DRIVING & RENTAL CARS IN THE AZORES: A DETAILED GUIDE.
Anyone who has followed our blog for a while will know – we hate renting cars when we are overseas. I don’t know if this is an insight into our relationship that nobody needs to hear, but we have a history of some quite sticky disagreements that have been caused simply by hiring cars.
First, was Argentina. Emma’s blind determination to drive down a dirt road to get to a “hidden hiking spot”, resulted in a huge tire blow out and subsequent argy-bargy.
In Madeira, we parked in a private car parking space and ended up getting panicked calls from our rental agent, who had in turn had angry calls from the police who had in turn had angry calls from the owner of said car park. Suffice to say, words were exchanged (once we had moved the car.)
So, when we travelled to the Azores, knowing that we would absolutely had to hire cars, we were quite literally in the brace position expecting everything to go wrong. Imagine our surprise to find that hiring five cars and driving on five islands in the Azores, was an easy breezy experience, with no incidents or arguments. Smooth sailing.
In this guide, we shall share everything that we learnt about driving in the Azores and our best tips to help you explore the islands with as few issues as possible. Stress free ideally!
Do you need a hire car in the Azores?
Based on our experience visiting the Azores and our research, you will need a car in the Azores if you want to see the islands in any level of detail. Having a car means you have the freedom to explore hiking trails, beaches, small villages and tourist attractions that you absolutely could not get to by bus.
We travelled out of season (December) and there weren’t even buses operating between the airport and the main city. So, you really can’t rely on public transport as a way to get around the islands.
All of that said, if you were willing to pay for taxis and guided tours, you could see a lot in the Azores without a car. This is particularly true of São Miguel Island, where tour operators can take you anywhere on the island – Pedro, of Azores Tours is excellent for this!
We met an American couple who had chosen not to hire a car and instead took tours everywhere, they were able to visit the same five islands that we did and see a fair bit, but I’d hazard a guess that they spent a lot more on tours than we did on cars. To give you an idea, most of our hire cars cost less than €10 a day.
How to rent a car in the Azores
How to book/which company
Cars can be easily rented online via various booking agents. We like using booking.com, as it’s easy to use and the rates for hire cars tend to be good. It also means that our hotels and car booking details are stored in one place.
In the Azores, the hire car companies are mainly small and independent, you won’t find the big well known companies on the islands.
That said, we used Ilha Verde for four of the five cars we hired – I believe they have an office on each island in the Azores and they seem to dominate the market. As I previously mentioned, we had no issues with cars we hired from this company and found their hiring processes really straightforward.
I would strongly advise you to book in advance for the best prices. There are finite numbers of hire cars on the islands and you could come unstuck if you don’t book.
Another reason we use booking.com to secure our car deal is that you can cancel your car 48 hours before collection if you need to or if you find a better deal.
Collection & drop off
Each island tends to have two collection or drop off points. The first option is the airport. And the second is normally downtown, which tends to be in the main town of the island in or very close to the ferry port.
If you are using a combination of ferries and airplanes, you may be best off arranging collection and drop off to different points on the island e.g. collecting at the airport and returning to the ferry port. The car hire companies will allow you to do this but may charge a small amount extra. We paid €11 to do this per car – probably less than a taxi would have cost if we had needed that instead.
Documents/ admin/insurance
To collect a hire car in the Azores, you’ll need the credit card that you used to book the car – normally this is required for the security deposit. Don’t forget to also take along your driving licence and passport.
Your drivers licence must be in Latin script, if this is not the case you will need an international drivers permit.
Finally, car insurance works the same as everywhere else that we have hired a car. Normally you’ll be given basic insurance with the car and the option to upgrade to more extensive cover. We have a separate annual hire car insurance policy, so relied on this for our rental cars in the Azores.
What kind of car do you need in the Azores
I don’t think there’s any particular type of car that you need in the Azores.
A 4×4 is absolutely not needed, perhaps the exception would be if you plan to go on a frolic on all the rough interior farm tracks – but I’m not sure why you would.
We always hired the smallest (cheapest) cars available and were able to drive up to Pico Mountain, The Caldeira in Faial and pretty much anywhere we wanted to.
There are also some perks to hiring a smaller car, particularly if you plan to drive in the capital towns, like Horta and Ponta Delgada which have fairly narrow streets (having been originally created for horse and cart.)
Overall, it’s best to pick a car that suits you and what you’re used to driving, your budget and passenger/luggage requirements. If you have any particular needs, like a child seat then you can book this in advance with the company.
Is Manual or Automatic best for driving in the Azores
I don’t mean to show off, but I did drive manual in the Azores. And, it was absolutely fine. There are hills a plenty in the Azores, but you’ll find that most hire cars have engines powerful enough to deal with it – even if you do have to climb up in first or second gear.
There were a few spicy hill starts, but if you’re used to driving a manual, then you will have no issues. Compared to driving in Madeira, which has some seriously steep (basically vertical) roads, the Azores is much more straightforward.
If you prefer Automatic, you can get them, but you can expect to pay more – maybe double the rate to get one. And, I’d suggest booking way in advance.
What side of the road to drive on and other rules
In the Azores, driving is on the right side of the road (or the wrong side of the road to us Brits.)
There are speed limit signs, but no that often. If you do see them, they will indicate speed limits in kms and not in mile per hour. Expect 50km/h in and around towns and 80km/h elsewhere. I believe there may be some 100km/h highways somewhere in the Azores, but we did not come across them. In fact, I don’t recall really getting into 5th gear all that often!
I’m not aware of any weird driving rules in the Azores – the usual applies, seat belts must be warn, and you should be in the left hand lane approaching roundabouts unless you’re taking the first exit (but I think that’s quite a universal rule!)
We were told that you should always park in the direction of traffic if parking on the side of the road, but this rule is not universally followed in the Azores.
Apparently being the navigator in the Azores is a harder job than being the driver. Or so says John. But in all seriousness, it’s best to have someone navigating for you or have a phone mounted to assist you as a sat nav. Turnings can come out of nowhere and despite the islands being small, it’s easy to get a little lost.
We predominately relied upon Google Maps to help us get around when we were driving in the Azores. For the most part, maps were fairly accurate and helped us get to car parks and our destination. One thing I would caveat, is that Google Maps does sometimes want to take you across country on roads that are best avoided in hire cars. Instead, always try to stick to the main roads (see more on this below.)
What are the roads like on the Azores
Driving on each island in the Azores is a different experience and you will find a variety of roads.
On São Miguel Island, the roads are mostly well maintained around the island, including interior roads. On Terceira, Faial and Pico we found that the roads around the edge of the island i.e. near the coast, were well surfaced and easy to drive on. Conversely, interior roads were sometimes narrow, steep and badly surfaced. The exceptions being direct routes to tourist sites.
On São Jorge, there is one main road from the West to the East of the island which runs along the south coast, but you can’t easily drive around the circumference of the island without getting to the farm tracks.
In towns, you will find narrow streets, sometimes with cobble stones. And, be prepared for some quite spicy roads up hills aand down to the coast. These offer epic views, but tricky and tight turns. There’s a reason that there are rally driving events held in the Azores!
Parking in the Azores
Probably my biggest concern before driving in a new country, is understating the parking situation.
Luckily, parking in the Azores is an absolute breeze. We were able to drive up to all major beauty spots, beaches and hiking spots and park for free. Normally there are lay-bys with no parking restrictions or small parking lots.
For ease, I’d recommend booking accommodation with parking. This is normally straightforward, perhaps with the exception of hotels in Ponta Delgada and Angra do Heroismo. If you can’t get parking at your accommodation, there are free car parks in both capitals that are easy to find on Google. We parked overnight in these car parks and had no issues.
I will caveat this, we visited in December – off-season. In peak season, July and August, locals tell us that parking at beauty spots, parks and beaches is much trickier due to sheer numbers of cars. So, for the most popular spots, you’ll want to arrive early or have a backup plan if you can’t get a space.
Ferry hopping with a car or not
One question we had before we visited the Azores was whether to hire multiple cars or one car that we could take to different islands. We took flights between some islands (Terceira to Sao Miguel for example) so that decision was made for us, but did take ferries between Faial, Pico and Sao Jorge.
Some hire car companies in the Azores will let you take cars on ferries to different islands i.e. pick up and drop off on different islands.
There are pros and cons to this approach – it’s a little bit more expensive to do this. You’ll pay more for ferries as a car passenger than foot passenger. And, you’ll pay more to the hire car company to pick up and drop off on different islands. Personally, the idea of driving onto the teeny ferries gives me the heebie-jeebies.
Of course, the pro is that you keep one car and don’t have to do all the paperwork more than once.
If you are visiting multiple islands and do hire a few cars, we would suggest hiring with the same company. This way, you may be able to transfer your security deposit when you pick up your new car, meaning you don’t have to pay multiple deposits.
Our top tips for driving in the Azores
Here are our top tips for driving in the Azores based on our experience driving on five islands.
1/ Pay attention to speed limits
There are speed limits in the Azores, although at times it may not feel like it. I don’t think we saw one traffic officer our entire trip. There aren’t that many speed limit signs, so it’s best that you stay aware of the limits on certain types of roads.
2/ Look out for animals
Obviously wherever you drive you should look out for animals, but in the Azores there is one particular animal that can cause a bit of an issue on roads. Cows.
Farmers frequently move their cattle from field to field and this can involve herding them along a road. The first time that we came across a giant herd of cows, we weren’t quite sure what to do. But followed the lead of a local driver behind us. Basically, you have to just carry on driving very slowly, rather than coming to a stop. The cows will eventually move out of the way.
You may also come across rogue cows or horses on their own, as well as the odd dog.
3/ Plan your gas station visits
Gas stations are easy to find, but not that frequent on the islands. You tend to find them close to the capital on the smaller islands.
Be aware that petrol stations in the Azores are not open 24 hours, or late. So it’s best to plan accordingly.
4/ Don’t use farm roads
The Azores are full of farm tracks. These tend to be roads that are not maintained, with gravel and pot holes. Generally these are the roads that criss-cross the island inland.
Conversely, the roads around the island along the coast tend to be well looked after and easy to drive on.
5/ Trust your gut
A few times, we started to drive down a road and just felt that it wasn’t right. Perhaps because it was too steep for our car, too narrow or badly surfaced.
If this happens, we learnt that it’s best to just turn around and try a different route.
6/ Stick to the “tourist roads”
Invariably, if you are going to a major tourist attraction in the Azores, there will be one main route that all tourists take to get there. Normally, this means that there is a good road to take i.e. decent asphalt and no pot holes.
Most of the time, the main tourist route will take you from the capital of the island directly to the tourist site.
Where things can go a bit wrong, is if you try to take a different route. For example, to get to The Caldeira in Faial there are two routes – farm tracks and the main road. We attempted to take an alternate route because we wanted to visit a few things on the way to The Caldeira – but this meant we ended up on dodgy roads full of pot holes.
Hence, stick to the direct tourist route!
7/ Keep an eye on the weather
The weather can turn really quickly in the Azores. In turn, this can mean that road conditions change fast too. It’s best to keep check on the weather forecast so you can avoid driving in torrential rain or storms if you’re not comfortable to do so.
8/ Carry some cash
Most gas stations take Visa and Mastercard, but we did come across a few that would only accept cash or Portuguese bank cards. Carrying cash means you have flexibility about which gas station you use.
9/ Let locals overtake
Drivers in the Azores is not particularly aggressive, but locals can be quite speedy because they are much more used to the roads than tourists. We found that we were frequently overtaken by locals. I should stress, we never really had an issue with tailgating, but I always made sure to slow down or pull over to allow people to pass.
In my experience, it’s better to slow down and allow people to pass than feel pressured into driving quicker than you want to.
10/ Make sure you have a spare tire
Your rental car should come with a spare tire in the boot. Be sure to check that it is there and that the quality is OK. Just in case you have to use it!
11/ Make sure your phone works
One bonus of being on a small island is that help can get to you quite quickly if you need it. Hire car companies will always give you an emergency contact number to call if you need it. Be sure to have a mobile phone which works so you can make the call if you need to.
When we travel, we use Airalo E-Sims. We’ve always had a great experience with these – easy to install and work well in country.
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