Need advice on itinerary - how many days to spend on Sao Miguel & Terceira?
Hi all! I'm looking for some help deciding on how many days to spend on Sao Miguel and Terceira. We're a bit early in planning this but we are aiming for 11 full days on the Azores for around April 11-22, 2025. We're trying to experience the most we can of both islands with the time we have - currently, we have 5.5 days allocated to Sao Miguel and 3.5 days for Terceira (half days take into account air travel). We'd ideally spend the first 3 nights in Ponta Delgada, the next 3 somewhere in or close to Nordeste and the remaining days in Angra do Heroismo. Another detail is that we'll be travelling around Easter/Holy week with a tentative plan to fly into Terceira on Good Friday in hopes of catching some of the Easter traditions throughout the weekend. If anyone has any experience, tips or suggestions for travelling in the Azores during that period, I would love to hear those as well!
Our rough itinerary is:
1 - Arrive in Sao Miguel and get settled, explore Ponta Delgada
2 - Sete Cidade region
3 - Whale watching in Vila Franca, tea plantations in the afternoon
4 - Lagoa de Fogo and drive up to the central north area afterwards (ending in Ribeira Grande, visit hot springs and views along the way)
5 - Nordeste & general east of the island area (hoping to do the Faial da Terra hike this day)
6 - Furnas
7 - Fly to Terceira early morning and get settled, explore Angra (maybe Monte Brasil? if time permits)
8 - Algar do Carvão & surrounding volcanic sights (would love to do the Mistérios Negros trail also but might be much for one day!)
9 - Viewpoints along south-east coast and make our way up to Praia de Vittoria
10 - Drive along south-west up to north-west coast up to Biscoitos and Quatro Ribeiras area
So my question is - we have one more full day we can allocate to either island and I'm wondering which one we should. For those who have experienced both islands, how many days did you feel was best for each? Which did you enjoy more? Did you feel like you had enough time on each island?
Thanks in advance!!