My husband and I have traveled extensively and tend to book a tour with a local tour guide whenever we go to a place for the first time. The tour of Porto Delgada that we took with José of Carpe Diem Tours ranks amongst the very best. José is a native of the island who willingly shared his vast store of history and knowledge of volcanos, floods, soil conditions, and other ecological facts. He also took us to places where we saw some of the most beautiful vistas anywhere on earth. We found him to be a genuinely delightful person. His English is perfect and he talked easily about his personal life while attending to our need for bathroom, drink, and time to spend a few moments to take in the beauty. It was clear that he loves his island and his work which made the four hours spent with him a sheer delight.

Jose was great. So knowledgeable. He planned the day based on the weather conditions and we managed to see all the sights in sunny conditions. I was impressed by all of the information he had to share about local plants, animals and customs. Would definitely recommend this trip!

Jose was an excellent tour guide. He’s very knowledgeable of the island and its history. We had a great day with him and I highly recommend this tour.

Great trip. Highly recommend it. José is extremely knowledgeable and informative. Learned a lot about geography, flora, fauna and history. Really enjoyed that it was a Jeep ride as well.

Spent the afternoon with Jose and despite the weather being cloudy we had a great time. We had already been on a few tours but had not been to this area yet. Jose took us on some back roads and his knowledge of the island is vast. He gave us a history lesson of the Azores which helped us to get a better understanding of what we’d seen this past week. Highly recommend spending a day with Jose to learn more about the island where he was born.

Touring with José from Carpe Diem was a most wonderful experience. He is so knowledgeable and passionate about the island and it shows through in his tour. I absolutely recommend this tour to anyone who wants an in depth understanding of how the island became to be. Once again José we thank you.

We loved our tour with Jose! He is an expert of Sao Miguel. We learned so much from him, from history to nature to geology, and got to see amazing sites along the way. I would recommend any tour with Jose, especially a full day if you have the time!

We had José as a guide for the half-day tour who was excellent. He knows the Azores incredibly well, took care to ensure that we went at the right pace for our family of four and was expert at handing the jeep to get us to places that may otherwise have been difficult to reach! To top it off José helped us get a place at, and dropped us off at, a great restaurant. The scenery itself was stunning. Very much recommended and our thanks to José.

Jose is the most informative, insightful guide we have ever traveled with. He is a naturalist and he could tell us scientific names of plants to how to save certain birds because he has done it so many times. He could pull out the bird sound recording and my oldest got a kick out of it mimicking the sound. He is born and raised in the island and you can tell he loves the island and every aspect of it. He keeps both adults and kids (7 and 4) as engaged as possible. Our 4 year old ran up to him to show him the obsidians he found. They asked him questions and had lots of conversations. We can ask for a better guide.

This was one of our best days. Our driver was an excellent guide and host, who did everything possible to show us the best of the island in comfort. His obvious enthusiasm was evident throughout the day. I would highly recommend booking this tour.

Excellent tour! Joseph was kind and knowledgeable; this is definitely the way to see a lot of Sao Miguel when you don’t have a lot of time. 100% recommend!

Amazing tour! José was such a great guide. He gave us so much information about the Azores. Comfortable car with good safe driving. Highly recommend this tour!

This is by far the best excursion we have booked. Highly recommend Jose from Carpe Diem. He was so much fun to spend the day with and incredibly knowledgeable!

My wife and I spent 3 days touring with Jose. We told him we wanted to see as much of the island as possible and we wanted opportunities to do some hiking. We were also willing to be flexible to let him set the route each day. Jose was wealth of information about geology and the flowers and birds of the island, and he was adaptable to our interests. He has a great sense of humor and an obvious love of the island and a love of nature. All of this added up to an exceptional three days of unforgettable experiences. We were picked up and dropped off at the hotel each day. He speaks perfect English. Highly recommended. (Be aware, payment is in cash.)

We booked this tour as a family (all adults) for our last day on the island. Our guide José was the perfect guide. He picked us up on time, and he proceeded to explain about the history of the island. He was extremely knowledgeable about all topics from history to the geology of the land to the plants around the island. We loved the day, the views were amazing, and José was an exemplary guide. We would definitely go on other trips with him if we ever come again to Sao Miguel.