Experience the best of Horta

Horta, on the south-east coast of Faial island in the central Azores, is one of the best-known stops for sailing boats crossing the Atlantic. The harbour walls and marina are covered in painted symbols and boat names left by passing crews, a custom said to bring good luck. Behind the waterfront, the old town has stone pavements, churches and a museum of scrimshaw, the art of carved whale teeth.

West of town, the Capelinhos volcano rose from the sea in 1957 and 1958 and added a bare, ash-covered point to the island, where a lighthouse stands half buried and a visitor centre explains the eruption. The Caldeira, a crater two kilometres wide, can be walked around from a pass in the island's centre. Across the channel, the cone of Mount Pico, at 2,351 metres the highest peak in Portugal, is a short ferry ride away.

Faial is called the Blue Island for the hydrangea hedges that line its fields and roads in summer. Grilled limpets with garlic and butter, fresh tuna and island cheeses are staples, and the lava-stone vineyards of Pico produce wines that turn up on every list. The weather changes by the hour, and July and August are the warmest and driest months.