10 must-have experiences in the Azores

Head to São Miguel Island on our Azores Island Hopping Tour to find Europe's oldest commercial tea plantation. Emerald green tea plants cover the countryside, and local workers busily pick fragrant leaves ready for production. A family-run business, Gorreana was established in 1883, and the packing is still done by hand today. Take a tour of the factory, walk through the plantation and enjoy a delicious cup of freshly-brewed tea.

Enjoy a delicious lunch cooked in the volcanic fumaroles of Lake Furnas on São Miguel Island on our Azores Island Hopping Tour. The traditional dish of Cozido is unique to the Azores. A mix of meats and a variety of locally grown vegetables are stewed in a pot and slow-cooked by natural geothermal heat underground. Not a process to be rushed, the stew is steamed for many hours before its ready, but the finished result is a melt-in-your-mouth tenderness that will have you begging for more.

The incredible geothermal energy of São Miguel Island can be seen and felt on the beautiful shores of Lake Furnas where thermal springs and boiling mud pools bubble on the surface. Visit the botanical gardens of Terra Nostra on our Azores Island Hopping Tour to uncover mirror-calm ponds, giant lily pads and verdant trees. Let all of your worries fade away as you immerse yourself in this tranquil oasis and take the opportunity to bathe in the beautifully warm thermal pools.

Don your walking boots to explore a network of trails around the island's black volcanic sands. The eruption of Capelinhos volcano in 1958 buried much of the nearby coastline in deep layers of ash, and the abandoned lighthouse is the only building still visible above the surface of this newly formed terrain.

Walk along the 700m-high ridge of the lush Caldeira de Cima Gorge down to the rocky coastline of Sao Jorge on our Azores Island Hopping Tour. Steep slopes reaching down to the water's edge are draped in a blanket of rich green forest. Azure-blue sea laps the golden sand bays below and fluffy white clouds bubble up over neighbouring islands in the distance.