Driving Your Own Buggy Around the Sete Cidades Caldera: 5 km Across, 400 m Deep

You drive the buggy yourself, on road and off it, around a caldera five kilometres across and 400 metres deep. Sete Cidades holds four lagoons: Santiago, Rasa, Azul and Verde, connected to each other and photographed more than anything else in the Azores. They are one of the seven natural wonders of Portugal in the non-marine water category. The legend says the colours come from a princess with blue eyes and a shepherd with green ones. The actual reason is geometry: Lagoa Verde sits in a tighter bowl and takes its colour from the vegetation around it, while Lagoa Azul is wide enough to reflect the sky. The route stops at 845 metres, the highest point of the volcano, with all four lagoons in view, and at the Cumeeiras viewpoint, which looks at the crater from the opposite side to Vista do Rei and, turning round, over the north coast and its pastures. On the way there, the Wall of the Nine Windows, an aqueduct built between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to carry water from the Canário lake to Ponta Delgada, which had none. It was restored by the municipality after years of decay. The day starts with a briefing on driving and safety. Cancel at least 24 hours before departure for a full refund.