We traveled for the hiking, fortunately Sao miguel and the Azores are not yet on the mainstream tourist trail which is not a bad thing at all.
What you do get is cruise ships coming in on transatlantic crossings, prices seem to rise at the same time as the tourists are all herded onto expensive tour buses to get a fleeting glimpse of what is a fantastic island. Avoid the organised trips out on these days maybe.
Travel is relatively easy, the buses are fairly regular and reliable, the island is split into 3 lines which are colour coded. They are also a fraction of the price you will pay for an organised tour.
Footpaths in the towns are narrow, as are the street so you need to be aware, especially if you are driving or have small children with you.
Being volcanic in origin the landscape is varied and steep in places with good hiking routes, the main town, Ponte del garda has plenty of decent restaurants cafes, gardens along with several museums and points of interest. There are also several supermarkets and a shopping mall out from the centre.
Whale watching trips can be arranged from here and there is a public bathing area by the harbour.
It has a good feel about it and has a pleasant cafe culture later on.
The weather can be unpredictable and rainfall can be extremely heavy in places, it changes by the minute.
Far cleaner than a lot of other European destinations it is well worth a visit.
My only issue is that tourist information are not very forthcoming with information in Ponte del garda and the airport, if you don’t ask directly, they will not volunteer information which sort of defeats the point of tourist information in the first place, we used our own guide books generally, trails are not clearly marked either which I suppose goes hand in hand with there not being a well developed tourist trade.
