One moment…
São Miguel & Faial, Portugal
The Azores
Volcanic calderas, fern forests, the open Atlantic
The Azores sit alone in the mid-Atlantic, closer to nowhere than anywhere, and the isolation shows in the best ways. Pastures roll over collapsed calderas, hydrangea hedges divide the fields, and hot springs steam quietly at the edge of laurel forest older than the last ice age.
Our journeys move between two islands. On São Miguel we walk crater rims and cook lunch in volcanic steam at Furnas; on Faial we cross the caldera and spend time with the boatbuilders and whale-watchers of Horta, a harbour town that has greeted Atlantic sailors for five centuries.
The Azores were whaling islands within living memory. That history has turned, remarkably, into one of the world’s most respected whale research and watching communities — and time on the water with them is the heart of any visit.
Why we come here
What The Azores rewards
Walk the crater rims
Sete Cidades and Faial’s Caldeira offer some of the Atlantic’s great walks — green crater walls dropping to twin lakes and cloud forest.
Go to sea with researchers
Sperm whales live in these waters year-round. Join biologists who have tracked the same families for decades.
Eat from the volcano
In Furnas, cozido stew cooks for six hours in volcanic ground heat. It arrives at the table tasting faintly, wonderfully, of the island itself.
Journeys
Our journeys in The Azores
Small groups of eight to ten, hosted throughout, and available privately on your dates.
Curious about The Azores?
Ask us anything — the right month for your pace, how the walking really feels, what to read before you come. We answer personally.