Azores

[PH]

Can anyone recomend a tour company for the Azores?

[Janice621]

In April 2009 we hired Gary Travassos http://www.azoreantours.com/. At the time he had a Mercedes which sat four plus he. Gary was at the pier very early, was very personable and took us on a very interesting tour. I do not remember what we paid but it was reasonable. Also we were able to get to places that large buses cannot get to.:)

 

Janice

[adventurenerd]

We used Festi Tour Thematic Tours and we highly recommend it. We also e-mailed some other operators in the area to compare their tours and prices for our cruise stop at Sao Miguel, Ponta Deldaga in December 2011.

We had many questions about the tour and places we wanted to stop along the ride around the Azores. Mr. Antonio was very polite and responded promptly with our numerous questions. He had a great knowledge of the area and attractions and never became impatient with our many emails...(I am from Japan and English is my second language so there was potential

for misunderstanding our requests, Mr. Antonio never became frustrated

with my poor writing and was always patient when responding). Our tour

was supposed to begin at 10:30 am but because the ship was late in

arriving we did not get underway until after 1:00 pm. Our tour was

supposed to begin with a stop at a supermarket for sandwiches and

drinks but we skipped it because of our late arrival, Mr. Antonio had

kindly made delicious sandwiches and had cookies and cold drinks in a

cooler for us, it was very considerate and a pleasant surprise. First

stop was Fire Lake look-out where we stopped twice on the road for

viewing the lake at different altitudes, Next was a stop at another

viewing area at Santa Iria then on to the town of Ribeira Grande

(which we called the "Hobbit Town" because of the similarity to some

of the scenery in the movie Lord of the Rings), next was a stop at the

hot springs (locals call them "boilers"), then the Park Terra Nostra

for swimming and garden viewing. We skipped the swimming but had a

wonderful time at the hot springs. Mr. Antonio brought some paper cups

so we could sample the natural spring mineral water at several

fountains along the walking path, (the water tasted a bit like seltzer

but was not unpleasant and we wanted to experience everything). The

garden at Terra Nostra was a victim of our late arrival as well as the

Tea Plantation but Mr. Antonio did a great job of prioritizing our

shortened visit and we had a wonderful time at Furnas. Next stop was

the view area at Pico do Ferro near Furnas where we had a beautiful

view of Furnas lake where people cook their meals in holes in the

ground using geothermal heat. All total the trip was supposed to be 6+

hours but it gets dark at a bit after 5:00 pm so we only had about 4

hours. Mr. Antonio was quick to re-arrange our shortened tour and we

had a wonderful time. We had two other couples with us from the ship

and we were all very satisfied with the tour. Mr. Antonio was a great

host, he does the tours as a sideline to his regular job and seemed

very proud of his island (he was born and raised in Sao Miguel and he

lived his whole life in the Azores), we could tell that he loved

giving tours and he was an expert driver. His van was very clean and

comfortable and not more than a few years old. Seat-belts were at

every seat and their use was mandatory. Mr. Antonio was also

considerate about making frequent bathroom breaks and always knew

where the best and cleanest bathrooms were (in our opinion this is the

sign of a true professional), he also knew where to get the best deal

on souvenirs. We would recommend him highly and we are already

planning a return trip and tour with him.

 

Have a nice trip:);)