Furnas Day Tour from Ponta Delgada: Gorreana Tea, Hot Springs and the Vila Franca Islet

São Miguel keeps its geothermal half in one valley, and this day covers it from Ponta Delgada. Pick-ups start at 8:45, so be at the agreed place by then. The first stop is Gorreana, the oldest tea plantation in Europe and part of the only region on the continent that still grows tea. The tasting is free and you can walk out into the fields afterwards. Furnas takes the middle of the day. The valley is heated from underneath: hot springs to bathe in at the Terra Nostra park, steam rising off the caldeiras beside the village, and lunch built on the stew of mixed meats that cooks for hours in holes dug into the hot ground. Other dishes are on the menu if that is not for you. After lunch the route takes in Furnas Lake and the chapel on its shore, then drops back to the coast at Vila Franca do Campo, where the islet sits offshore. The last stop is a pineapple plantation, with a walk through it and a drink at the bar at the end. One thing to settle at booking: a reservation made less than 48 hours ahead may limit which language the tour can be run in.