... distant places ...
Azores Triangle
Pico, São Jorge, Faial
Wine, Volcanoes, Whales
An Island Hopping Excursion
in the Azores Triangle
Watch it on YouTube
with Music by Jenny Hval
This post is an extended version of an article published in July 2026 in Go World Travel Magazine.
A chance conversation with my car mechanic in north London, who was born on Faial, one of the nine islands of the Azores, one thousand miles off the coast of Portugal. He told me about his ancestors who had lived through a massive volcanic eruption in 1957, which had shrouded this tiny island in plumes of lava ash for months. The incident counts as one of the biggest natural disasters in Portugal’s modern history. My interest was piqued, and Carlos, as usual, required little persuasion. A year later we stood in the arrivals lounge of the airport in Ponta Delgada, the Azores’ capital located on the biggest and busiest island São Miguel. On a Friday afternoon, the tiny airport had the feeling of a bus station, with school kids, government officials and shoppers about to return home to the outer lying islands of the archipelago. Our plan was to explore Pico, Faial, and São Jorge, often referred to as the Azores Triangle because of their close proximity to one another.
Faial, as seen from Madalena on Pico
The first stop:
Ponta Delgada, São Miguel.
Outside the terminal, we waited patiently for a local bus to arrive, only to be informed by a car rental employee that this local service had been discontinued. So we jumped into a taxi for the 5-minute ride into town, along the only short stretch of motorway that the islands had to offer (and boy did that taxi driver appreciated the smooth tarmac). The Azores’ capital might seem a little shabby and rough on the edges. This is not the most affluent place. Public gardens remain untendered, street sweeping cannot be described as a favourite pastime, the odd beggar or druggie asks for your spare cash, and ugly concrete tower blocks, offices and shopping arcades are often all too visible. Yet, you will also come across a beautiful old town, with many houses built out of volcanic stone, and narrow alleys leading down to shady, tree-lined squares next to the waterfront. At night, the place is undoubtedly atmospheric.
Ponta Delgada
But no beach, hence also little tourism, apart from a noticeable number of American tour groups, for whom the Azores are within easy reach. We spent an enjoyable afternoon at the São Bra Military Fort and its collection of war and weapon paraphernalia, although I would have appreciated more information on the country’s colonial wars, its slave trade, or indeed its role during World War II, when dictator António de Oliveira Salazar settled on a position of ‘co-operative neutrality’ with the Allies in order to avoid a potential US invasion. We were were baffled by the hilariously irrelevant tourist attraction that is the Pineapple Plantation, located in a suburb of Ponta Delgada. While walking through a number of plastic covered greenhouses, visitors can take a look at the fruit in various stages of growth. Then it’s off to the shop-cum-café to sample every imaginable pineapple product from vodka to beer, ice cream, sorbet or liqueur. Or you can just consume the fruit au naturel. Well, at least the entrance was free.
Igreja Matriz de São Sebastião, Ponta Delgada
Wine and Whales on Pico
In preparation for the trip, I had booked accommodation on the western side of Pico in the sleepy seaside village of Madalena. I also reserved a small motorbike locally as my mode of transport. From the balcony of the rental apartment, an extraordinary landscape revealed itself. Cabeço Gordo, at 1,043 meters (3,422 ft) the highest elevation on Faial towers above the harbour town of Horta. Further to the north, I could just about see São Jorge and the distant lights of its main settlement Velas. Ferries and fishing boats crisscrossed the channels between the islands, as if the Atlantic Ocean wasn’t a natural obstacle, but a convenient maritime highway.
Madalena, Pico Island
Madalena is a pleasant jumble of old houses, some of them made of lava stone, with a mid-sized harbor, some shops and restaurants, and plenty of holiday homes: no architectural gems but a wonderfully laid-back vibe. And it seems as if every resident takes immense pride in the local wine. We felt compelled to visit the Wine Museum on the outskirts of the village. The well-curated complex was set up by the municipality in 1982 to illustrate a trade that has risen steadily in importance over the years. Wine had been cultivated on Pico since the 16th century when landowning families on Faial were looking for ways to make this lava-stone backwater commercially viable. The land was cleared of rocks which were stacked in neat walls along the perimeters of small fields. Fertile soil was then shipped over from Faial, and very soon the local nobility realized that they had hit the vinicultural jackpot. The stone walls perfectly retained the sun’s warmth and acted as superb greenhouses, as long as you kept the vine rooted to the ground and did not cultivate it along hedgerows. Over time, the burgeoning trade attracted a professional class which greatly boosted a local economy that had previously relied solely on fishing.
The Wine Museum on the outskirts of Madalena
Pico had also become famous as one of Europe’s centre for whaling, in particular around São Roque on the northern coast of the island. From as early as the 17th century, whalers from New Bedford and Nantucket often stopped along these shores to replenish supplies, but also to hire local fishermen to come along for the next hunt. Having learned the trade from their fellow American mariners, the islanders put their new skills to profitable use. Pods of whales often rested in the calmer waters of the Azorean archipelago, and once a whale was spotted, the crew dropped whatever they were doing on land, ran to the harbor, jumped into their longboats and rowed feverishly to catch up with these giants. One harpoon alone did not kill the beast, but eventually with more toggle heads spiking its body, the animal came under such stress that its heart eventually gave in; a gruesome end. The crew then heaved the whale back to São Roque’s factory for the slaughter process to commence. In preparation for the country’s membership of the European Union, the practice was banned by the Portuguese government in 1984. In return, the islanders were promised financial support, which unfortunately failed to materialize. This prompted three old-time mariners to stage a protest by hunting down one last whale. That was in 1987, when a 300-year-old tradition came to a timely end.
The Whaling Museum in São Roque
A visit to Pico Island would not be complete without hiking up the slopes of the unimaginatively named Mount Pico; at 2,351 meters Portugal’s highest peak, which I have written about in a more extensive post. It turned out to be an arduous climb: three hours up an extinct volcano, not always along a beaten path, but also across lave rocks, on occasion scrambling on all fours. For the first hour we hiked through a thick bank of mist, before eventually emerging to glorious sunshine with the surrounding islands partially covered by a blanket of clouds. Back at the National Park entrance, a ranger told us about the oldest climber ever to scale Pico’s heights: a 92-year-old Japanese woman who had lived all her life on the slopes of Mount Fuji, which accounted for what must have been a horse-like lung capacity. Her exhausted daughter and granddaughter apparently trailed behind at some distance.
Volcanic Disasters on Faial
Early the next morning, we boarded a 30-minute commuter ferry and headed for Faial’s hinterlands, riding on narrow roads flanked by flowering agapanthus and hydrangea through rolling green hills, pasture lands and forests with eucalyptus groves. The motor bike just managed the steep climb up to 1,000 m to Caldeira, a cauldron of a volcano whose top had been blown off by an eruption about a thousand years ago. At this altitude the views were stupendous; over to São Jorge, but also across the strait where Mount Pico rose majestically above a thin veil of clouds. The cauldron was just as spectacular. Circumventing its rim on foot took about two hours, along a narrow path with vertical drops of 400 meters to the lush and verdant crater floor.
Caldeira, Faial
Another thirty minutes on the bike and we reached the westernmost point of the isle at the moonscape of the Capelinhos volcano where that infamous eruption of 1957 had taken place. The blast had lasted for an incredible 13 months and obscured not just Faial, but also the other Triangle islands under a toxic cloud of ash and volcanic debris. It made agricultural production impossible, with the local population facing the prospect of starvation. John F. Kennedy, back then the senator of Massachusetts sponsored the so-called Azores Immigration Act, which allowed four thousand people to be rescued and brought to the United States. Slowly, nature is reclaiming the territory with weeds spreading their seeds across a landscape that was once choked by volcanic ash. The contrast to the green ambience of the cauldron could not have been starker: eerie, ghostly and sculptured, but also undeniably beautiful.
Capelinhos, Faial
We made our way back along Faial’s south coast to its surprisingly buzzing capital Horta. Together with Ponta Delgada the town forms the administrative center of the Azores, with a court, numerous civic buildings, schools, a hospital and even a university outlet devoted to marine biology. Plenty of jobs to keep a population of 15,000 settled on a year-round basis. The pleasant atmosphere is complemented by an intriguing history, since Horta was once of crucial strategic importance in connecting Portugal with her colonial possessions in Latin America and in Africa. And Faial was also essential as a stopover for cross-Atlantic sea planes (the first successful attempt was made in 1919), whilst also serving as a vital connection point for the global cable network.
Horta, Faial
Fajas and Coffee on São Jorge
Over to São Jorge, the final stop of our itinerary. The one-hour ferry from Madalena docked at Velas, a quiet and pretty small town with cobble stone streets and cute houses grouped around a picturesque church square. Velas is dwarfed by the island’s incredibly steep topography: sheer vertical cliffs on all sides, dissected by precarious hair-pin roads of often questionable quality leading on to a high-lying plateau.
Velas, São Jorge
São Jorge is also remarkable for the profusion of so-called Fajas, which roughly translates as belt or strip. Over millennia, the stormy waves of the Atlantic nibbled away at the island’s cliffs and in the process formed little fertile stretches of land just above sea level. Just to the east of Velas, we visited one of Europe’s few coffee plantations at Faja dos Vines. The landscape became even more dramatic on the north coast, where we swam in rock pools at Faja do Ouvidor.
Faja dos Cubres
Also on the north coast, we were enchanted by Faja dos Cubres, accessible by an impressively steep though mercifully paved road leading down to the sea. From there we hiked along a dirt track frequented by quad bikes to Faja do Caldeira Santo Cristo. Local hotel entrepreneurs had chosen this hamlet as the idyllic setting for an island retreat which offers its guests the chance to get away from the trappings of civilization. It felt as if we had reached the precipice of Europe. This was travel off the beaten track; quite literally in this case.
Faja do Caldeira Santo Cristo
On the way back to the ferry terminal, we ventured further upland past fields and livestock, bracing strong winds and drifting rain clouds towards the island’s highest peak Pico de Esperanza (1,050 meters). We weren't entirely sure whether we had made it to the top. The drifting fog was just too dense.
Back in London, I had to pay a visit to the same car mechanic who had sent us on our way. To my mind, the Azores Triangle is a fabulously rewarding destination for the independent traveller: the astonishing volcanic landscape, the intricate history, the unique geology, the chance to travel beyond the crowds, the absence of mass tourism, the friendly locals, the laid-back atmosphere, the sheer sense of natural beauty that counts among the best that Europe has to offer. I asked him: ‘What are you still doing here?’ ‘Good question’, was his reply.
Trip Essentials
How to get there:
Your first port of call most like will be the international airport in Ponta Delgada on the archipelago’s main island of São Miguel, with direct links from many European cities, but also from North America including New York, Boston, Chicago or Toronto. Ryanair in particular has useful links from Lisbon and Porto. Once in Ponta Delgada, you can take advantage of SATA Airlines comprehensive network that serves each and every one of the other 8 inhabited islands. Flight times range from 30 minutes to Santa Maria, 45 minutes to Pico, São Jorge and Faial, to a little over one hour to the westernmost spots of Flores and Carvo. From São Miguel you can also get to any of the three Triangle islands by ferry, though this mode of transport is mainly used for cargo. Out here, even teenagers do their weekly commute by plane when attending the upper school in Ponta Delgada.
Mount Pico as seen from Madalena
Where to stay and how to get around.
As a stopover when travelling back and forth to the Triangle we stayed in two boutique hotels in Ponta Delgada. On the way out we spent a night in the centrally located Hotel Insular; basic but cosy and comfortable right in the Old Town. After that, we based ourselves in the sleepy village of Madalena on the west coast of Pico Island with frequent and direct ferry links to the nearby islands of Faial (30 minutes) and São Jorge (one hour). The services are provided by Atlantico Line. Should you wish for a little urban buzz, you could also base yourself in Horta on Faial; the only sizeable town within the triangle. But you would have to spend more time on ferries with São Jorge being a 90-minute ride away since that connection goes via Pico. We rented a modern house on the southern side of Madalena called EPI Center Pico. Check out their website. The views from the balcony are rather enticing. Highly recommended.
Lajido, Pico Island
Most visitors to the island tend to rent a car with the islands’ biggest provider Ilha Verde. We opted once more for a scooter, mainly for cost reasons since ferry prices are much steeper for cars. We got our runner from Pico Island Adventures, and as the name indicates, represents a one-stop-shop for vehicle rentals, whale watching, scuba diving, quad biking or mountaineering. Whatever adrenaline kick you’re after, they seem to provide it. The place has an outlet right opposite the ferry terminal in Madalena, which can be easily spotted by the many scooters that are parked outside. From there, staff will point you to the main shop in the old town of Madalena. You can simply take the scooter onto the ferry at a small surcharge but be advised that not every boat is equipped to accommodate vehicles. The friendly staff at the ferry terminal however will sort that all out for you.
São Roque, Pico Island
Places to eat:
Ponta Delgada:
Bom Pesqueiro
Galerias das Portas do Mar, 9500-122 Ponta Delgada, Portugal
+351968808557
The highlight of our stay in Ponta Delgada. Right next to a Burger King and opposite the massive public pool facilities in the middle of the concrete 1960s marina development. They certainly delivered on the name of their establishment; fish cooked to perfection.
Madalena, Pico:
O Ancoradouro
Areia Larga, Madalena, Portugal
+351292623490
A lovely fish restaurant about a 20 minute walk south of the village centre
Velas, São Jorge
Restaurante Açor
Largo da Matriz - Velas Ilha de São Jorge, 9800-551 Velas, Portugal
+351295432463
We ate at this restaurant perfectly placed on the village square right across the church. Seafood risotto and a flan called Molotov (I just had to try that one) did the trick.
