Two Island Azores Tour: Food, Wine, Tea, Nature and Culture

      Ponta Delgada, Portugal

      QT
      Quest Travel Adventures
      • Email address verified
      48 reviews
      Sep 23 - 29, 2022
      Group size: 16 - 21
      Two Island Azores Tour: Food, Wine, Tea, Nature and Culture
      Ponta Delgada, Portugal

      Quest Travel Adventures
      • Email address verified
      48 reviews

      Sep 23 - 29, 2022
      Group size: 16 - 21

      About this trip

      This 6-day itinerary to two islands in the Azores archipelago features  tea history, gastronomy and natural beauty of São Miguel, the largest island in the Portuguese Azores. Join Nancy Dorrans from Adventure Travel Marketplace and Ellen Kanner from Dobrá Tea on a discovery tour of this unique island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, about 900 miles off the coast of Portugal. Highlights include a full-day Furnas tour including geothermal hot springs, a visit to a pineapple plantation, and a tasting and tour of one of Europe's oldest tea factory. Take a hike or just relax one day. Sip some tea, some wine and come taste the wonders of Portugal! 

      More Details

      * A non-refundable deposit is due at time of booking.

      * Final payment is due by July 20, 2022.

      * For more information about current covid protocols, please visit the Azores Airlines website: https://www.azoresairlines.pt/en/mandatory-procedures-for-entry-to-destinations


      What’s included

      • Hotel accommodations
        4* boutique accommodations at Hotel Colégio in old town Ponta Delgada & Azoris Angra Garden in UNESCO Angra do Heroismo
      • Breakfast daily
        Breakfast is served each morning at your hotel
      • Airport transfers
      • Foodie Tour
        A walking Foodie Tour of old town Ponta Delgada
      • Furnas Tour
        Full day tour with local 'cozido' lunch and entrance to the geothermal hot springs
      • Sete Cidades Tour
        Half day tour to Sete Cidades caldera and a pineapple plantation
      • Internal Flight
        Flight between São Miguel Island and Terceira Island
      • Terceira Island Tour
        Full day tour of Terceira Island including the Algar do Carvão lava cave and local lunch
      • 24/7 Local support
      • Early check-in
        Guaranteed check-in on arrival of your early morning flight from the US
      • Tea plantation visit
        Tour and taste at one of the two local island tea plantations
      • International Airfare
        Non-stop flights from Boston to the Azores, economy with one checked bag

      What’s not included

      • Gratuitues
      • Personal Expenses
      • Travel Proteciton
        Travel Protection is highly recommended. Protect your investment. Plus, you are covered for unforeseen medical events. Ask us for more details!

      Available Packages

      Trip Price
      $2,599
      Deposit: $250

      Available options

      Itinerary

      Day 1, Sept 24, Welcome!
      Welcome to Sao Miguel

      Upon arrival at Ponta Delgada International Airport, you’ll be met by your driver and brought to your hotel in the city's center. Your room at the Hotel Colégio will be ready for immediate check-in, so freshen up or take a nap and then start your exploration of this cultural city. Explore the cobblestone streets of the Azores’ largest city. Visit the Portas da Cidade (city gate), the historic St. Sebastian Church, and Forte de São Brás, or simply relax in a café near the marina. 


      In the late afternoon, at 5pm, enjoy a local Foodie Walking Tour for your first introduction to the destination.

      Your Organizer


      QT
      Quest Travel Adventures
      48 reviews
      Quest Travel Adventures is the choice for the sophisticated traveler seeking the best value for their money. Quest has 20 years of experience in providing personalized and attentive service. We work with the finest brands in the industry, and our unique itineraries and destinations offer a wide array of travel experiences.

      Reviews

      The hotel in Porto was fantastic. Great location, fantastic customer service, a small bar with food options and sporting events on TV. They even packed us up breakfast and snack boxes the day we had the early train and arranged for our 4:40 am taxi. Albufeira hotel was good. Nice location and fabulous room views. Unfortunately, their customer service was lacking in pretty much all areas, in the kind of way where you’re made to feel like you’re inconveniencing them for asking for, or about anything. There was only one person checking us in as well as checking people out, luggage storage was in a hallway as we were told the storage was full. The woman was offended when David questioned the security of where she told us to leave our luggage. Bar service was pretty much non existent. Getting an ice bucket or corkscrew was literally like pulling teeth. Anything we asked for was met with attitude. They also did their common area cleaning during breakfast hours, which was odd as then everyone was walking on wet ceramic tile. This was a problem the day we left as there was no ramp for luggage down the front steps so we walked down more wet tiles with our bags! The Lisbon hotel was quite nice as far as service, accommodations, staff, etc. Unfortunately the metro does run under the hotel in certain parts. Before we knew our AC was broken, we asked for a higher room and were told it’s not the floor but the location the tracks run. We were given a fan the first night and in the morning decided we could deal with the subway if they could fix the AC. Upon returning that night, our keys didn’t work so we went to the desk to find out it was deliberate. They couldn’t fix the AC and were “upgrading” us. Our new room was nice and quiet and the AC worked. Other than a bigger bathroom not sure what the upgrade was but no complaints! The other party traveling were not accommodated with a room change and had a tough time getting any sleep with all the noise from the train. The rooftop bar amenity is not accurately advertised either. It is through a courtyard and in their sister hotel, which sounded easy until we tried to find the actual access to the rooftop. This Lisbon hotel also bordered a somewhat shady area with homeless people congregating in the same place each night. Other than that, if we went out the other direction it was a great location for everything. One other thing not advertised is that the entrance is in a nice car zone, so any pick ups we had to send one of us out to meet the drivers and walk to the vehicles. When getting our own Ubers we went to the sister hotel for more accurate pick up. Unless a quiet room can be guaranteed I would not recommend this hotel, the subway noise was that bad. The Duoro Valley tour was amazing, as was the Bengali Caves. The Caves ended up being a dolphin and caves tour not the one in the original description from Quest, which had some stops to walk boardwalks and I think a beach. That was not a problem we really enjoyed that tour as well. One other note would be that Quest provide a detailed itinerary for the train with the stops along the way listed. It would have been easier to follow along. I did try to look it up but couldn’t find it. Like other trains in Europe it was a luggage free for all but it worked out fine. (This review is from the client)
      By Nadine B for 11-Day Portugal Exploration: Porto, the Algarve, and Lisbon on Apr 22, 2024
      The accommodations and tours were very nice. The travel was less great. the partners in Faial were more organized and helpful than the tour partners in São Miguel - lots of things that were forgotten, or they didn't answer texts/emails about changes to the schedule due to weather. It was great to have breakfast included. All tour guides were lovely and recommendations for restaurants were also good (it would be great to put hours of operation on there, we went twice to a restaurant and both times it was closed). thank you for coordinating a nice trip.
      By Rebecca D for 8-Day Three Island Azores Tour on Apr 08, 2024
      We had a fantastic time in Lisbon and Porto, Portugal. Portugal really is a hidden treasure! What made it even more enjoyable and comfortable was Ryan from Quest Travel Adventures who did a fantastic job setting everything up for us. The hotels were lovely, with great ammenities and breakfasts and friendly, helpful staffs. They were also perfectly, centrally locatd. We walked miles and miles and climbed so many hills, without having to venture more than walking distances from the hotels. The foodie walking tour in Lisbon and Sintra day trip were both perfect. The tour guides were knowledgable, didn't rush us, and made sure everyone had a great time. The day trip to the Duoro valley with the boat ride, lunch and wine tasting was a highlight of the trip. Such a beautiful area, and we learned so much. Our last tour was took us out of our neighborghood in Porto and over to the other side of the river for more sights and views and a port tasting. Again, we really enjoyed the tour and the small groups. Thanks again to Ryan for setting up the perfect trip. I have already recommended him to several friends. Thanks!
      By Becky S for 9-Day Lisbon and Porto Combo on Feb 07, 2024
      Ryan handled our trip to Azores and Madeira with such professionalism and attention to detail. Transfers to and from airports and hotels were on point, flight connections perfect and the tours included were terrific. Even restaurant recommendations were great choices. Thank you Ryan for everything and we look forward to our next trip with you. Mark and Millie
      By Mark C for 8-Day Azores and Madeira on Feb 06, 2024
      We had an amazing trip to Portugal - everything about it was just perfect. The accomodations, people, food, wine were all amazing - we couldn't ask for more. We had the perfect mix of planned tours and downtime - we were very happy with the attention to detail of our trip - there was absolutely nothing that we would have changed about it! Highly recommend!
      By Jill R for 11-Day Portugal Exploration on Oct 24, 2023
      Show More Reviews