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.

A wonderful day excursion - Rita is a friendly and knowledgeable tour guide. We were lucky to have her guiding us through Sete Cidadas as she is the local living there. She showed us all the main sites as well as some of her secret places/viewpoints. She is a very good driver and very flexible with time & itinerary. She is a very brave young woman and we wish her and her family all the best.

Outstanding Tour - I can’t say enough about our amazing tour guide Rita. She gave us a thorough tour of the western side of Ponta Delgada. We had many stops, where we were able to view the beautiful scenery, and take lots of photos. Rita gave the history of the island and provided us with background on what it’s like living there today. We never felt rushed throughout the tour. This tour was booked as a cruise excursion. Rita was on time and waiting for us as we disembarked the ship, and returned us to the ship in a timely manner. This tour was a 10 out of 10.

Amazing tour - Rita was an amazing tour guide! The entire booking was easy, lots of communication beforehand and the day with Rita was a blast! We got to see so much in our one day in port and customize it to our preferences. 10/10 recommend for seeing as much of Ponta Delgada as possible.

Great private tour of the western side of the Azore Island - Carlos (our tour driver & guide) had intimate knowledge of the Azores which he shared. Would highly recommend him and wished we had booked a whole day had the cruise schedule allowed.

Highly recommended. - Having a private tour gave us flexibility and allowed us to make the best use of our limited time in port. Carlos is an outstanding guide who lived and studied in the United States and has deep roots in the Azores. We hope to tour with him again if we have the opportunity to visit the Azores.

Outstanding experience with Carlos - Carlos was an absolutely incredible guide and the experience will never be forgotten. He was extremely knowledgeable and was a pleasure to learn from him. He was also very fun and is a delight to be around. The sites were outstanding and he gave us so many different perspectives of the views.

Azores West and Sete Cidades Volcano Tour - Our guide Rita provided an excellent detailed personal tour of this beautiful island its people and history. She arrived on time and returned to our ship on time. We have many wonderful photos and memories to bring home. It is excellent value for the money compared to tours arranged by the cruise line. We highly recommend Viator and Rita for any future visits.