We’ve gotten really lucky with tour guides. In Iceland, Audunn showed us the wonders of the Snaefellsnes peninsula with a side of adventure. In France, we got to drive the countryside with two passionate, charismatic locals in a vintage Citroen. And in Belize, we snorkeled reefs with a Mestiza guide who took time to teach us about her culture AND about all the incredible creatures we saw. Thankfully, our luck continued on our winter trip to Terceira, where we were fortunate enough to meet Juca and Marisa of Trilhas Outdoor Adventure Tours, and experience some incredible Terceira hiking tours with Juca’s expert guidance. When researching things to do on the island, Trilhas came up frequently, and other bloggers and regular travelers, alike, raved about their experiences. Now, we see why, and we can’t wait to go back and see our new Portuguese family again.
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The Trilhas signature best view tour
Have you ever visited a cousin or uncle who has a penchant (and flair!) for storytelling, telling jokes, and making their hometown feel like an absolute playground? That’s what it’s like to take a best views tour with Trilhas.
Juca picked us up from our hotel lobby at 8:30am on our first full day on Terceira. We piled our stuff into his van, and off we went. First, we tried to find a good view of the Serra do Cume (the island’s giant crater), but fog had drifted in, making a clear view impossible. So, instead, we kept driving and stopped at a shallow cave for some fabulous seaside photos. The waves were fairly aggressive, and the sound of them absolutely roared against the back of the cave once we got down to it, but we hung out while Juca talked to local residents to gauge the safety of the area before we even ventured down to the cave mouth.
Then, he took us to a viewpoint for Goat Island. He taught us about wearing the proper colors for our environment if we planned to take photos, and helped us take some great trick photos with our phones and cameras. He even loaned Luke a jacket when he wasn’t dressed brightly enough for a shot. From there, we went to São Sebastião to see the oldest church on the island. There, Juca also stopped to teach us about the Cult of the Holy Spirit, and the importance of all these little tiny colorful buildings we kept passing. They’re called imperios, and there are 72 of them on the island (see, Juca?! We remembered!).
Other stops included amazing Algar do Carvao, the Virgin Mary at Praia da Vitoria, the Black Forest, and sunset at the pools of Biscoitos.
Perhaps coolest of all was the fact that, when I said “can we stop and get a picture of the bulls?” or “look at that fog! Wouldn’t that be beautiful?” Juca would find a way to stop and we’d hop out and get ad hoc pictures that ended up being incredible.
At every stop, planned or not, Juca always had photo ideas ready to go, and would snatch a phone or camera from one of us to get the picture he had in his head. He also spent a fair amount of time getting to know our cameras and teaching us all the things he’d learned about photography in his career. All this, in addition to making sure we knew the significance of all the places we stopped. By the time we came back to our hotel around 6:30pm, our brains AND our bodies were exhausted in the best possible way.
One of the most unique photo tours on Terceira
As if the best view tour wasn’t enough, we also took a tour specifically revolving around taking stunning photos. But instead of having them heavily feature the island’s most stunning backdrops, Juca chose places that would highlight his subjects (us). We went down into a few different caves, to a beautiful viewpoint with an umbrella, and deep into the Black Forest. He gave us object lessons in light painting, manual camera settings, bracketing, taking candid selfies (it’s a thing), and more.
In the first cave we explored, we saw tags hanging from its moss-covered ceiling. Juca told us that these microorganisms – which, when covered with dew, look gold in the light – were actually fairly rare and were being studied by local scientists. He cautioned us not to touch ANYTHING, we took a photo or two, and left. He assured us he never stays long in that cave, because he doesn’t want human touch or breath to damage the flora. In the second cave, he taught us how to use flashlights of different strengths to paint the areas around photo subjects in dark places. We came out with some pretty badass photos!
Then, we headed back to the Black Forest, for a longer couples photography session. We got photos that looked like Luke was levitating, and pictures that show me exploring in the fog. And a few joyful shots of Luke lifting me up into a stream of sunlight. I don’t think either of us has had more fun in recent memory.
Ever taken an archaeology tour? We have!
When you think of archaeological tours in Europe, you (like us) probably think of exploring barrows and henges in the UK, or exploring ancient cave paintings in France and Spain. Or even poking around in Roman ruins in Italy. But on Terceira, the concept of archaeology is a fraught one. According to Juca, the government maintains that the Portuguese were the first to land on the island, no exceptions. This, despite the fact that academics – with Juca’s help – have found evidence of a much older group that may have once inhabited the island. While not much is known about who they were or where they went, Juca showed us what are likely to be the remains of their culture.
We started on the base at Monte Brasil and hiked past the modern buildings, out into the old Spanish and Portuguese ramparts. Past that, you can encounter caves that have been carved out and altered by human hands to create channels, cisterns, and smaller pools for water. We also explored some of the Medieval structures, which are in surprisingly good shape.
(Note: Don’t try to visit here on your own – admission to the base is extremely limited, because it’s a military installation, and you have to be registered to be able to venture where we did.)
From there, we left Monte Brasil and headed just outside of Angra do Heroismo, to an area near Cafe Roberto. Over the course of a few hours, Juca led us through fairly dense brush to show us petroglyphs and other inscriptions on various boulders and rock faces that sample tests indicate may be a few thousand years old. Deeper inside the forest, he led us to several stone shelters that are obviously man-made, one which has a stone seat on the top of it. (It feels very throne-like, and I loved sitting in it!). Apparently, someone also recently set some very strange rock climbing gear in the stone structures, as well. Even though we both climb, neither of us could figure out what the hell those folks were thinking.
Finally, we headed outside of São Brás, where Juca showed us a small complex of caves that have very clearly been altered by man. One cave contains what appears to be a carved out columbario (or pidgeon house), while another that wasn’t accessible to us thanks to torrential rains having covered part of the entrance with debris and sediment, has yet to be fully explored. Note that these areas do sit on private land, and Juca is the only guide-slash-outside person who has sanctioned access to visit. And right next door to the caves? A banana plantation!
Juca’s passion for all of these structures and the history this island may have beyond direct European influence is almost palpable in the way he teaches and tells stories. His face lights up when he speaks about archaeology, and about all the work he’s done to try to get the government and various academic institutions involved in researching further. Regardless of what the truth is, you’ll leave Juca’s tour an absolute believer – we sure did.
The best Azores hiking tours, hands down
Here’s the thing: unlike some of Trilhas’s other tours, you can hike the Baias da Agualva and the Misterios Negros trails on your own. They’re public, well-known trails with easy-to-access trailheads. But we wouldn’t have traded our time with Juca for anything.
By this point in our trip, Luke and I were both pretty tired. Per usual, we’d packed our itinerary fairly full, and we’d had a number of late nights (thank you, Terceira Carnival!). But we had no idea what we were in for on this adventure. When Juca met us in our hotel lobby, per usual, he mentioned that rain was in the forecast, so we’d need to choose our hikes carefully. He asked if we’d rather have rain in the morning or in the afternoon. We chose the morning, so he took us inland, where the clouds looked a little more ominous than they did on the coast in Angra do Heroismo, and led us to the Misterios Negros trailhead.
Guys, you might think you’re prepared, but WOW. In winter, the Misterios Negros hike – the Black Mysteries, so named because volcanic eruptions had killed and blackened all the vegetation in the area prior to Portuguese exploration – feels like you’ve just mixed the rainforest of Belize or Costa Rica with a rock scramble from Virginia or New England and added just a tiny smidgen of the Florida Everglades. The first leg of the trail was fairly easy – we avoided mud handily. But as we got deeper in, the obstacles got bigger, and the mud and standing water got deeper. In many places, we ended up walking across small, nearly submerged logs as a substitute for solid ground. And then, right in the middle of the hike, after we’d finished the wonderfully challenging scramble, the sky finally opened and we got completely drenched. When the rain stopped, we paused for pictures amidst some lovely trees, and then continued leisurely on our way.
In between hikes, we stopped to lunch with Marisa at Snack Bar Sorriso for some of the best fried chicken we’ve ever had – and that comes from two people raised in the American South!! Plus, Sorriso also bakes fresh bread and pastries, which we had the privilege to try, as well. And now we’re spoiled!
In the afternoon, Juca drove us to the north side of the island so we could hike the Baias da Agualva. Literally the Bays of Agualva, what makes this trail so unique is that you start by walking along typical Azorean farmland, and end up standing above not just one but many impressively tall, carved sea cliffs. While we were there, the remnants of the storm that soaked us inland joined us. We didn’t get more rain, but the wind absolutely ROARED, and the waves crashed pretty violently against the cliffs. Both sounds together verged on deafening, but the sights made up for it. Plus, Juca taught us about the landscape as we went, dragged us up steep paths when we got tired, and positioned us for some absolutely stunning photos.
After 8 hours of hiking – and a blissful hour of fried chicken heaven – Juca dropped us back off at our hotel where we promptly collapsed into bed to wait for dinnertime.
TL;DR: the best part about Trilhas Outdoor Adventure Tours is that you’re family.
What sticks out to both of us the most isn’t just the great photos we have or the adventures we took, but the fact that Juca and Marisa took us completely into their lives while we were on Terceira. And even after – Marisa texted us to make sure we’d landed safely in the States! They invited us into their home, shared meals with us, and made us feel like we were visiting family. And we’re not alone – search up some reviews for Trilhas and you’ll find tons of people saying the same thing. It’s that fact, actually, that had us booking in the first place. Every time we passed by a bus full of tourists (or, god forbid, ended up on one, as we did one day), we felt so thankful that we decided to book with Trilhas and really got to know a part of the island and the culture that simply being a tourist can’t show.
How to book with Trilhas
Head over to the Trilhas website to pick out the tours you’re most interested in. Or, even better, do what we did and email Marisa with your interests and availability, and she can help you create a custom itinerary for your time on Terceira. Because we let her know in advance what days we had free, she was able to build our hiking schedule and make sure everything fit around our pre-existing plans. Their prices are incredibly affordable and listed on the website, and start around E30/person for some of the hiking tours, then go up from there based on the activity and duration.
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Aw this was such an awesome reminder of an incredible trip. I want to go back too!