About Graciosa

Graciosa is the northernmost island of the Central Group in the Azores archipelago, an autonomous region of Portugal in the North Atlantic. With a landscape dominated by clay and whitewashed houses, Graciosa is known locally as ‘the white island’. Offering the perfect scenery for a relaxing getaway, it’s dotted with historic buildings, traditional windmills and picturesque vineyards. It also has the most rural feel of the Azorean islands. As well as being a great location for hiking, diving and fishing, Graciosa boasts natural hot springs in Carapacho to the south, where you can soak in 40°C water renowned for its healing properties. From the town of Praia on the east coast, you can choose from a wide range of sailings to most islands in the Azores, making Graciosa a good departure point for exploring this idyllic archipelago.

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.