BAeuro

Looking at fares, for a 7 night return HBO flight next weekend, you can see the difference:

Ponta Delgada - £380
Terceira - £146


Ponta Delgada is the gateway to the Azores and the main island to visit. Yes, people maybe visit Terceira, but most likely when island hopping.

We mustn’t forget the Azores are still largely undiscovered, so I would have tackled one island before heading to secondary ones.

Clearly, the government of the Azores wanted the BA brand and a secure link to Heathrow - and BA were happy to accept (with money).

allturnleft

Looking at the welcoming party; there must be some Azores sponsorship

BAeuro

Some more snippets from the announcement:

The operation, which results from a partnership between ATA, the Regional Government of the Azores, ANA, which manages the Ponta Delgada airport, and Aerogare Civil das Lajes, which manages the Terceira Island airport, will represent an investment of “400 thousand euros, approximately”, in tourist promotion of the Azores in the United Kingdom, according to the president of the ATA.


The president of ATA warned of the need to carry out promotional actions in the English market, but said he hoped that “in the summer of 2023, it will be possible to announce an expansion of this operation”.


“The Azores destination has all the characteristics to effectively position itself in this market. But there are some challenges that you have to work on. It is not enough to have guaranteed air access, because the natural demand for the Azores is currently limited”, he said.


The regional secretary for Transport, Tourism and Energy of the Azores, Mário Mota Borges, admitted that the United Kingdom has not been one of the markets that lead in demand for the Azores, but considered that it could rise in this ‘ranking’ in the coming years.

salut0

How easy is it to get from TER to PDL? If you wanted to fly back and forth LHR-TER seems like a very appealing cheap getaway and a potential way to get to the USA (as cws noted above) if you can get from TER to PDL cheaply and easily.

edited, to answer my own question: it’s cheap and frequent!

ankomonkey

Great updates over the last day or two and hope the travellers have/had good trips. I must admit while scrolling down allturnleft 's post with the airport photo with the blue sky, I assumed that was the Azores arrival airport. Once I could see the whole picture, I realised that was actually LHR!!!

gw76

Presumably weather related issues on a par if not worse than FNC might be an issue?

salut0

On that subject I noticed you can fly (TER)-PDL-FNC with SATA for not much money so might be able to do a Lusophone island-hopping holiday!

Jumbodriver

No, nothing like as bad. Neither airport is on a cliff in a windy bay.

IAN-UK

Really couldn't be more different. Funchal suffers from its awkward location, limiting runway length and making the location of navigation aids difficult. All that exacerbated by the topography of of the island which makes visual approaches challenging at he best of times, but also throws in vicious crosswinds funnelled down from the mountains.

While some smaller airports in the Acores have limitations, neither Sao Miguel or Terceira present Madeira's dramatic terrain. Lajes, Terceira's airport, has 4km of runway while Ponta Delgada's is named after a pope: how much safer could you get ?

salut0

(OT) I remember Lajes for this event:

https://www.voanews.com/amp/a-13-a-2...87/542733.html

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/20...iraq.politics2

MarcD

A few thoughts and experiences from our trip as promised. Overall we really enjoyed both Sao Miguel and Terceira islands and would certainly return. The return flight back to LHR from TER was the best I'd experienced in CE, helped massively by being the only ones in the CE cabin. We were extremely well looked after with service more like F than CE. Hopefully the numbers pick up on the TER route as we get into the school holidays, but realistically I'd be happy if PDL alone was retained going forward.

We did 5 nights in PDL and 3 nights in TER, with a one-way SATA flight between the two. There's certainly more to see and do on Sao Miguel, but found Terceira well worth a visit too. We stayed in Ponta Delgada (Airbnb apartment right in the centre) and at TER we stayed at the Shipyard which was an excellent apartotel - brand new very spacious apartments with a nice restaurant, daily housekeeping and cooked to order breakfast. The immediate vicinity wasn't special but it's only a 5 minute walk to the marina and into town.

Some general observations

• The weather was rather British Summer and is very changeable. It can be starting to rain then 5 minutes later sunny. Temperatures were pleasant throughout and it never rained for very long. If you're looking for beaches and guaranteed sunshine it's not the place for you...
• Getting around is easy by car. I'd highly recommend getting a car especially on Sao Miguel where the distances are greater. Terceira had a lot of minibus tours parked at sights so would also be an option. Rates are high and availability low so book as soon as possilble if you've not done so already. Also note the issues with Avis/Budget (Ilha Verde) noted upthread.
• Despite July and August being peak - the islands were not crowded at all. The only exception being restaurants in Ponta Delgada, many places don't do reservations so be prepared for a wait if you want to go somewhere specific that doesn't take bookings. Eating late (after 9pm or so) can help.
• Whale and dolphin watching companies are on both islands. We did a trip from Terceira which was great, despite no whales on the day there were plenty of doplhins. It may be worth booking in advance as we head into school holidays.

On Sao Miguel:

• Highly recommended
  • Ponta Delgada is a delightful town (as corporate-wage-slave will attest) with lovely architecture and a few interesting places to visit including the fort and the Museu Carlos Machado. Entrance fees are modest and many are free on Sundays.
  • Caldeira das Sete Cidades - two large volcanic lakes on the west of the Island. There's a viewpoint by the abandoned Monte Palace hotel but the vest views are a few kilometres on including Miradouro da Groto do Inferno which is about a 20 minute walk from the main road. You can also take in Lagoa do Canario from there.
  • Vale das Furnas - volcanic hot springs on the outskirts of the town of Furnas - don't miss the town too which is beautifully kept and the surroundings very very green.
• Worth a look
  • Ribera Grande - the second largest town on the island, not that much in terms of attractions but a pleasant place to stop for a coffee or lunch.
  • Nordeste - similar to Ribera Grande on the eastern side of the Island.
  • Fabrica de Cha Gorreana - Europe's only tea plantation is a nice stop on the way to Furnas - you can take a walk around the plantations, visit the factory and there are free tastings.
  • Lagoa de Congro - smaller lake in the middle of the island - a fairly steep 20-30 minute walk down from the road but the views make it worth it at the bottom.
  • Mirradouro de Santa Iria - nice viewpoint between Ribera Granda and the tea plantation with some great views of the north coast.
• Didn't get to
  • Lago di Fogo - looks nice but can often get covered in cloud. We simply ran out of time to get there.

Terceira

• Highly recommended
  • Angra De Heroismo - UNESCO world heritage site, nice compact town with great architecture and excellent food. It may have been that Ponta Delgada restaurants were busier but we found the food across Terceira to be better.
  • Algar Da Carvao - huge volcanic blast hole which leads into a cave, created 2000 years ago. You access the cave by steps.
  • Praia da Vittoria - pleasant town (the second largest on the island) not far from the airport.
• Worth a look
  • Gruto do Natal - interesting lava tunnels. You can get a combined ticket with Algar Da Carvao for EUR12 (they are EUR8 individually). The terrain is a bit rough and there are some confined spaces to get through so bear that in mind if deciding to go. There's also some hot springs nearby on the road between here and Algar da Carvao but they are not a patch on the ones at Furnas.
  • Biscoitos - huge black volcanic rocks on the beach, a port with a few cafes and the wine museum nearby which we didn't visit. Had an excellent Alcatra at O Pedro restaurant in the town itself.
  • Serra do Cume - nice views of the east side of the island.
• Didn't get to
  • Serra de Santa Barbara - we did drive up but you couldn't see a thing for cloud at the top. It's the highest point on the island and when the weather behaves gives views over the island and to neigbouring islands.

Hope everyone that's headed over in the coming weeks has a great time.

Fatdickie

Just glanced at MMB for my flight to PDL on Saturday
It has gone red
But not heard of any changes

Is this just a sign of the current times warning of potential disruption or something more ominous?

KARFA

Nothing to worry about. All LHR short haul bookings with travel up to 24 July should now have this banner. Basically BA are offering flexibility and you can moved your booking up to 180 days ahead for no charge to try and alleviate the problems at LHR atm.

Fatdickie

Thanks KARFA
That's brilliant and what I suspected

cheers

allturnleft

Love the fact relatively few tourists here (TER) and that they have a beauty of a different magnitude to the canary islands!

Locals say there has been no summer this year, but yesterday the sun came out. Each island has its own climate. Heading for the mysteries of Flores today which looks a lot sunnier care of an hour's flight in a SATA Dash 8

Another issue is jelly fish this time of year; swimming is largely from bathing pools created in the rocks which are great fun but you have to jelly spot

They say they are gone by August!