Free Azores app with a 3D map of the islands, weather by place and trail statuses. See how it works
Which species pass São Miguel in which month, where the boats leave from, and everything we have written about a season that runs all year and peaks in spring.
The island's highest-rated guided trips, boat tours and tastings, ranked by the people who took them.
Most booking links go to Viator: if you book through them we earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. Each card names the site it books on, and prices and availability are that site's.
Travel TipsPlanning Pico with children: which lava pools suit which ages and the 2026 bathing seasons, the short Ladeira dos Moinhos walk and the Prainha forest park, the whaling museums, the reopened Gruta das Torres and its age rules, whale-watching age limits in Lajes, why under-5s cannot climb Mount Pico, car seats and the child ferry fare.
Travel TipsAzorean law lets you swim with dolphins but never with whales: two swimmers at a time, mask and snorkel only, within 50 m of the boat. What a dolphin swim from Horta involves (from EUR 75 in 2026), and the July to September blue shark snorkel on the Condor seamount.
Travel TipsPlanning São Miguel with children: why Água d'Alto is the beach for toddlers, the children's rules at Poça da Dona Beija (ages 2 to 6 €10, under-2s free, swim nappies) and Terra Nostra (€14.50, 30 minutes in water up to 42 °C), Gruta do Carvão for a grey morning, whale watching from age 6 on zodiacs or younger on a catamaran, the child-seat rule for hire cars, and which walks to leave out with a pushchair. Prices checked October 2026.
Travel TipsYou do not need the ferry to Pico to see whales and dolphins: a small company in Velas runs three-hour trips with a biologist on board, guided by land lookouts. Its October 2026 prices (€65, a 40% refund if you see nothing, a €40 coastal route), the dolphins you are most likely to meet, the season, the restored whale lookout at Ponta dos Rosais and the rules boats follow at sea.
Travel TipsThe PR10FAI whalers' trail runs 26 km from the church at Cedros to the old whaling station at Varadouro: past the lookouts that still guide the whale-watching boats, down to the Fajã da Praia do Norte and its olivine crystals, through Capelinhos and Porto do Comprido. The climbing, where to split it, and why the bus will not get you there.
Travel TipsGraciosa caught its last whale in 1982. A morning in and around Santa Cruz: the whaleboat shed with the Restinga and its gear (hours, closed Mondays), the 1959 lookout in the courtyard of the Ajuda hermitage, the whale-shaped islet by the Ponta da Barca lighthouse, and what to know before booking a whale-watching trip with the island's one listed operator.
Travel TipsThe fixed costs of a Faial trip in 2026: EUR 10 for the Capelinhos volcano centre and its winter closing days, EUR 5 for the botanic garden, the free Porto Pim aquarium, whale watching from Horta from EUR 70, the EUR 8.20 ferry to Pico, the October 2026 fuel cap, the free bathing places, and a sample week for two of about EUR 280.
Travel TipsThe fixed costs of a Pico trip in 2026: EUR 15 to the crater and EUR 25 to the Piquinho, the GPS tracker waiver, Gruta das Torres at its last published EUR 10 while the new formats are priced, whale watching from Lajes at EUR 70, Picowines tastings from EUR 20, the EUR 8.20 ferry to Faial, the October 2026 fuel cap, the free bathing places, and a sample week for two of about EUR 360.
Travel TipsThe fixed costs of a Terceira trip in 2026: Algar do Carvão at EUR 10 and Gruta do Natal at EUR 9 (no combined ticket this autumn, four opening days a week), the EUR 10 Angra City Pass, whale watching from EUR 65, summer-only ferries from EUR 42.80, the October 2026 fuel cap, EUR 11 a night camping for two, the free beaches, and why we found no tourist tax on the island.
Travel TipsPlanning Flores with children: the only two bathing places with a lifeguard and their seasons, waterfalls and crater lakes a short walk from the car, the Fajã de Lopo Vaz walk for older children, the trails and beaches to skip with small ones, the Boqueirão whale factory museum for a wet day, and why a hire car and the Santa Cruz health centre matter with a family.
Travel TipsWhale trips leave Horta marina daily in season, three to four hours each: blue whales in late winter, sperm whales in summer, the boats and the whaling factory.
Travel TipsJune to September suits most trips to Pico: the driest months, the mountain open 24 hours, summer ferries and a warm sea. March and April bring blue whales.
Travel TipsWhale-watching trips on Terceira leave from Angra do Heroísmo marina and last about two and a half hours, guided by a lookout on the cliffs. Fast RIB or a bigger boat, what a ticket cost in 2026 (from €65 per adult), the sighting guarantees, which months suit blue whales and which sperm whales, the 50 m rule and the other limits skippers follow, swimming with dolphins from June to September, and the Ilhéus das Cabras.
Travel TipsPonta dos Rosais, at the western end of São Jorge, is a half day from Velas: the lighthouse that opened in 1958 and was abandoned after the 1980 earthquake, the restored whale lookout facing Pico and Faial, the seabird cliffs of a protected natural monument, and the Sete Fontes forest park on the way. How to get there, why the 2025 bus only gets you part of the way, and the 21.8 km first stage of the GR02SJO for walkers.
Travel TipsMost visitors only pass through Flores's main town on the way to the airport. Half a day there covers the Boqueirão whale factory, built from 1941 and a museum since 2015, the environmental centre in its old oil tanks, the 1640s Franciscan convent that houses the Flores Museum, and the town pools. Why you phone ahead, and how to fit it round a flight.
Travel TipsWhale and dolphin trips from Ponta Delgada take about three hours and cost from €70 in 2026. What you see each month, zodiac or catamaran, and seasickness.
Travel TipsLajes do Pico hunted sperm whales into the 1980s and then started taking visitors out to watch them. When to come for blue, fin and sei whales and when for sperm whales, how to choose between a fast inflatable and a larger boat, the rules that keep boats 50 metres away, and how to get through three hours of Atlantic swell. Plus the Museu dos Baleeiros, opened in the old whaleboat houses in 1988, and the clifftop vigias that still guide the boats.
