Azores Islands Travel Guide

Our travel agent made this an extraordinary, unforgettable, and wonderful trip for our family! The events and tours she arranged were exactly what we were looking for. The tour and transportation companies she contracted were on time, flexible, knowledgeable, and provided outstanding value for the cost.

Our agent provided an incredible, complete package at a cost much less than competitors. We highly recommend our agent and her team to anyone looking for a memorable trip to Lisbon and/or the Azores.

-Glen

Five Stars!

Loved all the service and tour guides.

Most enjoyable was the Azores. Doing the trip again I would focus more time on the Azores. Lisbon is nice but a whole different world. Thanks for a great trip.

-Tony

5 Stars.

The guides made this trip most enjoyable. They shared their knowledge willingly and always with a smile.

The only thing I would do differently is make the trip longer.

-Mary

My star rating is 5. We had a wonderful trip without a concern over logistics thanks to this travel company. With 9 of us, it was a challenge to get the itinerary we all wanted but our agent did a great job. I was also impressed by the low cost, given all that we did, and the quality of the hotels and tours. I will absolutely recommend and in fact, plan to write a review on TripAdvisor.

The highlight was seeing my grandmother’s house in Santa Luzia on our free day in Pico. I enjoyed the Azores more than the mainland. Every one of our tour guides was excellent. I especially liked the coffee plantation in Sao Jorge, the volcano museum on Faial, and the whaling museum on Pico. Ponta Delgado was a great place to stay. I didn’t much like Madalena though with two ferry trips on the itinerary it was the best option.

What I would change, in retrospect, is less time in Lisbon, perhaps substituting a fifth island. The crowds were a problem in Lisbon and we found it a little frustrating to be pressed for time at each destination. Maybe offer Sintra or Cascais but not both, and pick two of the Batalha/Nazare/Obidos options. It’s a shame to not see it all, but also a shame to have only 45 minutes in a place like Nazare.-Susan

Many people told us that if we liked Spain, we would love Portugal. This is a very accurate statement. This tour agency made our 15 day trip a memorable experience. Our guides/drivers were professional, personable, knowledgeable and passionate about their country and vocation. In addition, this tour agency arranged for a tour of the Lisbon Synagogue with a member of the congregation, and a special tour guide, for the Jewish Museum and Quarter in Belmonte.

Our Destination Expert, was very hands-on. Upon our arrival, she and our guide met us at the airport and provided us with a portable WI-FI and for our return flight, she even guided us through the airport to navigate check-in, baggage tagging, and security. She was always on top of our travels, especially notifying our guide when there were unplanned changes, such as the change in the time of the mass in Belmonte from Sunday to Saturday evening.

We visited the castles and villages in the East where you could see Spain in the distance. We toured and tasted wine from the Alentejo region. Our visit to the Douro Valley included a Port wine tasting and production tour. This area had spectacular vistas which we viewed from. the highest peak and from the boat tour on the river which gives you a very different perspective of the terrace grape vines. Next, we traveled to Porto, the second largest city in Portugal, and added a tour of the Casa da Musica built in 1999 and the Serralves Museum and sculpture garden. Lello bookstore was a magnificent surprise. What a beautiful interior! From Porto to Lisbon, we visited many beautiful seaside villages. We loved our tour of St George’s Castle and the Alfama area. Our evening at a Fado House with dinner and music was a special experience. Cooking Lisbon was tasty, and we can hardly wait to make some of the dishes at home.

Over the course of our trip we visited magnificent churches from the 13th to the 19th century and we never get tired of looking at the Azulejos. The pastries throughout Portugal are exceptional, though we are glad we waited until Belem to try the pasteis de nata, a delicious warm custard pastry. Of course, we sampled other treats during our travels.

The guides truly listened to us. When we expressed a delight in seeing the Roman Temple of Diana in Evora, our guide asked if we would like to take a short side trip to see a small Roman excavation, Ammaia. It was delightful. Also, when visiting Sintra. Our guide gave us a choice with the pro and cons about visiting Queluz National Palace rather than the Pena Palace. We decided on the Queluz National Palace. It was a wonderful and a relaxing tour.

If we attempted to tour Portugal on our own, we would not have visited the great range of sites that the agency provided. Moreover, without the expert commentary of our guides, we would not have understood the subtleties of Portuguese culture and history as well as we did.  This agency is an excellent resource and should we re-visit Portugal, we would not hesitate to use it again.

My husband and I recently spent 2 weeks in the Azores in Portugal.  We had the pleasure of working with our travel specialist. She is in a class by herself! She is extremely knowledgeable and a pleasure to work with.  From beginning to end everything was planned perfectly.  What was especially nice is that she took the time to understand what we were looking for and then tailored a trip to our personal interests. We visited 5 islands- Sao Miguel, Faial, Pico & Sao Jorge and Terceira. Our travel specialist booked all the tours, hotels, flights and ferries between the islands. She even provided us with a mobile hotspot should we need to reach her for any reason. We truly felt that all our personal needs were attended to. For anyone thinking of doing this on their own, I would say “forget it!” Working with a travel agent within the country truly made the difference.  From beginning to end, this was a trip of a lifetime! I would highly recommend our travel specialist and would certainly call upon her for our next trip.