Highlights of the Azores (from Sao Miguel Island to Horta)

6 breakfasts, 2 lunches

All Intrepid group trips in Europe are accompanied by one of our local European group leaders. ’Local’ in this context means a leader who is European or lives in Europe. The aim of the group leader is to take the hassle out of your travels and to help you have the best trip possible. Intrepid endeavours to provide the services of an experienced leader however, due to the seasonality of travel, rare situations may arise where your leader is new to a particular region or training other group leaders. Your leader takes care of logistics, will provide information on the places you are travelling through, offer suggestions for things to do and see, recommend great local eating venues and introduce you to our local friends. While not being guides in the traditional sense you can expect them to have a broad general knowledge of the places visited on the trip, including historical, cultural, religious and social aspects.

At Intrepid we also aim to support local guides in the individual cities or locations we travel to. If you are interested in delving deeper into the local culture at a specific site or location then your leader can recommend an optional local guide service in most of the main destinations of your trip.

Sao Miguel - Island Day Tour

Sao Miguel - Arruda’s Pineapple Plantation at Faja de Baixo

Sao Miguel - Cozido das Furnas Lunch

Sao Miguel - Tea Plantation Visit & Tasting

Sao Miguel - Miradouro do Pico do Ferro & Miradouro de Santa Iria

Sao Miguel - Lagoa das Sete Cidades including transport and guide services

Horta - Leader led orientation walk

Pico Island - Criacao Velha Vineyards UNESCO World Heritage Site

Pico Island - Arcos do Cachorro (Lava tunnels)

Pico Island - Liqueur Tasting

Pico Island - Day Trip

Faial Island - Hike in Capelinhos Volcano area

Faial Island - Capelinhos Volcano Interpretation Centre visit

The style of accommodation indicated in the day-to-day itinerary is a guideline only and may change. On some occasions, alternative arrangements may need to be made due to the lack of availability of rooms in our preferred accommodation. In these cases, we will use a similar standard of accommodation.

Throughout the trip, we request that our properties prepare rooms in time for our arrival, especially if we're arriving prior to normal check-in time. However, this isn't always possible which means we won't be able to check-in immediately on arrival at some hotels. Instead, we can store our luggage and explore our new destination or on some trips, have use of shared day rooms until all rooms are available.

OCCASIONAL ALTERNATIVE ACCOMMODATION:

The style of accommodation indicated in the day-to-day itinerary is a guideline. On rare occasions, alternative arrangements may need to be made due to the lack of availability of rooms in our usual accommodation. A similar standard of accommodation will be used in these instances.

TWIN SHARE BASIS:

Accommodation on this trip is on a twin/multishare basis. We pair up solo travellers with another traveller of the same gender as per the gender marker on each of their passports. Please note there may be times where facilities will be shared rather than ensuite and rare occasions when you share a room with passengers travelling on different Intrepid trips than your own.

CHECK-IN TIME:

Throughout the trip we request that our hotels prepare rooms in time for our arrival, especially if we're arriving prior to normal check-in time. However this isn't always possible which means we won't be able to check-in immediately on arrival at some hotels. Instead, we can store our luggage and explore our new destination.

PRE/POST TRIP ACCOMMODATION:

If you've purchased pre-trip or post-trip accommodation (if available), you may be required to change rooms from your trip accommodation for these extra nights.

FACILITIES:

Your accommodation may not always have private en suite facilities or air-conditioning. European hotels generally don't provide kettles or fridges.

Hotel (6 nights)

hotel: 6 night(s);

TRANSPORT IN EUROPE:

Half the fun of travel is the travelling itself, that's why we like to travel the local way – whether that means mingling with commuters on a local train, watching the scenery roll by from the window of a long distance bus, arriving on a high speed train in the city centre of your next destination, or navigating each city's public transport system. In Europe, you are guaranteed to travel by genuine local public transport wherever possible, which puts you right in the centre of the action.

DOMESTIC FLIGHT:

On this trip we will jump on an internal flights between Sao Miguel and Sao Jorge islands. Please note that we require your full passport details (including your middle name) before the start of your departure in order to secure your flights. There is a luggage weight limit of 20kg on this internal flights, so please pack accordingly. If the weight of your luggage will be exceeded you will incur extra charges at the airport.

FERRY TRANSPORT:

In addition, there will be a couple of ferry trips between the islands. It’s the most convenient and efficient way to move around the Azores, however with temperamental weather some of the rides may be little rocky. Please make sure you have your own motion sickness medication should you need to use it.

Plane , Ferry , Private vehicle , On foot , Taxi