Nine volcanic islands rise from the middle of the Atlantic, each with its own color, character, and cuisine—and a landscape so alive it shapes everything that ends up on the table. Led by photographer Eduardo Leal, this journey through São Miguel, Pico, and Faial moves through private manor houses, family kitchens, and volcanic vineyards at the western edge of Europe. The access is rare. The beauty is a given.
Nine volcanic islands rise from the middle of the Atlantic, each with its own color, character, and cuisine—and a landscape so alive it shapes everything that ends up on the table.
Led by documentary photographer Eduardo Leal—who lived across the islands and came away with a network of chefs, winemakers, sailors, and characters unlike any other—this journey moves through São Miguel, Pico, and Faial in September, when the islands are the most themselves. We eat in private manor houses and family kitchens, drink volcanic wine on black rocks at sunset, and sail out with a 70-year-old solo circumnavigator who hosts barbecues at his adega. The access is rare. The beauty is a given. Moderate activity level. Meat- and seafood-centric itinerary.
Estrada Regional nº1, 1º Morro de Baixo, 9600-219 Ribeira Grande
+351 296 470 360
Relaxed breakfast at the hotel
Head to Gorreana, the oldest tea plantation in Europe, founded by a family in 1883 and still in their hands—tour the terraced fields and working factory
Private tea tasting at the family home, off-limits to the public
Traditional regional lunch at a private home in the community of Maia with a local cook whose recipes trace back generations
Sesta back at the hotel
Dinner with the gastronomic brotherhood of the islands—the Confraria dos Gastrónomos dos Açores—led by the irrepressible António Cavaco, who has spent his life documenting and defending Azorean food and will tell us exactly why the fish here has no equal
Last breakfast and goodbyes at Santa Barbara Eco Resort
Fly to Pico, the Black Island, where the houses, the walls, the roads, and the vineyards are all built from volcanic rock and the mountain at the center of the island is an active volcano that dominates every view
Check in to Solar dos Limas, a restored manor house next to some of the oldest vineyards on Pico, with views to the sea—ours alone for the next three nights
Shellfish lunch at the five-table Taberna do Canal—lobster, hairy crab, and the rotating catch of the day
Sesta
Tour Pico’s UNESCO-listed vineyards with a winemaker from one of the island’s family estates—low basalt walls called currais divide the black lava rock into plots where vines grow with almost no soil, the mountain in the background, the sea in front
Wine tasting on the black rocks at the water’s edge—local cheeses, sea urchin, and island wines as the sun drops behind the horizon
Holy Ghost Dinner at the home of Eunice, a centenary house that once belonged to the priests of the parish—she serves us the Holy Ghost soup traditionally made for the island’s most sacred annual feast, in the rooms where the priests once lived
Boat to Faial—45 minutes across open water on the inter-island ferry, the commute locals make between the “island of workers” and the “island of nobles”
Stroll through the local market in Horta, grab a coffee, take in the harbor
Visit one of the most otherworldly landscapes in Europe: Capelinhos, a volcano that emerged from the sea in 1957 and attached itself to the western edge of Faial, adding a new peninsula of black lava
Lunch at Fazenda, an extraordinary farmstead restaurant founded by a plant scientist and a New York chef
Afternoon at the legendary Peter Café Sport—more than 100 years old, still the waypoint for every sailor crossing the Atlantic, with its own gin, its own flags, its own mythology, and actual sailors with actual stories at the bar
Whale and dolphin watching with Norberto, a septuagenarian Pico legend who spends every winter sailing alone around the world and every summer taking people out on his speedboat
Lunch at Norberto’s Adega, where sailors and fishermen come to eat and drink and argue: grilled fish and meat, wine from the island, and stories from a man whose life has taken place almost entirely at sea
Sesta
Dinner at Adega do Czar, a tiny family winery making some of the rarest wine in the world—Fernando Garcia and his sons produce a limited-edition fortified Pico wine that fetches thousands per bottle; we eat beside the barrels while Fernando plays guitar and opens something extraordinary
Coffee and pastry to go; check out of Solar dos Limas
Fly back to São Miguel and head straight to Furnas, a village inside a volcanic caldera where steam vents rise from the ground and the earth itself does the cooking
Walk the fumarolas (geothermal vents) of Quinta d’Água with the family that owns the farm to tend the cozido—a stew of pork, chicken, beef, chorizo, potatoes, and vegetables that was lowered before dawn and has been cooking in volcanic steam for eight hours
Grand final lunch at Quinta d’Água with the family: cozido lifted from the earth, carried back to the farm table, and served beside a fish version for good measure
Check in to Terra Nostra Garden Hotel, set inside a centuries-old botanical garden of extraordinary variety, with thermal pools open only to hotel guests from 4pm
The rest of the evening belongs to the garden: thermal baths in the volcanic waters, a last drink together on the terrace, a light dinner at The Gardener if you’re hungry, or simply the pools under the stars
Day
8
GOODBYE AZORES
September 21 · Tuesday
Wake relaxed, inspired
Breakfast and good byes at the hotel
Private transfer to Ponta Delgada Airport or wherever your journey continues
What’s Included
All breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, as well as snacks and beverages between meals
Expertise and services of our experienced trip leaders: at least one guide and one host per trip
Additional guides and experts from the region
All transportation during the trip except when taking a taxi or ride app independently during unscheduled time
Transfers to and from the airport or wherever you are on the day the trip starts and ends
Daily Roads & Kingdoms gifts related to the themes, activities and narratives of each trip
All gratuities for accommodations, meals, guiding or transport
What’s Not Included
International airfare to and from the journey
Transfers on days that fall outside of the trip dates
Personal bar tabs (when not with the group)
Personal laundry or spa services
Personal travel insurance
Meet Our Hosts
Guide
Eduardo Leal
Documentary Storyteller
Eduardo Leal is an award-winning documentary photographer based in Macau, China. He owes his oyster-opening and mussel-cleaning skills to years working in kitchens and bars in Edinburgh before starting his career as a photographer with an assignment covering election day in Venezuela for R&K. In the years since, Eduardo has worked for The Washington Post, Agence France-Press, Bloomberg, The Guardian, among others.
Where You’ll Stay
Santa Barbara Eco Resort
ATLANTIC VIEWS
Positioned on the north-central coast of São Miguel with Atlantic views and easy reach of every corner of the island, Santa Barbara Eco Resort is the practical and comfortable base for our first three nights. The accommodation is modern, the rooms are well-appointed, and the location is ideal.
Solar dos Limas
Pico Manor House
For our three nights on the Black Island, we take over this entire restored manor house on Pico, with the UNESCO-listed vineyards next door and a natural lava pool at the water’s edge a short walk away. This is the way to be on Pico.
Terra Nostra Garden Hotel
The Volcanic Garden
The most magical hotel in the Azores, and possibly in Portugal. Set within a centuries-old botanical garden of extraordinary variety—paths that wind through centuries of planting, greenhouses, giant trees, and flowers that have no business being this beautiful—Terra Nostra’s thermal pools fill with iron-rich volcanic water and are reserved exclusively for hotel guests from 4pm. No other conclusion would do.
Traveling with R&K is like living in Bourdain’s Parts Unknown for a week. It is the deepest and most authentic travel experience of my life.
Alex F.
Salamanca and the World of Jamón 2025
The connections R&K has in the community made this trip feel like a once-in-a-lifetime experience that could not be replicated by any other company.
Amanda C.
CDMX Under the Volcano 2024
I had no idea what a deeply moving experience this trip would be—far beyond just a culinary tour.
Autumn in Northern Portugal is the time of harvest for the most famous fruits of the region: grapes in the vineyard and olives in the orchards. It’s the ideal time to feel the region’s easy and soulful way of life, presented with the insider access provided by one of the region’s most illustrious food writers.
From the misty matsutake-rich mountains of Ma Pin Guan to the hidden Bai enclaves of ancient Silk Road towns, this is a weeklong journey through China’s most varied province, a biodiversity hotspot home to more ethnic groups than any other. Yunnan: land of mushrooms, birthplace of tea. Led by the Chinese writer Jane Yang and China-based documentary photographer Eduardo Leal, we begin in Shanghai and end in Dali, traversing four ancient towns that ring the storied Lake of Erhai—culminating in an extraordinary multi-course dinner in a secret restaurant for Chinese chefs.
