Our 11 AM return flight time, and six-minute drive to the airport meant that we were in no great rush to leave the apartment in the morning. Returning the rental car was uneventful, although it might've been the most diligent physical inspection I've ever seen a rental company perform. The airport wasn't particularly crowded, and we had plenty of time to check our bags and relax for a bit before going through passport control. Boarding was relatively quick and painless, in part due to being able to load from both ends of the plane.
The flight was somewhere around 6 hours; with the time change, we landed around 1:30 PM. Rather then go home, we then headed to Asbury Park to join Sabrina's family at the beach for a day or so.
I think it would have been nice to have one more day, but the weather was swiftly heading toward "wet" as we left, anyway. Even if we'd had another day of nice weather, we'd already seen most of the island. We certainly could have spent a week going on hikes, or taking the ferry to some of the other islands, but it was nice to not have to deal with the scheduling trouble of island-hopping.
It might have been nice to explore some of the other towns a bit more, like Lagoa or the Ribiera Grande area, but outside of Ponta Delgada, there didn't seem to be much to do. The entire island has a population of around 140k, which is about the size of Syracuse, NY or New Haven, CT, and half of that is in Ponta Delgada, so most of São Miguel is quite sparse.
But that's half the point of going there, really. It's about the views, and the lush hillsides, farms, and hydrangeas. Outside of the Ponta Delgada waterfront, the tea plantation, and Furnas, I don't think we saw anything resembling a tourist trap. The tour buses seemed confined to the volcanic crater lake areas, and there just weren't very many tourists anywhere else. We were more likely to come upon a tractor than a bus, especially outside of the Ponta Delgada area. That's obviously part of the attraction of going there mid-Septamber, instead of in June, but half of the people who asked where we went on vacation (back home) had no idea where the Azores are located. The guy at the liqueur factory was lamenting the drop in tourism due to increased flight costs, as well, so I don't know if our experience was typical of the shoulder season.
Our flight was, indeed, on the high end of what we've spent for plane tickets in recent memory. I'd watched prices from Newark to São Miguel off and on for a few years, and they just don't ever seem to get cheap. Once on the island, however, everything was extremely affordable; the cost of the rental car, Airbnb, gas, groceries, restaurants, and everything else combined was less than the two flights.
As for any expectations: we were surprised by the large population of cows, and the prolific cornfields. Other than that, I don't think there were any surprises. Admittedly, the pre-trip research we did was limited to a few nights of Google-searching/travel-blog-reading and an hour or so talking with some friends who had gone a few years ago; my approach is more of a "let's just drive around and see what we find" technique, much to Sabrina's distress.
Speaking of driving: outside of a few straight-and-wide highway sections, the driving resembles a rally course, in much the same way that it does on other not-at-all-flat islands where the roads follow the terrain. The narrow, sometimes-cobbled streets of Ponta Delgada (and every small town on the island) would be miserable in anything larger than a compact car. I have no idea how those tour bus drivers manage to get around. Traffic was minimal to non-existent, and parking is a delightful free-for-all, often on corners, sidewalks, or anywhere else there's open space.
I think we expected to find more road-side cafes/restaurants, but it didn't seem to be that kind of culture. The local custom appeared to be to take family/friends to one of the many, many parks and have a (rather serious) BBQ in the afternoon, rather than sitting at a cafe or restaurant. That being said, every small town had at least one bar that also served Nescafe and the local tea. Some of them were more like coffee shops that also served beer and wine, too.
We did not try the local culinary experience of cozido das Furnas (the strew cooked by geothermal heat), because ~80F and humid isn't exactly "give me a hot bowl of hearty stew" weather. I think our food experience can be summarized as: we enjoyed decent tapas in Ponta Delgada, with some long lines; we had bread, cheese, and custard pastries at every available opportunity; most other options were fast or casual food like burgers, sandwiches, french fries. Every beach area had a shack or cart selling junk food, beer, wine, and Ben & Jerry's ice cream cups/bars.
I'm not suggesitng there aren't better options; we weren't on a journey of culinary exploration, and we often were just not in the right place at the right time for finding decent food. Looking at a list on Tripadvisor, for example, and finding some of those establishments on a map, confirms our experience: the restaurants are not on the main ring road, generally. You'd have to know where you were going ahead of time, and seek them out.
It was a great trip, and we got a thorough overview of the entire island. We could easily have spent an entire week on São Miguel, like this couple who has a very in-depth blog with itineraries and instagram-ready photos. Every day, we had stunning views and perfect weather. There are scenic viewpoints all over the island, which is the main attraction in my opinion. It's also a small slice of Europe, especially in Ponta Delgada, but with a shorter flight and fewer crowds. I had originally thought it might be nice to see a few of the other islands, but I don't know that I'd go back just for that. Azores Airlines does offer a stopover option, though only from JFK.
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