Who's been to the Azores?

[PingPongBat]

Thinking about a 1 or 2 week trip in the summer with our early teen DCs. Anyone done this? Hints / tips / experiences good & bad??

Thanks

We went last year and loved it. We went later in the year and stayed on the main island of São Miguel. We rented a car which was needed but very cheap, the only things on the roads to look out for were cows!!!!
If you are into wildlife, hiking, swimming it's amazing. We went whale watching and swimming with dolphins. Horse riding, and we swam in natural hot springs in forests.
We had 2 bases one in Ponta Delgada and Furnas (we loved it here) stayed in a hotel called Terra Nostra Garden Hotel which was lovely it is in the Botanical Gardens which has a natural hot mineral swimming pool, looking at it it does not look very welcoming as it is brown colour but when in its hard to get out if staying in the hotel you can go in before and after the gardens are open to the public and have it all to yourselves. You can walk from the hotel in robes and slippers which they provide and even have a chef cook breakfast for you by the pool! There are also more hot natural pools in Furnas which I think were around 2 euros which were also great after a days walk.
We got bargain flights with TAP. We split the trip up by going to Porto for 3 nights (loved it) then onto the Azores for 10 days and then Lisbon for 3 nights. This made all the flight less then 2 hours and worked out cheaper then going straight to the Azores.
If you would like to know more you are welcome to PM me

Thank you! We haven't done a holiday which is based solely on outdoors & nature only with the DCs, we've always mixed it with cities or theme parks etc, so this is a bit of a change. As long as we have wifi where we stay I reckon DD won't moan. DS will enjoy it no matter what we do, he's very undemanding.

I'll probably DM you with some questions later , currently doing lots of research and waiting for an apartment owner to come back to us with availability in August.

We went about 5 years ago (me, DH and DD (then 13). Stayed in Ponte Delgado for a week. Had a great time, very quiet place but very "safe" feeling. We did everything mentioned by nannyafrica -really recommend the whale watching in a zodiac/inflatable (rather than the larger boats). It was an amazing morning and made DD's holiday. Also went canyoning (swimming/scrabbling down the middle of a river) - not really my thing but again DD loved it. We flew with Sata (sp?) which is the Azores national airline as that was the only direct option, but I'm told Ryan Air have now started direct flights. All in all, a great holiday.

Thanks pointy - sadly we couldn't get the accommodation we wanted, and along with various other reasons have decided not go go this year, but will save it for next summer.

Do go next year if you can. We went 20 years ago and stayed in Ponta Delgada. We did a two centre holiday with a week in Lisbon followed by a week on Sao Miguel.

You really do need to hire a car to get the most out of visiting the island. We drove all over the place including Furnas and various other places. The most memorable and beautiful place being Sete Cidades. The hydrangea hedges are so pretty, and seeing steam bursting out of the side of a hill is a strange sight.

The climate is quite changeable on the island so you need something warm and waterproof as well.