Family Holidays: The Azores family holidays and breaks

Take the Family holiday rating 4 stars out of 5

Why

The Azores are a small string of volcanic islands situated in the Atlantic Ocean between Portugal and the East coast of the United States. Discovered in the 15th Century, they were uninhabited when found and have been variously occupied and colonised by Spain, Portugal, Flanders and various North African nations, all of which have left some traces in the food, culture and language of the islands. Since last century they have been a protectorate of Portugal and the official language is Portuguese. They are beautiful, lush islands, with an abundance of wild and sea life and lots of volcanic features to delight the children; sulphuric pools and grottoes. This is a great spot to combine whale and dolphin watching with island hopping and exploring, not quite as much a beach destination as you might expect.

Top left: aeriel view of the very green Azores
Top right: Lajes do pico village

Bottom left: Pico volcano in the mist
Bottom right: Whale watching from Pico

Do

Rent a car on Sao Miguel, the largest and greenest of the islands and well worth an explore. It’s a lovely mix of volcanic peaks, tiny villages and flower strewn meadows, a particularly good place to encourage your children out on dramatic walks or at least as far as some very impressive picnic spots. If you stay in Ponta Delgado, the capital city, you can use it as a base for exploring Sao Miguel and some of the others islands, as island hopping boats leave from here and it is a lovely town.

Visit an extinct volcano on the lovely island of Graciosa, you can climb down to the very bottom of the crater, an amazing experience and then treat yourself afterwards to one of the spa treatments on offer. There is not much accommodation on the island, so perhaps do an island hop there from one of the bigger islands for the day. Note also that they particularly enjoy a good bull fight on the island, so if you are made of sterner stuff than us, check when it’s happening.

Go whale watching, an absolute must on these islands, as it’s superb. Take a tour from Pico or Faial which will last about 3 to 4 hours, is great value and will delight from the oldest to the smallest child. You can also help do research for the local oceanography department, by photographing each whale you see for identification – these islands, once fairly dependant on whale hunting are now turning them into a different and better form of income and have converted their old whaling stations into museums and their old whalers into tour guides.

Eat

The food you will find most readily will be Portuguese; great seafood - limpets, octopus and fish chowders being specialities. The cuisine differs from island to island, the bigger islands offer more beef based dishes, the land being large enough to house cows, while on the smaller islands, salted cod is more of a staple. There are excellent cheeses, delicious Portuguese sweet breads and some very good wine.