Things to do in Terceira

Terceira is the Azores' island of stone and ceremony: Angra do Heroismo's UNESCO-listed centre of tiled facades and volcanic-stone streets, built on a trade route that made it a required stop for ships crossing the Atlantic from the 15th century onward.

Inland, the Algar do Carvao drops visitors into a collapsed volcanic chimney, and the vineyards at Biscoitos still grow in currais walled from black lava rock. Summer brings touradas a corda, bulls run on a rope through village streets during the Divino Espirito Santo festivities, a tradition unlike anything else in the archipelago.

Flights from Ponta Delgada take under 30 minutes; renting a car for two to three days covers the island's main sites without rushing.