Azores

Swimming here mostly means lava rock pools and small coves of black volcanic sand. The sea is around 22°C to 23°C in August and September and cooler early in the summer, and it stays swimmable from about June to early October. On São Miguel the best sand is at Mosteiros, at Santa Bárbara near Ribeira Grande, where surfers outnumber swimmers, and at the small beaches either side of Ponta Delgada. Concrete-edged sea pools give calmer water when the swell is up, at Caloura on São Miguel's south coast and among the black lava at Biscoitos on Terceira.

Santa Maria is the exception, with pale sand and the warmest, driest summers in the archipelago at Praia Formosa and São Lourenço bay. Even so, Atlantic swell, cloud and showers mean beach days fit around other plans here rather than being the plan.

Azorean food is plain and closely tied to the land and the sea. At Furnas, cozido is a meat and vegetable stew lowered in pots into the hot volcanic ground and lifted out hours later. Terceira's alcatra is beef braised slowly in clay pots with wine and spices. The islands' dairy farming gives sharp, aged São Jorge cheese and rich butter. Grilled limpets, wreckfish, octopus and tuna appear on almost every menu, and sweet bolo lêvedo muffins turn up at breakfast.

To drink, there is mineral-edged white wine from the lava-walled vineyards of Pico, tea from the long-established 19th-century plantations on São Miguel's north coast, among the oldest in Europe, and liqueurs made from the greenhouse pineapples. Ponta Delgada has the widest choice of restaurants, Angra the next. Elsewhere eating means honest village grills and fish houses rather than a broad range.

The great sight is Angra do Heroísmo on Terceira, a World Heritage port town laid out in the 16th century when it was a stop on the Atlantic routes to the Indies and the Americas. It has a grid of pastel streets, a large cathedral, the Monte Brasil fortress and a good museum in a former convent. Terceira's villages also have the brightly painted impérios, small chapels of the Holy Spirit cult found only in these islands.

On São Miguel, Ponta Delgada has black-and-white basalt churches, the old city gates and a regional museum. On Pico, the World Heritage vineyards are mapped out in thousands of small black stone enclosures, with a whaling museum at Lajes. The heritage is real and characterful but small, and spread over islands that are reached by plane.

Evenings are quiet. Ponta Delgada has a small cluster of bars and a few late spots near the marina and the old centre, mostly lively at weekends. In Horta on Faial, yachtsmen crossing the Atlantic gather at harbourside bars covered in their crews' flags. Elsewhere the night ends after dinner.

The liveliest nights come with the summer festas. On Terceira especially, the Sanjoaninas in Angra and the many village Holy Spirit festivals fill the streets with food stalls, bands and late crowds. Nobody comes to the islands to go out, though.

This is the reason to come. São Miguel alone has the twin crater lakes of Sete Cidades, Lagoa do Fogo in its high caldera, and the steaming fumaroles of the Furnas valley, all linked by well-marked trails through hydrangea lanes and cedar forest. On Pico, a 2,351m volcanic cone gives a hard, rewarding climb above the clouds. São Jorge has its cliff-foot fajãs, Flores has waterfalls dropping off green walls into the sea, and Terceira has Algar do Carvão, a lava tube you can walk inside.

The waters are as strong as the land. Sperm whales live here all year and many other species pass through in spring, and boats from Ponta Delgada, Pico and Faial find them reliably. Divers come to Santa Maria for manta and devil rays, and there is canyoning, kayaking on the crater lakes and surfing on São Miguel's north coast. Weather changes by the hour, and mist often hides the craters.

Outings within an island are mostly into landscape. On São Miguel the town stops are small: Ribeira Grande with its baroque centre, Vila Franca do Campo, the Furnas spa village and the tea estates on the north coast. A boat trip to the islet of Vila Franca adds a swim in a flooded crater.

The best day trips are in the central group. From Horta on Faial, a short ferry crosses to Madalena on Pico for the vineyards and wine cellars, and a longer one reaches Velas on São Jorge for its cheese dairies. From São Miguel, the other islands mean a flight, and a second base works better than a day trip.

These are safe, unhurried islands where children are welcome. The best family moments are outdoors: whale and dolphin boat trips, warm thermal pools at Furnas, seeing lunch dug out of hot ground, and easy crater-rim walks at Sete Cidades. São Miguel works best as a base, with the most varied easy outings and the calmer beaches near Ponta Delgada and on the south coast.

There is little made for children. On São Miguel, Lagoa has a hands-on science centre and an astronomical observatory near Ribeira Grande runs sky sessions, while Horta on Faial has a small aquarium by Porto Pim bay. There is no zoo or theme park. Rock pools and swell need watchful parents, rain can spoil a plan at short notice, and most days involve winding drives.

On any one island, a hire car does the job well. São Miguel is about 65km end to end on good, quiet roads, so Furnas, Sete Cidades and the north coast are each well under an hour from Ponta Delgada. Buses link the main villages but run too rarely to plan a trip around. Old Ponta Delgada, Angra and Horta are easy to walk.

Travelling between islands takes more planning. The central islands of Faial, Pico and São Jorge are linked by ferries, and the wider network sails mainly in summer. Everything else means short inter-island flights. Atlantic weather can cancel both, so a trip that spreads across several islands needs slack in the schedule.

Shopping is mostly for things to take home: São Jorge cheese, tea from the north-coast plantations, pineapple liqueur, Pico wine, embroidery and wicker. On Faial and Pico you can find scrimshaw carved in the whaling tradition. Ponta Delgada's old streets have the most choice, plus a market hall full of island produce, but there is little else to shop for.

Day to day, the islands are kind to the budget. Village restaurants serve large portions of fish and meat at modest prices, local wine and cheese cost little, and many sights, such as the crater lakes, trails and viewpoints, are free. Rural guesthouses and self-catering houses outside Ponta Delgada are often cheaper than city hotels.

The extras add up, though. A hire car is close to essential, and in July and August cars and rooms are scarce and priced to match. Whale-watching trips, canyoning and inter-island flights add a lot. Spring and early autumn are noticeably easier on the wallet.

Live performance mostly follows the island calendar. Almost every parish has its own filarmónica brass band, heard at religious processions and summer festas, and traditional folk dances such as the chamarrita still appear at village celebrations. Angra holds a well-regarded jazz festival in autumn, and Ponta Delgada and Angra each have a historic municipal theatre with an irregular programme. Outside festival times, an evening of music is hard to find.

Volcanic heat gives the islands a real bathing tradition. In the Furnas valley on São Miguel, people soak in the warm, iron-orange waters of the large thermal pool in the historic Terra Nostra garden, and in smaller pools fed by springs among the ferns. Caldeira Velha has a warm waterfall pool in the forest, and at Ponta da Ferraria hot water pours into a rocky ocean inlet, best enjoyed at low tide. On Graciosa, the small thermal spa at Carapacho sits by the sea at the island's southern tip.

The pace does the rest. Mist, green pastures, quiet roads and early evenings make the islands restful, especially outside July and August. Conventional spas are few, and the best soaking is outdoors in the rain.