Best tour guide on the island! - Carlos was an amazing guide!!! He arrived on time, and was a wellspring of information. We discussed dozens of topics covering history, geology, population, politics, flora and fauna, and any other topic we proposed. What an educational, informative, and delightful tour. He adapted the schedule to our preferences and made us feel completely at home. I recommend his tour without reservation.

Terrific tour with OUTSTANDING guide Rita! - This exceptional tour is a day-full of OMG views and authentically-local interactions. Best-ever guide RITA — who lives in the crater — took us to heart as she showed us the jaw-dropping views and verdant wonderland that is western São Miguel. Rita pickedup my wife and I right at our cruise ship’s dock. Then, for about six delightful hours Rita regaled us with the island’s history, AND gave us a native’s detailed perspective into life on the island. Start-to-finish, this was an excellent tour with world-class guideship by Rita, certainly among the best my wife and I have had in over forty years of travel. HIGHEST marks!

Terrific tour with OUTSTANDING guide Rita! - This exceptional tour is a day-full of OMG views and authentically-local interactions. Best-ever guide RITA — who lives in the crater — took us to heart as she showed us the jaw-dropping views and verdant wonderland that is western São Miguel. Rita pickedup my wife and I right at our cruise ship’s dock. Then, for about six delightful hours Rita regaled us with the island’s history, AND gave us a native’s detailed perspective into life on the island. Start-to-finish, this was an excellent tour with world-class guideship by Rita, certainly among the best my wife and I have had in over forty years of travel. HIGHEST marks!

The BEST Private Tour - Our tour guide Rita was the absolute BEST! She picked us up at our hotel and brought us to the most amazing sites. She even worked the tour around the clouds. I would highly recommend this private tour.

Highly recommend this tour! - My husband and I spent a wonderful day with our guide Rita. She was so knowledgeable and engaging that she really made our visit to the Azores special. We toured the western part of the island, driving through her home town and learning about the customs of the people of her village and the island. The scenery was spectacular! We would really recommend this tour!

10/10 must if you’re short on time! Ask for Rita! - The morning was chilly so we were nervous about getting in any water but the hot spring was AMAZING! Rita took us to all of the photo worthy spots. Our tour ended with the pineapple plantation, everything we tried was delicious. Rita did a great job telling us about each place we visited and even took us to a local Ice cream place when we mentioned we wanted a sweet treat!

Heavenly - Rita took us on the private tour and she was amazing! She told us so much about the island, and took us to great places. We asked her to pick us up a hour earlier due to later plans and she responded immediately that she could. She never rushed us. She is such a happy person and we felt like we were part of her family. We even asked to stop for a quick bite to eat and she stopped at a store for us. Our tour was perfect in every way. When we come back again we will ask for her.

If you are looking for an amazing tour guide, book with Rita - Rita was an AMAZING tour guide!!! She showed us so many wonderful sites on the tour. We really got a feel for how the people of the Azores live while also taking in the amazing sites and views. I 100% recommend this tour with Rita! If you are looking for an amazing tour guide book with Rita, she was the best guide during our vacation with many different tour guides!

An unforgettable experience!! - I don't even know where to begin with this review. If I could, I would go way over the scale! This was really an unforgettable experience, all thanks to our guide, Rita! We booked this tour on late notice (midnight the night before) and she came in and saved us on her day off, no less. She made the experience great, and despite my family and me having only one day in São Miguel, Rita made our stay beyond memorable. The choice in locations, the sights and insights, the pacing -- it was all incredible. We saw quite a lot in the several hours we had with Rita; as for the itinerary, in no particular order, we: saw a number of landmarks (such as aqueducts), visited plenty of vistas/viewpoints, saw several of the lakes, we took a relaxing hike up to more viewpoints, we toured through several towns, we visited some of Rita's "secret spots," we went out to the coast to see the beaches (bring a swimsuit if the weather is nice!), we had some snacks and toured a pineapple plantation, and more. Everything was exciting and lovely; even despite lots of fog on the day we visited, the locations were beyond beautiful. I finished off 2 rolls of film just in the span of several hours, and I'm a sparing, broke film photographer. And despite having a packed itinerary, at no point did it feel stressed, rushed, or uncomfortable -- Rita paced it so nicely and was so accommodating to our interests. This was really the perfect tour. As for our guide, Rita: the tour itself was unforgettable, to be sure. But Rita was who made it extra special. She is exactly the kind of person you'd want to be your tour guide. Having her as a guide and getting her local insights into the island was incredible; she was so knowledgeable, friendly, BEYOND generous, and so helpful. And she's funny! She made the tour feel like it was with an old friend. As for her skills as a guide, outside of the personal characteristics: I really can't imagine this tour with someone else. Rita's passion and love for what she does is palpable. She mentioned as we chatted that she was interested from a young age in working in tourism and it's clear that she's in the right profession. She is keen to cultural aspects, is open to learning more about other cultures and telling about her own, and she was always willing to answer our questions or tell stories about her experience on the island. And on the tour, Rita was always willing to stop if she recognized that something caught our interest and she has a keen knack for reading people and getting to understand their interests. In fact, she quickly came to predict things that we would be interested in and she would even stop and let us get out if she knew we were coming up on something that she thought we'd like, even if it was as simple as flowers on the side of the road -- and she was right each time! Rita even predicted our exact reactions to one of the sites, which was hilarious. She gave great recommendations for things to see/eat for the rest of the island, on other islands, and on the mainland of Portugal, which I know will be helpful as we continue to travel. This was really the best experience my family or I could have wished for. We can't recommend it enough. We will 100% be recommending this tour (and especially with Rita!) to any friends and family visiting in the future. And she has convinced us to come back in the future; we will hopefully have more time on our next visit (and we look forward to seeing Rita again)!

What a fabulous experience! - This experience went to beyond our expectations. Rita was an excellent guide, and we felt immediately that she was going to give us the best experience we could have. She put us to ease and was easily relatable and made the Entire experience even more enjoyable by having her as a guide. It felt like a truly personal opportunity to be able to get a first-hand experience from someone who lives on the island and was more than willing to tell us about her background and details of the island we never would’ve known otherwise.