One Great Trip to the Azores
Lee Stabert, the journalist behind the funny and fascinating "Explain Boston to Me" podcast, shares the highlights of her family trip to São Miguel Island in the Portuguese archipelago.
Welcome back to One Great Trip, where a cool and curious traveler shares a recent stand-out adventure — including some of the best things they ate, drank, and did — to help inspire your own travels.
When journalist Lee Stabert moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts for her husband’s job last year, the Philly native wanted to learn more about her new home city. She aspired to understand Boston, its history and cultural idiosyncrasies, the way she always has Philadelphia — things like why Boston residents are obsessed with ice cream, why the city’s restaurant scene is … lacking, and what on earth is Allston Christmas. And like a true journalist, she’s done it by tapping the experts.
Last July, Lee launched the podcast Explain Boston to Me, and the episodes are a true (and often very funny!) deep cut into Beantown culture. (Lee has probably already learned that no one from Boston calls it Beantown.) Explain Boston to Me is essential listening if you too are a transplant, but it’s also a joy if you’re a born-and-raised local, or just want to learn something new about Ben Affleck’s kingdom.
Along with being a perpetually curious person, Lee loves to travel. Before becoming parents, she and her husband explored Belize, Sicily, Basque Country, Singapore, and Indonesia, among other places. And since having kids, the adventures have continued.
Lee was the person who first planted the idea in my head to spend a whole month in Rome. She and her family spent a longer stretch in Mexico City, and she made it sound like both an epic adventure and an achievable reality. They’re off to Scotland this summer, and have also been to Valencia, Puglia, and Northern California all together. Earlier this year, they took an impromptu trip to the Azores (thanks to Kayak’s Explore feature!), where they swam in geothermal pools, hiked coastal trails, and ate passion fruit custard overlooking the ocean. Read on for her tips and highlights.
Where: São Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal
Our younger daughter attends an in-home daycare here in Cambridge. When her beloved provider announced that she’d be taking an extended break over the winter holidays to travel home to her native Pakistan, our initial response was panic, but that was followed by a feeling of opportunity. We decided that we’d take the first week of January and go somewhere. This would require only three missed school days for our kindergartner and prices would be down from the holiday peak.
I am a longtime fan of Kayak’s Explore page. You enter your desired dates and a departure airport — and in our case, click “non-stop” — and see what it spits out. When I saw a direct flight from Boston to the Azores for around $600, I kicked into research mode. I had heard several travel-happy friends and young globetrotting acquaintances mention this mythical land in the North Atlantic, but I didn’t know much about it. Turns out it’s Portugal, the landscape is somewhere between Hawaii and Ireland, and they’re obsessed with pineapples. We would also be traveling during their lowest tourist season (deals! Deals! DEALS!) while risking a rainy vacation. We decided to go for it.
Arrived by: SATA Azores Airlines out of Logan Airport
Boston is home to the country’s largest Azorean population, so they run non-stop flights year-round. The flight is only four hours, as is the time difference.
Stayed: An Airbnb and Octant Furnas
We had six nights. We spent the first four in an Airbnb in Ponta Delgada, the largest town on Sao Miguel Island. It was nice to have separate sleeping spaces to adjust to the jetlag — and to do laundry after a messy airplane incident with our toddler. Because prices were so low, we actually booked the night before our arrival as well. That way when we landed around 6 a.m., we could go straight to the apartment for a nap. The rental had a beautiful view of the active port and a tiny playground on the waterfront promenade that our kids were oddly obsessed with. We loved the cafe right downstairs which had excellent coffee and pasteis de nata.
For the last two nights, we headed to Furnas, a town in the interior of the island centered around a series of hot springs. We stayed at Octant Furnas, a recently renovated boutique hotel in a setting that can only be described as edenic. The front of the building opened into a botanical garden. The hotel features two geothermal swimming pools, one inside and one outside, both open 24 hours a day. Every night after the kids were asleep, we would take turns sneaking down for a cheeky swim. Because of the incredible low-season rate, we splurged on adjoining rooms — it was very White Lotus. The hotel went above and beyond for our kids, providing robes in their sizes (adorable) and even little branded stuffed animals. We all loved the huge breakfast buffet and our older daughter was obsessed with a constantly-changing jar of candy by the front desk. The girls had the time of their lives, as did we.
Ate:
Bar Caloura You know that feeling? The one where you look around and say, “THIS is why we took a red-eye with a toddler, and did the packing list, and spent the money. This is why we travel.” No place epitomized that feeling on this trip more than our lunch at Bar Caloura. Nestled in a little cove with the waves crashing below our feet and the green cliffs above, it was beyond special. We enjoyed wonderful local white wine from Pico (a neighboring Azorian island famous for its volcanic soil) and the freshest fish around. The meal ended with a passion fruit custard — Azoreans love passion fruit almost as much as they love pineapple — and an espresso for my husband. When the little one got antsy, we took turns walking out on a beautiful jetty to look at fishing boats.
A Tasca This spot is on every tourist list for Ponta Delgada, but it’s there for a reason. Show up early to avoid an epic wait. And by early, I mean regular American dining-with-kids time. We arrived around 6 p.m. and nabbed one of the last tables. Make sure you order the famous limpets. To keep the kids busy while you wait for the kitchen to work their magic, start with the queijo fresco. This fresh basket cheese is a staple on almost every menu and our little ones were obsessed. It’s usually served with fresh bread and a condiment made from red peppers.
Restaurante Faria You know you’re in the right place when it’s packed with a mix of grumpy old men and workers on their lunch breaks. This was a classic old-school spot and our older daughter loved her steak and fries (her perennial order on this trip; rarely more than 10 euros), while my husband can still wax poetic about the little fried fish he devoured.
Casa de Pasto - o Amaral This was our last meal on the way to the airport. Great neighborhood seafood joint where we enjoyed more queijo fresco and a whole local fish.
Adventured:
Centro de Interpretação Ambiental da Caldeira Velha This is a series of natural geothermal pools up in the mountains. It was incredibly beautiful — and was topped off by spotting a rainbow during the descent to the coast.
Lagoa do Fogo and Sete Cidades These are the two most iconic vistas on Sao Miguel, and both are often fogged out completely. To make sure we didn’t drive all the way there just to stare at pea soup, we became obsessed with an app called SpotAzores. This is a series of cameras offering live views of points across the island. It can be sunny on the north coast in Ribeira Grande, and pouring rain 40 minutes south in Ponta Delgada. We lept to visit Sete Cidades on our second day and were so glad we did — there wasn’t another clear window for days. Both of these are very easy walks with kids, though there are more ambitious hikes around the areas.
Nordeste Driving Tour On our way to Furnas, we took the long way, driving east to experience this stunning coastline. If you love dramatic vistas, and whoo boy do I, then this is a can’t miss.
Jardim Botânico José do Canto This was the perfect just-off-the-plane afternoon activity in Ponta Delgada. There’s even a playground!
Festival de Sopas das Furnas Leave it to my husband to find the local soup festival.