About Santa Maria

Santa Maria is the oldest and southernmost island of the Portuguese Azores archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean. Known locally as ‘the island of the sun’ and ‘the yellow island’, Santa Maria boasts the sunniest climate of the Azores and a landscape characterised by dry vegetation and sandy shorelines. The island has a rich cultural heritage, too, which is evident in the town of Anjos, the first landfall of Christopher Columbus on his return voyage from the Americas. Also, each traditional home in Santa Maria’s villages has a distinctively coloured chimney in order to contrast with the whitewashed masonry. Santa Maria also claims the best swimming spots in the archipelago, with a wide choice of stunning beaches and refreshing tidal pools. The most popular beach is Praia Formosa on the south coast which also offers excellent surfing, water skiing and sailing conditions. Santa Maria is well connected to the other Azorean islands by ferry, with numerous routes provided from its port on the southwest coast to almost every island.

About Sao Jorge

Sao Jorge is a slim stretch of land, measuring fifty-six km long and just eight km wide, in the Azores archipelago, a chain of Portuguese islands in the North Atlantic Ocean. Undulating peaks, countless emerald-green craters and steep, jagged cliffs encompass some of the ever-changing landscape on this hiker-friendly strip of the Azores. At over a thousand metres, Pico da Esperanca is the highest point, affording lovely views of the surrounding Central Group islands: Faial, Pico and Graciosa. Velas, Sao Jorge’s idyllic capital, sprawls around its picturesque harbour, which dates back to the 1400s, and the town itself has a beautifully made, traditional Azorean bandstand in the main plaza. The main port of Sao Jorge is in Velas on the northwest coast, which is easily reachable from the majority of Azorean islands by ferry, with some routes from the other Central Group lasting just a couple of hours.