If Europe seems old hat to you, imagine the Azores. They're a chain of nine islands floating in the mid-Atlantic, owned roughly for the past 500 years by Portugal. Quiet, peaceful, beautiful and surrounded by great fishing, they're a forgotten corner of Europe where time goes by very slowly and tourists are few and far between.
The Azores are obscure enough and so under-visited that we don't barely draw notice to them in Frommer's Portugal. But they're beautiful, covered in volcanic hills and steep valleys, with natural hot springs peeking up from the ground. They're terrific for bicycling or long walks; think of the climate of Rhode Island with the geography of Hawaii, and you'll get the picture. You can see sperm whales on whale-watching trips, take deep-sea boats out for some truly amazing fishing, and golf where no one you know has golfed before.
The main international airport is on São Miguel, a long bean of an island marked by volcanic calderas. Ponta Delgada, the Azores' capital, is a gentle city founded in the early 1500s and stacked with churches, monasteries and houses built between 1550 and 1900.
Golfing is available on São Miguel and Terceira, the "Lilac Island," where you'll find two volcanic calderas and the 16th-century town of Angra de Heroísmo; many buildings in Angra have been noted by the UN agency UNESCO for their historical value.
If you want to explore the Azores, you can take nonstop flights from Boston and Providence on Azores Express (www.azores-express.com), the only international airline to serve the islands. Their summer schedule is:
- Boston-São Miguel: Tuesdays, Fridays; Wednesdays starting June 23
- Boston-Terceira: Sundays starting June 13; return flights on Tuesdays
- Providence-São Miguel: Saturdays starting June 12
Azores Express has the simplest fare structure of any international airline we've ever seen. They post all their fares in a table on their Web site; your fare depends only on when you're coming and going. Take a look at www.azores-express.com/fares.aspx -- roundtrip fares from Boston in June range from $599-609, plus $80 or so in tax. Fares from Providence range from $549-689 in June. These fares actually aren't so bad; you're flying to a very obscure destination for not much more than it would cost you to get to Madrid or Lisbon.
If you'd rather a travel agent do the work for you, go through Abreu Tours (www.abreu-tours.com), a top Portugal specialist. They offer a slew of Azores packages, most of which last about a week and let you explore two islands either by foot or with a rental car. You can also explore tours and hotels on Azores.com (www.azores.com). Booking your own weeklong Azores tour can usually save couples about $100 over Abreu's prices, and can save singles more. Local flights link the major islands several times a day. You can check fares at www.sata.pt; expect a roundtrip between two islands to cost around $200.
Cheaper inter-island transport comes from the ferry company Açorline (www.acorline.pt/website_en/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1), which runs ships several times a week between all the Azores. Boats don't leave every day, and many runs take 3-4 hours, but prices are at most half of what flights cost. Check out schedules by clicking on "Horario 2004" and see fares by clicking on "Tarifarios," then "Turistica."
Azores.com is probably the best place to check hotel rates. A room at the three-star Comfort Inn, in Ponta Delgada, will run you around $99/night for a double -- but check out the site's budget hotel list at www.azores.com/hotels/budget.asp, where you can find basic accommodations in the $35 range.
For rental cars, both Hertz (www.hertz.com) and Avis (www.avis.com) rent cars on the islands. We found rates of between $25-40/day for rentals on Ponta Delgada and Terceira in June.
The Azores strike us as a terrific place for a quiet summer getaway -- especially if you like to fish, golf, or just walk peaceful paths. To learn more about the Azores, go to www.destinazores.com.