THE AZORES 🇵🇹 Europe’s Hidden Paradise (Peaceful, Wild & Untouched)

THE AZORES 🇵🇹 Europe’s Hidden Paradise (Peaceful, Wild & Untouched)

welcome back to the channel everyone it’s 
great to see you i have a wonderful place   to share with you this week europe is a very busy 
destination with tourism especially places like London Venice Paris but have you ever heard of 
The Azores? well this week I’m going to be sharing with you San Miguel one of the main islands here 
there’s a lot to do there’s a lot to see and I can’t wait to share it with you this week and 
in today’s video we will explore the main town   and see the sites and experience some of the 
incredible unique culture here we’ll also go whale watching and we’ll be surrounded by 
dozens of bottl-nose dolphins and finally we’ll hike around the stunning landscapes 
that these islands have to offer so let’s   pick things up in Madeira a couple of days ago 
because I want to share how I got here and my first impressions because I think it’s very 
important that you know some of the details   of what it’s like when you first land and then 
we’ll get really stuck into the mountains into the towns and into the beautiful scenery of the 
Azors enjoy [Music] right my bags are packed and we are leaving Madeira today we’re going to be 
catching a quick flight about 50 minutes further   out to sea and if you’re wondering where we’re 
going we’re going to the Azores and if you’re thinking where’s that i’ve never heard of that 
let me tell you as I make my way to the airport the Azors are just an hour flight from MadiRaa 
it was bittersweet to leave this beautiful island madiraa had been wonderful and I can’t wait to 
come back but now we are heading somewhere much less traveled and much more mysterious 
and so I couldn’t wait to get a move on arriving at the Maderan airport it was a little 
bit confusing actually it turns out I’m actually on the flight to New York but it does stop in 
the Azors on route to drop a few people off here at the Madan airport you can actually watch 
the planes come in to land and there was a lot   of drama today the wind was up and the planes 
were not landing the last three planes that have tried to land have had to go around i think 
it’s too windy for them to land hopefully mine can land safely that was the third and final 
attempt for that easy jet flight to land from London Gatwick it now has to limp back to the 
mainland of Lisbon to refuel flying to MadiRaa and to the Azor comes with some risks let’s 
just hope that the wind dies down in time for my flight to land safely and we can get a move 
on the wind has really picked up again i really hope my plane can land it’s coming in i’m just 
tracking it on my phone it’s coming in for the final turn okay here she comes come on baby 
you can do it oh I can’t even hold my phone still the wind this is not a good sign this is 
not a good sign come on come on son let’s go let’s go let’s go let’s go come on 
come on come on come on come on come   on touchdown put the wheels down put 
the wheels down slam on the brakes woo looks like we’re going to the Azor yeah 
our plane landed safely and we were on our way the flight time from MadiRaa 
to San Miguel was about 45   minutes and the flight was pleasant 
quick and thankfully no turbulence made it woohoo i’m not into that for €10 you can get a taxi from just outside the 
airport to the main town of Ponta Delgada [Music] okay welcome to my home whilst I’m here my base 
of operations of exploring the Azors this place is called Casa Conorto I think and I’ve got a 
really nice room and nice bathroom breakfast is included every single morning and it comes with 
a view of the clock tower in the center of town so we’re right in the middle right in the heart 
of everything first impressions this place is colorful vibrant historical very interesting and 
I can’t wait to get stuck in and really get to know this beautiful place and the sun is shining 
the sky is blue so let’s get a move on [Music] as you can tell Pontto Delgada is the main entry 
point for most travelers arriving in the Azors the airport connects the island to the mainland of 
Portugal and several international destinations so it’s the perfect blend of local Azorian culture 
and European accessibility pontto Delgard’s old town features striking black and white lava stone 
buildings gorgeous churches and the iconic city gates that welcomed ships for over hundreds of 
years from all around the world yes down here by the marina there was much more going on and 
there’s a little bit more going on here this seems to be the waterfront inside the harbor a little 
bit of a fairground for the kids all the kids seem to be off school you got some people playing 
football there’s a little apperol stand you can get yourself a nice appperol spritz there’s a 
bloke out there catching some wind there is an incredible view of the luscious green mountains 
i think that’s really what I’m excited about the most there’s also lots of whale watching tours 
being sold here that obviously could be incredible we’re so far out into the Atlantic and it is whale 
watching season so maybe we should give that a go as well i don’t have anything booked in the Azors 
other than my accommodation the main goal for coming here was to kind of explore it in a rustic 
raw way make the plan up as we go along and just try and catch the wind and see if it can take us 
up into adventure hopefully we’ll catch a bit more   wind than this bloke he’s doing all right bless 
him [Music] it was turning into quite the welcome this festival had brought most of the locals 
out from the villages to the town right i think   we found where everybody is they’re on the main 
strip turns out there’s some sort of festival for the next few days so I think that’s why the kids 
have got a lot of the school holidays that’s why everyone’s out with their family enjoying the sun 
there’s lots of food there’s lots of drinks toys balloons lots of kids knocking about good first 
impressions there’s a real family atmosphere here and that’s not surprising living in such a 
remote place if people stick together they’re more likely to enjoy their lives more and everyone 
here seems to have a big smile on their face [Music] can I try one of these and uh can I 
also try some of that um black pudding that looks like sausage that looks 
like black pudding chicken okay and this is black pudding yeah looks 
good really good s in Portuguese oh that’s good thank you thank you boys what 
a good start we’ve arrived we’ve checked in we’ve unpacked and we have some delicious 
food so I think you could hear me speaking to the bloke selling me this sandwich it’s a 
week-l long festival this was not planned i did not know this was happening it does make 
me worry that things will be closed all week   but hopefully it all works out for the 
best anyway I am really hungry so I’ve got this mixed platter right here we’ve got 
chicken sausage choro and black pudding i also decided I had to try one of these sandwiches 
looks like it’s cured ham like pruto loads of melted cheese in there and the bread looks 
delicious and of course a crisp cold beer draft sag i only know this from sponsoring the 
Portuguese national team and it tastes great oh that is so good right let’s try 
that’s one of the best beers I’ve ever   had chicken sausage oh it’s really soft 
and mushy three out of 10 black pudding oh yeah black pudding is a 9 out of 10 
this is good oh yeah let’s try some of this pushut m wow that is delicious the 
pushutto is spicy the cheese is melted to perfection and the bread is soft 
and delicious and freshly baked okay this was worth the €20 cheers to the 
Azors great first impression [Music] people were partying in the streets there was 
food and drink everywhere and the central church was the main hub of activity for people 
taking time to pray and worship [Music] the good weather also meant that everyone was   enjoying the rock pools the ocean it 
was just good vibes in every direction [Music] wherever you’re traveling this summer it 
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channel and let’s get back to the beautiful Azors in the evening I dipped into a local hostel i 
wasn’t staying here obviously but host are a great place to meet fellow travelers especially 
if you travel solo like me this one had a garden great food and I met lots of cool travelers 
from all around the world here don’t worry   I’ll put the link in the description as well as 
everywhere else that I visit during this video and then after a few beers I 
dipped into a local restaurant okay so this restaurant comes very recommended 
it’s a very rustic Portuguese restaurant that specializes in local seafood anyway go where the 
locals go and go where the food is fresh so I’ve ordered a selection of dishes quite reasonably 
priced as well so I’ll show you what I’ve ordered the first dish was a cheese and walnut wrap 
apparently it’s really popular but it was really   dry and disappointing then I had some prawns 
they weren’t very good either and some fried octopus which was completely overcooked i wanted 
to mention this because the food in the Azors was hit and miss so make sure you do your own research 
my top tip ask the locals where to go don’t follow the herds anyway we’ll eat plenty of good food 
later but for now let’s have a quick beer in the   pub and watch the match and then it would be 
back out to enjoy more of the local festival [Applause] but as we say [Music] these girls were awesome they sang 
songs of praise they sang songs of Portuguese folklore and they even had a few classics 
from the Gypsy Kings their voices sang out so beautifully and it really added to the 
peaceful and tranquil atmosphere tonight fer all [Music] your You know there should I tell you it really had been the 
perfect welcome to the Azors [Applause] the church looked nice during the 
day but my god look at it at night [Music] the next morning it was time to head out 
and experience an activity that these islands are very famous for and as you’ll see quite 
rightly so [Music] okay good morning it’s a cloudy overcast morning hopefully good weather 
to go out and do some whale watching i booked a whale watching tour yesterday thought 
it was quite reasonable it was around   €60 it’s with this company here Futurismo 
and they have two options you can go out on a catamaran which means a bit more comfort a bit 
more people or you can go out on the Zodiacs which means a bit more speed maybe a bit more bumpy 
but the ability to go a bit quicker and get to where the whales are when they’re surfacing 
when they’re breathing for air before they   go down and I think that would be a bit more 
adventurous hopefully a bit easier and a way to get closer to the whales and to the dolphins 
if we see any it’s not guaranteed but when I did inquire yesterday at this company they had a sign 
where they had a list of all of the whales that   they saw the previous few days and according to 
their sign they’re seeing whales every single day so I booked it so let’s go check in and I’ve 
brought my nice long lens and hopefully I can get some great shots for you and hopefully 
we can see some whales [Music] after a quick briefing in the office it was time to start 
the trip and so we began boarding our Zodiac all aboard this was our guide she was a very 
knowledgeable marine biologist and she was full of interesting information about all of these 
marine mammals all of these species by the way   on this wall are local to the Azors and she told 
us that the chances of seeing wildlife today were very high something you don’t always hear on tours 
like these in other parts of the world [Music] the weather wasn’t great the winds 
were up and the swells were a bit   high but the Zodiacs made light work 
of the waves it’s a bit choppy but the Zodiacs did great work on the waves and 
so we all enjoyed the ride out to sea [Music] all of the whale watching companies have spotters 
back on the island they use powerful binoculars from high positions to better spot where the 
whales and the pods of dolphins are out to sea and after about 20 minutes we heard on the 
radio that there was some activity for us   to check out as we got closer our guide told 
us where to look and we all began to keep an eye out for a whale that was spotted coming up 
every few minutes to breathe very exciting stuff it wasn’t the best shot I know even with 
this camera and this expensive lens that I bought with these waves and these skies it 
was a bit tricky to get shots of the whale and it was even harder to predict where it 
would breach next but before we could make   a plan where to go next something truly 
magical happened right before our eyes [Music] this is so nice yes a huge pod 
of bottl-nose dolphins just surrounded us out of nowhere there was easily over a 
dozen of them there was mothers with their young and there were just so many curious 
eyes coming up to check us all out [Music] honestly this was an amazing experience and 
I’ll never forget this moment after about 30 minutes with the dolphins another huge whale 
came by to say goodbye okay that was a success it was a bit bumpy and it took a while but 
there we were two species of whale and a beautiful pod of bottl-nose dolphins out 
the front on the sign you can see they’ve   seen about four or five different species of 
dolphin in the previous 3 days so I’m really glad we got to see the bottl-nose dolphins 
because they’re the most traditional they’re   the ones we all think of and I’ve never seen 
any before in the wild only in a an aquarium so to see them out in the sea where they belong 
with two giant whales was it was a beautiful experience and definitely worth booking a whale 
watching tour when you come to the Azors i mean if you think about the location there is uh 
honestly no better place to do it and if you don’t see whales if you don’t see dolphins you can 
book to go on another tour for free because they pretty much guarantee that you’ll see something 
at least and today they did not disappoint that was brilliant a few days later it was time to explore the 
volcanoes and the mountains of this beautiful island i’ll get into why it took me so long 
to come up here in a second but you can get a taxi up here for just €20 from downtown so it 
is easy to get here even if you don’t have a car [Music] we had terrible weather holy moly it just 
rained and it poured for two days and then yesterday down in the town where I’m staying 
the sky was blue and I thought let’s go for a hike and so I packed my bag jumped in a cab 
and we came up the mountain and the higher we got and the nearer to the volcano the weather 
revealed itself it’s true sense it was just super windy super foggy raining horizontally 
and I checked the weather app and it was just going to stay like that for the rest of 
the day so the Azors the lesson I’ve learned   and here’s a very important travel tip don’t 
trust what you see out the window the clouds here the rain here the fog here stays on the 
peaks of the mountains in certain situations you can and this is what I learned you can check 
the webcams so this morning I looked out and I saw blue skies and I checked the webcam and 
boom it’s clear well it’s still cloudy but it’s clearer than it was and it looks beautiful 
so I’ve gotten up early and we’re going to spend 3 hours hiking around the rim of the volcano 
probably the most beautiful part of the island one of the most visited parts of the island so 
hopefully we’ve gotten here early enough but just look at this isn’t this beautiful the flowers 
are in bloom the sun rays are coming through let me just show you how magical this 
forest is i just come in here look at this isn’t that beautiful okay nearly there don’t look at the 
view okay going to block it for you wow look at this it seems to be 
the highest point almost the highest point of the whole the whole hike [Music] wow [Music]   so that is the trail goes up there that’s 
the highest point then it goes along the ridge along the ridge all the way around 
all the way around down into that town   that’s where we have lunch and that’s where you 
can get a bus back to town quite something [Music] [Music] look at this you got three 
lads there taking pictures   absolutely insane views couple here 
solo female traveler there nobody here the viewpoint’s absolutely packed and all 
we had to do was brave a few muddy puddles this is awesome definitely definitely come to 
these little side quest viewpoints doesn’t look like many people have braved them there’s 
another couple there now it it really is   not that difficult it’s just you that you do need 
to have your feet about you like if you’re scared of heights just be careful because this is the 
view if you slip and fall but the view is just uninterrupted you can’t swim in the lakes I’ve 
read except for the big one the big one they   have kayaking that one’s not protected but 
that emerald green one that is so stunning that’s a no swim zone oh I’ve got company here 
someone’s eagerly waiting to take a nice picture so I won’t I won’t linger too long but my god 
it’s just good to shake those cobwebs and get   out into the nature this There’s quite a breeze 
here but it’s beautiful someone’s flying their drone i bet they get incredible shots i’ll fly 
my drone later just more further onto the trail i don’t want to like I don’t want to be one of 
those people with the drone um especially when there’s loads of people there just let people 
enjoy the sound of the birds and then when I’m on my own on a distant ridge that’s where I’ll 
fly my drone and then that’s where you’ll see   this footage because it doesn’t matter where you 
stand it doesn’t matter where you fly your drone it doesn’t matter where you put your camera 
you’re going to get incredible views if you   do do the hike which I’m going to share with 
you in a minute as far as I’m aware it looks like it’s views the entire time looking down 
into the crater into this dormant volcano oh my god it feels great are they still there oh 
okay looks like they’re trying a different ridge they probably thought that guy looks like he’s 
going to talk to himself for a long time [Music] [Music] [Music] i used an app called Maps.me by the way to 
navigate this trail the good thing about   this app is you can download the maps before and 
use it without signal the first part of the hike was up to the highest point and the perfect 
place to tag before starting the hike along   the volcano ridge [Music] okay this is the 
top let’s just tag it for good luck [Music] okay up there you can see that’s the 
summit i’ve come down and I’ve used   one of these access roads i think in 
a minute I can hear the quad bikes are coming but this is actually the the 
hiking trail as well here they come what do you think let me know 
in the comments it does look   fun but why do they come on the hiking trail what a noisy bunch hopefully that’s the last time we see them [Applause] [Music]
[Applause] heat heat n [Music] heat [Music] heat [Music] [Music] i don’t think I’ve ever had a 
chocolate biscuit with such a view [Laughter]   wow you get very strange plants growing 
here i’ve never seen this but it’s all over the trail oh it’s very spiky 
it’s got thorns all in it all over it underneath this thing does not want to 
get eaten beautiful flower on there as well i travel quite often right and I go to different 
parts of the world and I’m always amazed i’m   always surprised at the different fauna 
available on this planet to look at and this one the spiky broadleaf cabbage looking 
thing high on my list of pleasurable plants wow this is as near to the water as we’ve been 
could flick a penny in there wow look at the ridge that we’ve walked along i tell you what we’ve 
earned that pint in that pub whenever we get there okay I’m just making my way down now i’d 
say definitely do it the way I did guys definitely do it the way I did there’s a lot 
of people going the other direction and it is   just uphill the whole time if you think about 
it that is the viewpoint and to the left is the Pico that’s the highest point right so we 
did the nice selfie we took a nice video then   we went up there we tapped the thing and then 
we just followed the ridge and if you notice it’s constantly going downhill yes there are a 
couple of little ups and downs but you’re going   downhill the whole time and then you loop around 
into that forest and down the hill into town hello oh that looks difficult and yeah I walked back into town 
and had that welldeserved pint cheers and this concludes our first look into 
the Azors i hope you enjoyed it and if you have any questions drop me a message below next 
week we’ll continue to explore more of the Azors but things will start to unravel it turns 
out that there is a few issues that you need to know when you travel to this part of the world 
to find out what happened and to experience more   of the Azors subscribe to the channel right now 
or you can click here and watch the next episode

Let’s explore Sao Miguel in The Azores – Portugal 🇵🇹 – 🌏 Get an Exclusive NordVPN deal + 4 months extra here → https://nordvpn.com/paddydoyle
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We’ve just landed in São Miguel, the largest island in the Azores—and it already feels like another world. After a short drive from the airport, we’re in the charming capital of Ponta Delgada, where we’ve arrived just in time for a vibrant local festival. The streets are alive with music, traditional Azorean food, and parades filled with colour and energy. It’s the perfect welcome to island life, and a great way to ease into this remote, Atlantic adventure.

The next morning, we set out on the water for one of the Azores’ most iconic experiences: whale watching. The ocean here is deep and rich with life, and we didn’t have to wait long before the dolphins arrived—playfully darting around our boat. Moments later, the crew pointed out a pod of sperm whales, calmly surfacing in the distance. Seeing these giants in their natural habitat, surrounded by nothing but sea and sky, was one of those travel moments that stays with you forever.

To end the trip, we laced up our hiking boots and drove into the misty highlands to find the Miradouro da Boca do Inferno—one of the most breathtaking viewpoints in the Azores. After a short uphill hike through volcanic landscapes and lush greenery, we were rewarded with the view: a sweeping panorama of crater lakes, forested ridges, and the raw, untouched beauty of São Miguel. From ocean giants to volcanic heights, this island has a way of making you feel small—in the best possible way.

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Futurismo Whale Watching – https://maps.app.goo.gl/eshWDdsirqogFyQEA
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Chapters:
00:00 – 1:03 – The Azores
1:04 – 3:38 – Stressful Flight
3:39 – 6:52 – First Impressions Ponta Delgada
6:53 – Local Eats
9:50 – Local Festival
16:23 – Whale Watching
19:50 – Dolphins
22:07 – Volcano Lookout
28:34 – Volcano Ridge Hike
33:40 – Next time…

#PaddyDoyle #azores #travel #adventure