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Azores Travel Guide by Carl

Posted by (Denver, Colorado) on

Hello! I'm new to the Portugal forum, and just wanted to post about how much I am enjoying reading the Azores Close Up and Very Personal travel guide by Carl. I see that it is a pinned post on this forum but I couldn't post a reply on that thread.

My husband and I are looking to travel next to Portugal, and I assumed we would go to Lisbon and Porto etc. on the mainland, but after starting in on the Azores travel guide, we may rethink that plan. What a wonderful and very detailed guide. I appreciate the detailed plans for day trips, the photos and personal stories, and all the advice about rental cars etc.

Unfortunately, we're not yet retired and also not yet rich (haha), so we are probably looking at 2026 to travel to Portugal, and will only have 2 weeks max because of work (boo). Sounds like at least 6 nights in San Miguel and then maybe visiting two other islands is a good plan to start. I think we will love the scenic viewpoints, a bit of hiking the various landscapes, seeing some churches and museums but not overdoing it, and just generally relaxing in and enjoying smaller towns.

Anyway, I can't remember when I've enjoyed a travel guidebook so much that I felt compelled to post about it. I'll be lurking on the forum here to learn from everyone's experiences. Thanks!
-Morgan

Posted by
18 posts

I second that. I bought the ebook in preparation for our family (with our 2 college age kids) in May. The book was very helpful. We previewed each area based on the descriptions in the book in order to decide how much time we want to spend in each area.

We enjoyed the island of Sao Miguel so much that we are planning another trip just for my wife and I for the beginning of Sept. By the way, I am not retired either, but I do get 4 weeks of vacation a year. Our May trip was over the Memorial Day weekend and we were able to spend 8 days on the ground while only taking 5 PTO days. Our Sept trip will be over the Labor Day weekend and again it would only cost me 5 PTO days. June and July are high seasons, but I find late May could be a good time to visit -- it's not super busy yet, so lodging and rental car are still reasonably priced, yet the weather was very nice. We only had 1 rainy day out of 8.

One advice/caution for anybody that follow the guidebook: as good as Carl's research is, things may have changed since he was there last time. For example, when we drove up to Miradouro da Vista do Rei, there was no public bathroom. Instead, right next to the parking lot, we found a couple of paths that led to the woods and a few feet into the path, the ground was littered with used tissue paper. I am guessing that's where most of the visitors were taking care of their business. Anyway, just want to point out what may be an obvious fact: you always need to have a backup plan since even the best guide book may be out of date as soon as it's published.

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