AZORES

Now with 105 walks, comprehensive, reliable route descrictions, detailed maps and height profiles, GPS tracks for downloading.
Everyone has heard about the Azores high – here is its home. A 4 hour flight from London, the nine islands of the Azores – Santa Maria, São Miguel, Pico, Faial, São Jorge, Terceira, Graciosa, Flores and Corvo – are situated in the middle of the Atlantic. The archipelago, belonging to Portugal, is a Mecca for nature-lovers and individualists. The Azorean landscape is the very picture of extremity. Enchanting forests fuse with heavenly rolling hills and deep-blue crater lakes. Extinct volcanoes tower to the heavens and countless cleft valleys have been deeply cut through the volcanic stratum. The areas lying directly on the coast, often difficult to reach, are exceptionally fertile and under intense cultivation. From a multitude of scenic viewpoints, one can gather breath-taking views of volcanic craters, lakes, hilly countryside or the bizarre coastline.