A Month on Pico Island, Azores
In spring 2022, we spent one month on Pico Island, Azores. Here is a summary of our month on Pico Island.
About Us
Darren and I are early retirees who left corporate careers in our late 40s. We are nomadic except for three months a year when we spend time in our tiny home in the Great Plains of the United States.
We spend 40 - 120 days per year thru-hiking in the EU and about 90 days per year in the Caribbean and Central America. This blog documents our journey to nomadic living and financial independence, as well as the adjustments we’ve made to make the lifestyle work.
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Where is Pico Island, Azores, Portugal?
When people in the U.S. think of islands, they typically think of the Caribbean Islands, Hawaii, and or some coastal islands like Martha’s Vineyard or Bald Head.
Not many Americans know that there are hundreds of islands in the Atlantic and that several in the North Atlantic Ocean are accessible from the US by direct, non-stop flights.
The Azores are an archipelago of nine Portuguese islands located about 2000 nautical miles east of Boston, Massachusetts, and 1,000 nautical miles west of the Portuguese mainland. The largest of these nine islands is Pico which also happens to be the third largest Portuguese island.
How Do I Get to Pico Island?
Find out how to get to Pico Island from your local airport by using our favorite app, Rome2Rio. Just enter the Pico Island airport code PIX as your destination code.
You’ll find nonstop flights via SATA airlines from Lisbon to Pico Island. From the US, you’d typically fly from Boston directly to the airport on one of the neighboring islands in the Azores, such as in Terceira (TER) or Ponta Delgada (PDL), and then take an inter-island connecting flight to Pico Island Airport (PIX).
Before our trip to Pico, we spent a couple of weeks visiting some friends in Belgium and Germany. It is often more cost-effective to fly from the continent of Europe to the Azores, then fly from the Azores to the US rather than booking a flight from continental Europe back to the US.
Some Portuguese airlines, SATA and TAP, run promotions with reduced transatlantic airfare if you stay a day or more in one of the Portuguese islands between the US and mainland Europe. We found one of these promotions from Frankfurt, Germany, through the Azores, with a final destination of Boston on TAP airlines. We used the opportunity to visit a friend in Boston and do some sightseeing before returning to our final destination in Kansas through a nonstop Delta flight to Kansas City.
How Do I Get Around on Pico Island?
We are avid thru-hikers and enjoy walking wherever we travel. However, with just one month in Pico and many beautiful sights in remote areas, we decided to rent a car. We got a standard-sized rental car from Hertz for just under 1,000€ for one month, including insurance.
A comfortable bus service goes around the island; however, it did not go to some of the remote hiking trails we wanted to do on the island.
When Did You Visit Pico Island?
We visited Pico Island from early March 2022 to early April 2022. The majority of Pico’s tourists visit between May and August. During their busy peak season, finding a rental car can be difficult and reservations at restaurants are nearly mandatory (or waiting a long time for a table). This was not the case in March when we visited. The island felt very relaxed and quiet.
The waters of the Atlantic moderate the weather in the Azores. It never gets extremely hot or cold. The weather in March can change a lot on Pico, but it is generally mild. While there, we saw fresh snow on Mount Pico two times. It did rain quite a bit during our visit, but most rain showers only lasted a short time. The weather forecasts were good, so we could plan our long walks between rain showers and windy spells.
The changing season was a minor inconvenience, and we could experience everything we set out to do during our month in Pico.
How Did You Hear About Pico Island?
While Darren was wrapping up his corporate career, we started to learn about other early retirees moving to Portugal, either on D7 or Golden Visas. We had previously been to Portugal in 2017 and really enjoyed the food, wine, and culture, and were looking forward to spending more time there in our early retirement.
We joined a few “Move to Portugal” Facebook groups and started to watch YouTube videos featured in the group on other couples moving part-time or full-time to Portugal.
We began watching YouTube videos on the Azores while we lived in Wilmington, NC, during the peak of the Covid pandemic. When I was in Gent, Belgium, in late 2021, I picked up a map of the Azores and a book on hikes in the Azores. We also have a former colleague whose father was from the Azores.
As we learned about the natural beauty, the island’s location, rural lifestyle, hiking, and budget-friendly cost, we knew we needed to go. Interestingly, as we were planning our trip, we learned that my father had briefly visited the Azores in the early 1970s while in the Navy.
YouTube Channel on Pico Island
One of the YouTube channels we started to follow during the Pandemic was Our Journey on Pico. We were looking for a channel that featured another couple in midlife enjoying life in Portugal and North America. Carlos and Laura have created many great videos about Pico that provide excellent insight into life on Pico, whether you are going for a short visit or planning to move there.
As luck would have it, Carlos and Laura were on Pico at our visit, and we got to meet up with them and go on some excursions. They are just as kind and helpful as they appear in the videos.
We look forward to hearing about their projects on Pico, including home remodels underway, and helping visitors have a great time on Pico through their venture Pico Island Holiday Experts.
Where to Stay on Pico Island
Carlos connected us with Silvia from Vista Montanha as we expressed interest in a self-catering apartment or house. Silvia communicated about the rental before our stay and during the visit. The units are about five years old and feel like new. Since it was just the two of us, we picked one of the smaller units called Vila das Vinhas.
Our unit was tranquil, with views of the ocean and Pico mountain, as well as the village of Sao Mateus. Though we could have taken our rental car, it was an easy walk up the hill to the grocery store, where Silvia and her family maintained an excellent stock of staples.
The house has a sleeper sofa for a third or fourth guest in the living room and one bathroom with a shower. The kitchen was sleek and modern, with all the necessary items for cooking on a range top and an outdoor grill. We enjoyed the cozy fireplace and appreciated that we could pick up pieces of firewood along the road.
Where to Eat on Pico Island
On our slow travels, we rent self-catering apartments. As a result, we are at home more than at hotels and can cook most meals ourselves. However, about once per week, we like to dine in local restaurants featuring local cuisine.
While on Pico, we enjoyed the following restaurants:
Fonte Tavern. Great for appetizers, tapas, and drinks. We got to sample a local liquor.
Restarante Fonte Cuisine. Octopus. Excellent food and very reasonable prices.
Cella Bar. Great views of Faial Island, crashing waves, and beautiful architecture of the building.
Additionally, we visited a few casual bars during our stay.
What to Do on Pico Island
Hiking on Pico Island
Summer is prime time to hike in the Azores, and as we found, so are the shoulder seasons of spring and fall. There are at least 13 long hikes on Pico, with additional hiking on nearby Faial and Sao Jorge. To help guide our hiking experience, we purchased this kindle book on hikes in the Azores. It includes 70 walks in the Azores.
In addition to taking these official hikes, you can create your own hike simply by walking on the backroads of Pico through the villages and farmland.
Wine Tasting and Tour on Pico Island
Wine production on Pico Island began in the mid-15th century, not long after the first settlers arrived. Before our visit, we knew that wine production here was quite different than any other wine region we had been to before and were anxious to see it firsthand. Some of the vineyards on Pico Island were designated as a UNESCO heritage site in 2004 due to the unique farming adaptations and use of human-made stone walls around small fields to protect the grape plants from harsh weather.
Over the last 20 years, the awareness of Pico wines has grown, and there has been a renewed interest in wine production on Pico. As a result, many fields that were once vineyards but had become overgrown with trees and shrubs are now being cleared and planted to vines again.
We took our walking tour based on the Azores guidebook above; however, we wanted to learn more about the region's agriculture than what can be found in a hiking guide. We contacted Jose Costa of Pico Wine Tours. He offers excellent tours for 45 Euros each. The tour we took was about four hours. We got to see a wine museum, visit a winery, and do tastings of Pico wine. He took us to his vineyard to show how the vines are grafted and trimmed.
Fishing on Pico Island
Fishermen have been fishing the waters off the coast of Pico for over 500 years. Today sport fishing is an everyday activity around Pico and throughout the Azores. Anglers can target a range of fish, including snappers, groupers, Mahi, tuna, swordfish, and marlin.
The best fishing is between spring and fall (May - October). Since fishing is slower during the winter and the seas are typically rougher, we only went out when we were there. We look forward to returning and including some fishing at that time.
Whale Watching
Whaling was historically a big part of income on the island. However, whale hunting was banned in 1984 and is now being replaced by whale watching. Unfortunately, we were there just a little before the prime whale-watching season from April to October.
Explore Volcanos on Pico Island
We took a guided tour of a cave created by a lava tube and walked on lava flows at Gruta das Torres. The knowledgeable guide informed us about geothermal activities and the history of the cave and answered questions. It’s a very informative and fun activity!
Another site where we learned more about the geology and formation of Pico and the Azores was the Volcanoes House. The exhibits, film, and tour describe historical and current seismic events that have built and shaped these islands. This is still a seismically active area at the intersection of the North American, Eurasian, and Nubian tectonic plates.
Did You Like Pico Island?
We enjoyed the island a lot. A big highlight for us was the depth of knowledge each of our tour guides had on their topics of expertise: winemaking, viticulture, volcanoes, and agriculture. In addition, it was easy to get around as native English speakers with a vocabulary of only about 200 Portuguese words.
The food and wine on Pico were great, both at the grocery stores and in restaurants. We found all the food we purchased to be of great value. In addition to items from the Azores, most of what you’d find on the mainland of Portugal can be found on Pico by asking around.
We plan to return; however, we would pick a slightly warmer month or two in a shoulder season. We’d consider April and May as well as September and October. Pico is a top-rated destination for European travelers in June, July, and August, so we would likely avoid those months unless we got a great deal on airfare from the States.
As nomads, we liked that we could live as locals on the island. With a rental car and Silvia’s grocery store just up the road from the rental home, it was effortless to source our groceries, fresh vegetables, and wines. In addition, Darren went to the local barber and got a very good haircut.
We liked the slower pace of life on Pico. We highly recommend it for people who want to experience a tranquil, rural location with great meals and hiking. Check out the shoulder season (spring and fall) to avoid crowds.
