Portugal Trip Review

The Azores - Sao Miguel Island

Duration: 2 day, 2 night
Hotel: Azor Hotel

After 18 hours of traveling, we arrived in the Azores. Our guide from Amazing Tours picked us up at the Airport and drove us to our hotel to store our bags before we immediately jumped into our tour of the west side of the island. Adderall/Vyvanse recommended if you are going this route.

The main sights on the west side of Sao Miguel are the areas surrounding Sete Cidades and Lagoa do Fogo. The Azores in general are a very unspoiled area with beautiful views. Mountains, calderas, lakes, rivers, waterfalls, etc. It is also underdeveloped compared to Western Europe and the United States. My wife and I compared it to a cross between Panama and the Big Island of Hawaii (with fewer beaches).







After our tour, we cleaned up and headed into the city center for a 7:00 dinner at Boca de Cena. It's a one man show, where the owner acts as the chef, waiter, busboy, and hostess. We were lucky we got in right when things opened, because things started to get hectic around 8:00-8:30 when the normal dinner crowds started rolling in. The food was excellent, however, and I would highly recommend it.







Our second day was scheduled to show us the eastern side of the island and we set out bright and early. The major attractions today were centered around the town of Furnas. The locals there bury their food, using the heat from the underground volcanic activity to slow cook their meats and vegetables into a dish called Cozido. It's delicious. You are able to watch them dig up your lunch and then can follow them into town to their restaurant. After a large lunch, we visited the natural hot springs, which consisted of a large area with 5 or 6 public pools ranging in temperature from "kinda warm" to "pretty damn hot". Food in Portugal is cheap and the portion sizes rival America, so there were a lot of fatties at the pool. Our dinner that night was not memorable. I could find the name of the place, but it isn't worth the effort.

Budget Estimates:
2 days of private tours + aiport transfers - ~$275
Hotel - $175/nt

Misc.
The food and wine are very cheap and delicious. My wife thought she was ordering a nice glass of wine for $10 and received an entire bottle.

The Azor Hotel is advertised (and billed as, by Portuguese standards) as a 5 star hotel. It isn't. Service is pretty shitty and they are beach towel Nazis. Rooms were fine, though, and it was centrally located.

Who organized this trip?