A First-Timer’s Guide To The Azores
The Azores, located in the Atlantic, are rapidly becoming a must-visit tourist destination, and feel somehow familiar yet very different from the rest of Europe. The main island, Saõ Miguel, offers some stunning scenery, and the islands are relatively easy to get to from London.
This writer stayed at two sibling hotels, Octant Furnas and Octant Ponta Delgada, which proved to be the perfect spots to introduce the island’s wonders. Here’s my experience.
What sets The Azores apart
Saõ Miguel Island and the rest of the Azores feel quite unique, and the fact that the tourism industry here is still developing gives it a more special feeling.
Expect dramatic volcanic craters, lakes and geothermal marvels, with serene, unspoiled landscapes where centuries-old traditions meet sustainable tourism. Its quaint villages, verdant pastures, and world-renowned tea plantations evoke a timeless charm, while there’s plenty of opportunity for whale watching and relaxation, courtesy of the thermal spas here.
Expect dramatic volcanic craters, lakes and geothermal marvels, with serene, unspoiled landscapes where centuries-old traditions meet sustainable tourism.
Where to stay
Octant Furnas
Octant Furnas is located in Furnas Valley and is one of the most unique hotels in the world. The area is actively volcanic (but not in the sense of lava and fire). Take a trip here, and you’ll be very close to hot springs and thermal pools, some of which are integrated into the hotel itself- more on that later. As with much of the Azores, everything feels very green, and there’s a real sense of retreat without being *too* out of the way.
The area has the highest concentration of hot springs in Europe, and the hotel uses them to its advantage: with an eye on sustainability, the heating and water used in every room is taken from those springs and used for your shower and the warm thermal pools.
Checking into Octant Furnas on the first day, we absorb the surrounding valley outside and nearby hot springs, before heading into our bedrooms.
The hotel feels immediately welcoming and puts you at ease after the journey, with a huge image of one of the island’s waterfalls on a wall in the lobby. As for the room, it felt like more of a retreat, it wasn’t over the top extravagant, but had everything you need to unwind.
The thermal indoor and outdoor pools are perhaps the biggest highlight of a stay, feeling good on the skin and rejuvenating you as you relax. The pools are open 24 hours a day, and you’re encouraged to wear your dressing gown around much of the hotel.
Octant Ponta Delgada
Octant Ponta Delgada, meanwhile, is located within the city, and while it may not have the same lush green “out of the way-ness”, it’s still an impressive location and one that offers an excellent stay. It’s ideal for exploring local culture and landmarks.
Octant Ponta Delgada feels a little more modern and suited for nightlife and exploring. It’s definitely a stylish and comfortable way to stay in the city, and like Furnas, it also has a luxurious spa to either relax in by yourself or with others, or receive top-quality treatments.
The room here gave a bit more of a luxe feel, with mine situated on the highest floor and giving an incredible view of the city and the nearby harbour. Again, there’s a mixture of comfort and chic, and I didn’t want to leave during my stay at either of the hotels.
The unique thing about my room, as part of the Whale Watching Suites, was a telescope that was placed on the coffee table, allowing you to gaze out into the ocean. You’ll need a bit of luck to spot one, but it’s just another element that stands out.
Where to eat
There’s a lot of delicious Portuguese food served in the Azores. Both Octant hotels had very good restaurants, with ingredients sourced directly from the Azores itself, and some from the mainland.
There are a lot of cows here (outnumbering people by about 3 to 1), so if you like meat and dairy, you won’t be disappointed.
À Terra
À Terra, located at Furnas, has Cristiano Ishi as its Head Chef with a menu designed to feel natural and rustic. There’s an excellent mix of meats and seafood; I had a very tasty tuna steak on one of the nights I was staying there. The options for breakfast and lunch were also amazing, with breakfast served in a classic hotel buffet style, but with so much to choose from, with local breads and cuts of meat being a particular highlight.
The Cozido
Easily the meal that stood out the most is The Cozido, which is the hotel’s own stew recipe consisting of many different ingredients, from beef to sausage to potato to yam. Mixed into a large pot (which we were given the opportunity to have a hand in), it’s then sealed up and taken from the hotel in a car out to the springs near Furnas Lake.
There aren’t many places where you can get volcanically cooked stews, and it tasted lovely.
The stew is then lowered into a hole in the ground where it’s cooked on the hot springs, left for several hours, and eventually served back at the hotel. There aren’t many other places where you can get volcanically cooked stews, and it tasted lovely.
Things to do
The activities you can get up to outside of your hotel have quite a lot of overlap with the “food” section above: many of our stops during our time there had food and drink at the core. There’s much to explore on the island, and you can spend plenty of time just staring at the incredible scenery (again, it’s hard to emphasise how much greenery there is).
We visited the Gorreana tea factory and plantation, which, if you have the slightest liking for tea, is a must- you can take a look around to get an idea of how the tea is made, and also taste and buy some for yourself. We also visited a pineapple farm in Ponta Delgada, of which there are many, and tasted some of the fresh fruit growing there.
There were also visits to Cerâmica Vieira Lagoa, a ceramic and pottery studio where you can see pottery made up close, and Nossa Senhora da Paz, a chapel high up on a hill, allowing for beautiful views.
Even when there was rain and fog, there was still a mystical quality to the island.
A fabulous thing about the Azores is that you don’t even need super sunny weather to make the most of things, and even when there was rain and fog, there was still a mystical quality to the island.
The verdict
The Azores and Saõ Miguel island are lesser known amongst the tourist destinations of the world, but they’re well worth a visit, allowing you to experience the Portuguese city and island culture.
The Azores and Saõ Miguel island are lesser known amongst the tourist destinations of the world, but they’re well worth a visit
The Octant hotels are an amazing way to do so and will give you a luxurious, relaxing stay that truly makes you feel welcomed and at ease. Octant Furnas is unique in so many of its features, and if you want a “natural” spa retreat, it is an ideal choice.
Meanwhile, Octant Delgada helps make a perfect stay in the city, since you can not only explore the local area, but also spend time in the spa, trying to spot a whale or taste some brilliant food.
Getting there from London
There are flights from London Heathrow to Lisbon, Portugal, from where you can take a two-hour flight to the Ponta Delgada airport located on São Miguel island. Octant Furnas is harder to get to from the airport, since it’s more isolated and located in a valley. The journey, however, is about 45 minutes, and you don’t even notice it as you travel across the island and have all those vistas out of your window. Octant Ponta Delgada is much closer, being in the city, and there are taxi services either way.
