Where to go, and when · with the homework done
SÃO MIGUEL · DAY TRIPS · FROM PONTA DELGADA You are already on the island, which changes the question: not whether to come, but what fits between breakfast and the last of the light. Ponta Delgada has been the island’s capital since 1546, when it took the role from Vila Franca do Campo after the … Read more
MADEIRA · SAFETY · ATLANTIC PORTUGAL Madeira worries people in the wrong direction. The questions that reach us concern pickpockets in Funchal. The things that shape a week here are wet basalt underfoot, trail edges with nothing between you and the valley, an ocean that arrives on the north coast with the whole Atlantic behind … Read more
PORTO · KNOW BEFORE YOU GO · TWELVE LESSONS, LEARNED UPHILL Porto keeps half of itself in another town. The wine you flew for rests across the river, the bridge you cross to reach it has two separate floors that land in two different places, and the granite lanes between the cathedral and the quay … Read more
SÃO MIGUEL · WHERE TO STAY · THE AZORES You have already chosen the Azores. The remaining question is smaller and harder: which corner of the island keeps your suitcase for the week. On São Miguel the answer narrows to the capital on the south coast, the steaming valley at Furnas in the east, and … Read more
THE ALGARVE · KNOW BEFORE YOU GO · WHAT THE BOOKING PAGE LEAVES OUT Faro’s arrivals hall empties fast. Most visitors collect a car and are on a cliff road within the hour, which is exactly why the same handful of surprises catches the same people every summer: the highway out of the airport, the … Read more
THE AZORES · KNOW BEFORE YOU GO · NINE ISLANDS IN THE MID-ATLANTIC Nine islands sit alone in the middle of the Atlantic, each with its own airstrip and its own weather. That geography explains almost everything first-timers get wrong here: the forecast that changes between the parking lot and the rim, the crater lake … Read more
