Volcanoes of the Azores: Sao Miguel

The Volcanoes of the Azores shape the landscape and the daily life across all nine of these beautiful and distinctive Atlantic islands.

Azoreans have a symbiotic relationship with their volcanoes: the people have shaped the islands and the islands have shaped the people. Volcanic eruptions have profoundly influenced the islands’ history and culture – in the more obvious ways one might expect, when lives and livelihoods are threatened or an exodus is triggered by a seismic event. But also in more subtle ways: the Azorean environment may have aroused a little trepidation for other Europeans in the past, yet after almost 600 years, living side-by-side with volcanoes has become an integral part of the Azorean national character.

It’s often quite sobering to imagine life for the earliest settlers in 15^th century. In times of crisis, help was 1500km across the sea on mainland Portugal and the science of volcanology was way off in the future. An active volcano was often considered ‘a gateway to hell’ – an understandable reaction, when cataclysmic blasts echoed across the islands, the foul stench of sulphur filled the air, and the night sky glowed red with lava.

In modern times, geothermal energy generates clean electricity for homes and business, helping to reduce the islands’ reliance on expensive and imported fossil fuels. Meanwhile, (and perhaps unthinkable to those early settlers), the islands’ hot springs, thermal vents and naturally-heated swimming pools are a popular draw for visitors and an indispensable part of a great Azorean weekend.

Volcanoes of the Azores: Sao Miguel

This seven-night holiday focusses on the main island of Sao Miguel, and your time is divided between the capital Ponta Delgada in the west and the Furnas Valley in the east. You’ll visit the great western crater at Sete Cidades, the thermal vents at Ferraria, the central Fogo volcanic massive and its hot springs, and the caldeiras geysers and lakeside cooking holes in Furnas – all in the capable hands of our friendly and engaging guides

Our guides have a plan, but tours are private, flexible and you’re not held to a strict timetable – they’re also a treasure trove of in-depth local knowledge, and their insight will unveil the Azores extraordinary geology, and its influence over the islands’ history, culture and cuisine.

The Geology

The Azores archipelago straddles the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, at a junction point between the North American, Nubian and Eurasian tectonic plates. The islands owe their very existence to this junction – the ‘Azores Platform’, as it’s known – and it extends from the small islands of Flores and Corvo in the west to Santa Maria in the east.

It’s geologically complex: Flores and Corvo sit on the western-side of the plate boundary between the North American and Eurasian plates, with the other seven islands of the Azores on the eastern-side. The plates are slowly moving apart, increasing the distance between Flores and the main island of Sao Miguel by around 25mm each year.

The islands of Faial and Pico are closest to the Mid Atlantic Ridge, whilst the neighbouring island of Sao Jorge is the result of its own transform fault. Across the channel, the Terceira Rift is an alignment of volcanic peaks and tectonic basins, running from Graciosa in the northwest, through the island of Terceira to the western part of Sao Miguel.

The East Azores Fracture Zone marks the boundary between the Nubian and Eurasian plates – past Santa Maria, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge meets the Gloria fault and the western segment of the Azores-Gibraltar Fracture Zone.