called Salto do Cidreira. 🫖 After exploring the tea plantations, we'll head inside the factory. Unlike many museums, this is a living factory where you can walk right past the antique 19th-century British machinery while it’s in operation. There is a self guided tour where we can wander around the production floor at our own pace. You'll learn about the differences between black tea (Orange Pekoe, Broken Leaf) and green tea (Hysson). The factory features a bright, airy cafe and a scenic outdoor terrace. There are typically large thermoses of freshly brewed black and green tea available for free tasting. The cafe serves excellent local pastries. Don’t miss the green tea cookies or the Queijadas (traditional milk cakes). If you want a full meal, the onsite restaurant is highly rated for its vegetable lasagna and burgers - often featuring local ingredients. This is the best place to buy tea to take home as it’s significantly cheaper here than in the airport or Ponta Delgada shops. They also sell tea-scented soaps, local honey, and jams. For the evening, we'll meander down the road to Maia Village: It has a lovely coastal walkway and natural swimming pools (Piscinas Naturais da Maia) if you want to cool off after your hikes.
6
Ribeira dos Caldeirões
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DAY 6: Escape the modern world in a canyon where time has stood still for centuries... 🌿🍃 Nordeste is the wildest part of the island. This is where the first settlers arrived, and it feels like it! If Gorreana is about the rolling hills of tea, Parque Natural da Ribeira dos Caldeirões is about the sheer power of water and lush, Jurassic-looking ferns. It’s a beautifully maintained municipal park located in the Nordeste region, often described as the "most flowery" part of São Miguel. 🧗♀️ This park is the premier spot for canyoning in the Azores - you’ll suit up in a wetsuit, helmet, and harness to jump into pools, slide down natural rock chutes, and abseil (rappel) down the waterfalls. Enjoy a demanding physical and technical day in the middle of untouched nature going down big waterfalls and outstrip nature’s natural imponent untouched obstacles. Deep in São Miguel’s heart is located Ribeira da Praia. After we are all geared up we’ll start the approach to the canyon (hike time 1 hour 30 minutes). Starting at the very beginning of the stream we’ll follow its course overtaking a series of great waterfalls, with some measuring up to 50 meters. An intensive and immersive experience suited only for the brave, fearless and thrill seekers explores.
7
Chapel of Nossa Senhora do Castelo
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DAY 7: The most iconic photo-op in the Azores, with a story of faith and mystery - The Azores 'stairway to heaven' ⛪️ We visit the Chapel of Nossa Senhora da Paz. Built in the 1700's after a shepherd found a hidden image of the Virgin Mary in a cave. The chapel is famous for its "Stairway to Heaven." Each landing represents a different part of a prayer, but the real reward is the view of Vila Franca do Campo, a perfectly circular volcanic islet sitting just offshore.
8
Ponta Delgada
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We return to Ponta Delgada airport to drop off the car after an epic morning. You aren’t the same person who landed a week ago - you’ve eaten from the earth, swam in its fire and stood on the edge of its craters!
Tripzusammenfassung
Unterkunft
Sonstiges
7 Tage Trip
Ponta Delgada, Miradouro do Inferno & 6 weitere
Transportmittel
Car
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Pineapple wine tasting 
Private villa next to the beach 
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