Hiking in the Azores - Terceira & Graciosa

Welcome to Terceira, the third island to be discovered in the Azores, hence its name. A private transfer meets you at the airport and drives you to your hotel in Angra do Heroísmo. The city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and perhaps also the most beautiful in the Azores, with harmonious architecture and most buildings dating from the 17th and 18th centuries. Terceira is a peaceful and rural island, but also the place where the Holy Spirit festivities begin on Easter Sunday. Faith is visible everywhere in the over one hundred impérios, small chapels in baroque or neo-Gothic style painted in bold colors. If you arrive before dinner, you can head up Monte Brasil, a volcano that rose from the sea after the island was formed, and look out over Angra Bay.

After breakfast, you take the transfer to the airport and fly for half an hour over to Graciosa. Together with Flores and Corvo, the island is classified as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Graciosa is the archipelago's second smallest island and one of the flattest, with plains and gentle hills. The fertile soil and mild climate made it a granary in the 1700s, and there is also wine cultivation here. Today it is mainly the windmills that recall that era, and they have become the island's symbol. A private taxi drives you to your accommodation in Santa Cruz da Graciosa, and the afternoon is free to explore the surroundings at a leisurely pace.

A private transfer takes you to Caldeira de Graciosa, the island's emblem and highest point. From the crater rim, on a clear day you can see over to the neighboring islands of São Jorge, Terceira, and Pico. On the way, you pass through two lava tunnels and reach Furna do Enxofre, an impressive cave that smells of sulfur. You descend via a spiral staircase (admission paid on site). After the cave, the trail continues down to Folga, a genuine little fishing harbor by the sea. From there, a private taxi drives you back to Santa Cruz da Graciosa. The hike takes approximately 4.5 hours.

The taxi drives you to the airport and you fly back to Terceira. At the airport, you pick up the rental car that will be yours for the coming days, and drive to the hotel in Angra do Heroísmo. The rest of the day is yours. Stroll through the city's grid of streets with pastel-colored facades and wrought-iron balconies, or take it easy by the hotel pool with a view of the sea.

Today you get behind the wheel and drive across the island. Terceira is small enough that you can manage several of the suggestions below in a single day.

• Mistérios Negros: one of the island's more demanding trails, among massive black volcanic domes rising up from the lush green vegetation. Feel free to visit the Gruta do Natal cave before you set off. About 1.5 hours and 165 m up and down.
• Rocha do Chambre: a hike on the island's highest plateau, with wide views over the nature reserve. About 3 hours and 15 minutes and 340 m up and down.

Between the hikes, or instead of them, you can take a dip in the volcanic bathing pools in Biscoitos, just a ten-minute drive from the starting points. Along the way lies Furnas do Enxofre, a field of fumaroles where a constructed path winds through the sulfur vapors (free admission). You can also spend the day driving around to small villages such as Praia da Vitória, Mount Serra de Santa Bárbara, and the viewpoint Serra do Cume, where stone walls divide the landscape into a giant checkered patchwork.

After breakfast, you drive to the airport and drop off the rental car there about 2.5 hours before departure. Perhaps you're flying home, perhaps on to the next island in the archipelago. If you have time to spare, you can stop by Praia da Vitória on the way. Até à próxima!