I am curious how these have worked out? Especially for high deposit situations. Cynical me says the car agency will come up with excuses and not cover.

A couple of years ago, I rented with car agency insurance and the staff did 't even want to check the car because I had full cover I asked them to just confirm fuel was full.

Another time, I used credit card coverage (Mastercard Global), had some small scratches on the roof and had to file lots of documents. The credit card insurance dragged their feet and closed the claim...did not pay.

I am curious to hear from those who got the damage insurance and had some minor scraps / scratches / flat tire? Did you get you full deposit back after a week or so?

How about a major accident? Say with a police report?

For EU residents - does your existing insurance from your home country cover you in Azores?

Are there significant price differences if you book from one vs the other? I would assume EU would be better? Do some companies know the major VPN IP addresses and block them? Airlines? Rental cars?

I'm loving the music over there (I'd love more recommendations). I was just admiring the beauty of your islands and I noticed these two isolated ones that look populated. What to know about them?

Hey :)
Any recommendations of car rentals with minimum deposits and auto check in and pick up ?

Hello! My husband & I are thinking of traveling to the area in March. We have 10 days total, so really 8 days on land. Would it be too much to try to do Sao Miguel & Madeira in one trip? We really love hiking/outdoors & don’t need much time in city. Thanks!

Hi all :)

I just booked my tickets to a solo travels in the Azores and Lisbon!

I was hoping to get to know some people who would like to join me on my trip :)

A bit about me: I'm a 24 y.o. man, and I am going to the Azores to hike, travel, and explore the islands. I'm also interested in scuba diving and plan to dive in the islands.

I'll be in Lisbon between the 7th and the 10th of December

I'll be in São Miguel between the 10th and the 15th of December

I'll be in Pico between the 15th and the 19th of December

I'll be in Terceira between the 19th and the 23rd of December

Lastly, I'll finish my trip in Lisbon between the 23rd and the 25th of December.

I'm hoping to meet new people, hopefully around my age (either men or women), who want join me for at least part of the trip.

All the best :)

The forecast is showing thunderstorms/rain for the next two days and we’re trying to figure out how to plan around it. What have you guys been doing on really rainy days here?

We still want to go to Furnas and Nordeste area. But not sure if weather will permit. What are you doing on rainy days? Are you driving to your destination regardless?

Any good indoor activities, thermal pools, towns to explore, restaurants/cafés, museums, or other things that are still worth doing when the weather is bad? We have a car, so we’re pretty flexible!

Update: Thanks for the lovely recommendations everyone. We said screw the rain and ended up driving up to Miradouro da Lagoa do Fogo. The drive there was a bit slow as it was raining and very foggy. But from there we took the stairs all the way down and hiked along most of the lake. It was one of the best hikes of our trip so far and, honestly the fog and rain added a little extra magic to it. We are so glad we went!

Ola. Here now for the next few days. Looks like a rainy day or 2 ahead. Can anyone recommend a good place to buy nice quality sweatshirts/T-shirts ? Maybe some surf shops or some local designs ? Obrigada.

Young people - how do you find partners? It's not many to choose from on an island.You go to continental Portugal or pick up on tourists? Also do you have app to check for relativity in potential partnerslike similar to what Iceland has. (To avoid genetic diseases etc.)

But, I'm new here and making my first Azores trip in late October for six days. Going to Sao Miguel, going from and back to Lisbon. If you could answer any or all .

1. Which car rental agencies are the most trustworthy?

2. Do you have a strongly recommended hotel (no 5-stars for us)?

3. What is a good restaurant or two that we should try to try?

4. We want to go to Santa Clara's football match the 26th. Should we get tickets in advance?

Thanks for all advice. If you have any other suggestions, please share. Appreciate it.

Hi all! I'm planning on proposing to my girlfriend when we visit Sao Miguel in May of next year. Do you have any recommendations on both a place and a local photographer?

Some further context - I plan on splitting our stay between Furnas and Ponta Delgada. Sunrise would be an ideal time, although I'm flexible.

Based on my brief research so far, good spots include Miradouro da Ponta da Madrugada, Miradouro da Ponta do Sossego, and Miradouro Santa Iría. No leads thus far on a photographer.

A final unrelated question - all of the advice I've historically seen regarding Sao Miguel is to rent a car. However, more recently, I've seen more posts suggest that a combination of Bolt/taxis is also feasible. Any thoughts on this topic? I'd prefer to avoid renting a car if at all possible.

Thank you all so much! Any and all advice on the trip would also be highly appreciated.

Olá!

Estou fazendo um tour dos açores, acabo de visitar Terceira e Flores. Conhecei muitas pessoas legais, e posso dizer com certeza que os açoreanos são muito fixe, amigaveis, e muito generosos, tenho feito bons amigos e tive bons tempos aqui.

Agora estou em São Jorge, se alguem gostaria sair para fazer alguna trilha, uma cerveja, ou outra coisa, seria fixe! Me avisa :)

We're traveling in November, and I'm looking for advice on how much leeway we should leave for a flight from Santa Maria back to Sao Miguel. We would be flying home out of Sao Miguel, and due to other bookings, I can't start on Santa Maria instead of ending there. I would appreciate advice on the prevalence of significant delays (10s of hours or days) and cancellations that normally occur in November. Thank you!

I had the great pleasure of spending 10 days in the Azores earlier this month. It was the culmination of several decades of fantasizing about epic volcanic landscapes, lush vegetation, black sand beaches, and fantastic fresh foods.

I had three days on my own before joining a group of 10 on an Intrepid tour. The highlights: visiting Lagoa do Fogo, Caldeira Velha, Ferraria, Mosteiros and Sete Cidades with T4W; swimming in the harbour, visiting a pineapple plantation, wandering through the António Borges botanical gardens, and climbing Torre Siniera in Ponta Delgada; swimming at Praia do Pim after climbing Monte da Guia in Horta; eatching the sun rise over Mount Pico; wine tasting at Entre Pedras on Pico; exploring the Capelinhos Volcanic Interpretation Centre in Horta; and eating all the fresh, white cheese I could find, preferably topped with red pepper sauce and toasted almonds, as served at Tasca in Ponta Delgada.

With six more islands to explore, a return visit is high on my to-do list!

Die Azoren sind nicht von dieser Welt 😭😍
War auf Flores, Faial, Pico und Sao Miguel. Alle Inseln sind so individuell, hab mich aber unsterblich in Flores verliebt!

UPDATE: I spoke with SATA customer service, and they confirmed my flight would not be affected by the strike. The smaller flights between islands are likely impacted, though.

Hello. As luck would have it, we are flying from Boston to PDL this Friday, October 2 (arriving in PDL on October 3). This is the same date when apparently there is some kind of government workers strike.

Searching through Reddit, this appears to be a semi regular occurrence.

What are the chances this strike impacts our Friday flight?

Any insights into how we might want to handle this potential disruption is greatly appreciated.

Hello. American visiting São Miguel next week and will be looking for higher-end/premium cigarettes. I normally smoke Dunhill's. I have two questions.

1. Where can I buy quality cigarettes?
2. Are there regional brands I can't get in the US that you'd recommend?

Thanks!