Historical Tours & Trips in Azores Archipelago

Walk through a 150-year-old ceramic factory in Ponta Delgada and see traditional Portuguese pottery-making techniques that craftspeople have used for generations. In Lisbon, you'll check out the UNESCO-listed Tower of Belem where Portugal's Age of Discovery started, then try petiscos in the city's old downtown area.

Head to São Miguel in the Azores and check out Sete Cidades Lake, a volcanic crater that's one of Portugal's Seven Natural Wonders—its blue and green lagoons are said to come from an old legend about forbidden love. You'll visit Europe's only tea plantation at the historic Maia farm, which grows about 40 tons of tea each year across 37 hectares, then see Furnas' geothermal spots and take in great views from Pico da Barrosa Mountain looking out over the Atlantic's volcanic landscapes.

Head to Tomar to check out the UNESCO-listed Convent of Christ, a Knights Templar masterpiece with centuries of religious history. You'll visit the University of Coimbra, founded in 1290 and one of Europe's oldest universities, where students still wear traditional black capes. Then see the Roman Temple in Evora and tour the Gothic Cathedral and São Francisco Church with its haunting Ossuary Chapel.

Learn about the Azores' whaling past at the Lajes do Pico museum where locals hunted whales until the 1980s, and check out an old whale factory in São Roque. Walk through the UNESCO-listed Pico vineyards where volcanic rock makes for special wine-growing conditions, then stop by the wine museum.

Walk through Ponta Delgada's historic streets and see 17th-century churches and colonial buildings that show the Azores' maritime past. Trek to Lagoa do Fogo, a volcanic crater lake that formed over 15,000 years ago, then check out Lagoa das Sete Cidades with its famous twin lakes—one blue, one green—surrounded by local folklore. Stop at a traditional pineapple plantation to learn about the island's farming history, and later relax in the thermal springs at Parque Terra Nostra, a botanical garden from 1775 with exotic plants from Portugal's colonial times.