Sao Miguel

Sao Miguel trip ideas

Swim with Dolphins in the Azores

Badge of ExcellenceSao Miguel, Portugal

3 hours
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

Explore our promoted experiences

Sao Miguel, Portugal

2-Day Discovery of São Miguel: Landscape, Volcanoes and Lakes

from $141.50

Sao Miguel, Portugal

Ponta Delgada: Shore Excursion Sete Cidades & Furnas Volcano

from $97.62

Sao Miguel, Portugal

Guided Electric Mountain Bike in Sete Cidades

from $71.30

Viator earns higher commissions on experiences featured here

Overview

Swim with dolphins in the Azores, where a thriving population of Atlantic spotted dolphins, bottlenose dolphins, and common dolphins make this a thrilling place to encounter the marine mammals. Choose between morning and afternoon departures for your dolphin tour, then slip into the water to swim at a safe and respectful distance. This dolphin tour in the Azores is limited to 8 people for a personal experience with minimal impact on the dolphins.

Dolphin tour from Ponte Delgado
Swim with dolphins in their natural habitat
See the Azores coast from the water
Tour designed for minimal impact on dolphins
Choice of morning or afternoon departure
Small group tour limited to 8 people

What's Included

Professional guide

Food and drinks
Hotel pickup
Hotel drop-off

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

Picos de Aventura - Animação e Lazer
Marina Pêro De Teive Avenida João Bosco Mota Amaral, 9500-771 Ponta Delgada, Portugal

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

Make your way to a departure point in Ponte Delgado, then start your dolphin tour with a briefing on your itinerary, and on how to swim with the dolphins without disrupting their habitat.

Don a swim suit and shoes, then board the dolphin boat for the trip along the coast. With an experienced captain at the helm, the odds of seeing dolphins are great. When dolphins are spotted, climb into the water to swim near the pod, watching the sleek mammals move through the water.

If possible, the captain will loop the boat around so you can swim several times, climbing in the boat between each experience. At the end of your tour, return to shore, where this excursion concludes in Ponte Delgado.

Please note: The necessary equipment for this dolphin tour includes swimsuit, shoes that can get wet, a towel, and dry clothes to change into after the activity. It’s also a good idea to bring a sun hat, water, sunscreen, a waterproof bag for electronics, a windbreaker, lycra shirt, and Neoprene gloves.

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not recommended for pregnant travelers
Not recommended for travelers with back problems
Guests must be able to swim in order to join the tour
Children must be accompanied by an adult

Not wheelchair accessible
Near public transportation
Infants must sit on laps
Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 8 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.

Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Featured review

Devin_V

We had an absolute blast on this excursion! The guide and captain were both great and worked extremely hard to find a pod of dolphins for us to swim with. We also came upon some false orcas and they stopped and shared information, it was like swimming with the dolphins and whale watching all in one. Highly recommend, would do it again if I return to the island!

Reviews

4.5

137 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

We perform checks on reviews

Showing 1-10 of 137 reviews

Never be able to replicate this trip! One of a kind 🙌

Rebecca_S, Oct 2023

Absolutely fantastic experience. Our skipper ( marine biologist) and first mate were completely above all our expectations. We swam with wild dolphins in the ocean PEOPLE!! What’s better then that?

Memorable Experience!

Eden_R, Aug 2023

Seeing dolphins was incredibly memorable! We saw pods of common dolphins and bottlenose dolphins. On our trip, every person got in the water and saw dolphins at least two times. My first time in the water, I had a very clear view of dolphins swimming below me. The second time, I saw the dolphins as they swam away. It was also possible to see the dolphins from the boat, as the dolphins came very close and we could see them breaching the water multiple times. I captured many memorable photos of this. I do not spend much time around the ocean and so was a bit apprehensive at first about the "swimming" aspect, but as the boat went out into the water I became more and more comfortable, and safety precautions were taken. Getting into and out of the water was not too difficult, and there were instructions about this. I'm very glad I had this experience -- it was beautiful to witness dolphins up close and I will always remember it!

Incredible Experience!!

Aaron_W, Aug 2023

The team were very knowledgeable, friendly and made us feel welcome. 12/10! The wild dolphins were incredible to see, and was such an incredible experience.

Great time!

Devin_V, Jul 2023

Must do experience if you're down for an adventure

Kristiyan_R, Jun 2023

Awesome experience - however - be prepared for a rough ride of about 30 mins to and from the location ( that will vary because you know - the dolphins are not waiting in their office for you to go visit them, they swim around lol ). Water was pretty chilli 65-70F but that's no problem since you're in the water just for a minute or two. We got to get inside multiple times. The whole experience you can see on my YT channel - Travel Made Simple. Overall it was awesome

Close to the animals

FinnGeorg_P, Jun 2023

Great experience and very good guides. Will recommend. A really great opportunity to get close to the dolphins🐬

Top 3 experiences in a lifetime

Brian_M, Aug 2022

Swimming with the dolphins is like being on another planet. When you're in the water moving near them, seeing and hearing them, it's just simply unforgettable. We were blown away by this excursion. The skipper and staff on board were so nice and very informative. We would do this again in a heart beat.

Amazing experience with these beautiful creatures

Tabitha_S, Aug 2022

Amazing weather, an exhilarating boat ride (got to sit in the front), and several nursing pods of spotted dolphins with babies. The presence of the calves made them more skittish than usual but I can't blame them being instinctually protective. Just getting near them & seeing them swimming/jumping everywhere around us was worth it. Highly recommend! Note the zodiac boat is not for those who are frail or easily frightened.

Fun & Exhilarating Open Water Adventure

Delia_B, Jul 2022

Well worth it for the fun and adventure, but not 100% satisfying if you are really hoping to “swim with dolphins”. The crew was super nice (guide was energetic, great communicator, and helpful — she even jumped into the ocean with one participant who was a bit scared of swimming), and the boat ride was exhilarating (sit at the front if u want thrills! It was like a refreshing amusement park ride, hahaha). We saw plenty of dolphins (beautiful!!!). But you don’t really get to “swim” with them…they drop you into the water and you’re lucky to catch a few seconds glimpse of the animals before they are gone — they are super fast swimmers and they don’t have time for us silly humans). Still, totally worth it — my cheeks hurt from smiling so much.

Great Experience

KENDRA_L, Jul 2022

We LOVED this excursion. Our guide Alex was a passionate and knowledgeable marine biologist who shared so much information while ensuring we had a safe and memorable experience. We saw two species of dolphin and got to go In and watch the pods swim by as a safe distance. Would love to do again someday.

Wunderful

Magda_v, Jun 2022

Is was wunderful, we see a group off more than 100 dolfins, with baby, 's, so very special, we never forget..... Yesterday we see no dolfins, but to Day is was so good and the People tell us so many thinks about the dolfins and the captain was great to bring us 5 times in the group dolfins.... Realy wunderful everything

An amazing experience!

Nika, Aug 2021

We had an amazing time swimming with common and observing striped dolphins. The group was just 7 people so we could swim 3 times with those wonderful creatures - there were even little ones! Natalia was our skipper and made sure the animals are not irritated by us as well as that all of us had a real nature experience. Next time we will do it again, bet on it! Thank you, Natalia!

Great Experience

katherine_m, Aug 2019

Swimming with the dolphins in the wild is an incredible once in a lifetime experience. I went in the water 4 times and was able to see them twice. You have to go in super quick or you miss them, and thats hard to do when you are also trying to clear your snorkel of water. Still amazing and still worth it to be 10 feet from a wild dolphin, even if only for 3 seconds! Caution, our boat had younger kids—all of them were not feeling it and would not go in! Their parents were really bummed they were afraid. I wouldnt recommend this for a kid under 12!

Definitely Dolphins

Erin_M, Aug 2019

The crew went out of their way to ensure that we saw dolphins and were able to spend time in the water with them. The dolphins move VERY quickly, so don't expect a long time with them...you need to be attentive to their direction and see them pass by. From the boat, it was incredible to see the pods swimming and jumping. The boat ride itself is bumpy to and fro but they provide you with raincoats to keep you drier and warm after coming out of the water.

Two cancellations

nancy_h, Aug 2019

This event was cancelled on me TWICE, each at a moment's notice. I had planned my trip around this excursion so it was very disappointing. They were not able to offer me an alternative activity. I am still waiting for my refund.

Response from Host, Aug 2019

Hi Nancy. As you know we work with wild animals in the open ocean so we are not able to control weather conditions or the animals behaviour and unfortunately had to cancel your tour due to these conditions. I am really sorry if you are disapointed and hope you still had a nice time during your holidays. As for your refund, since you paid directly to Tripadvisor, you should get it on the next days. If you don't, please send us an email.

This was amazing. There were six of...

Ruth B, Aug 2017

This was amazing. There were six of us on our boat with a guide and driver. We went out to a large group of dolphins and went in the sea a pair at a time. The visibility wasn't terribly clear because it was a cloudy day, it would have been amazing on a brighter day, but we all saw dolphins very close in the water. Each pair went in the water four times. You slipped in quietly over the edge and there was a ladder to use to climb out. We'd been provided with wet suits, mask and snorkel, life jacket and waterproof jacket for warmth after we'd been in the sea. The guide was great and very informative about the dophins. Swimming with dolphins was the children's absolute highlight of the trip!

Though the weather was chilly, the...

Kristy F, Jul 2016

Though the weather was chilly, the company was warm and inviting to enjoy the dolphins close up in their natural habitat. Thanks for a great experience1

It was a small group tour which made...

Lyn J, Jun 2016

It was a small group tour which made for a personal feeling. It was a cloudy day so it was cold to get into water. The skipper did best possible runs to get us into water at appropriate times. A few of us knew we would b cold n waited till last few runs to go on. Skipper scknowledged this. Amazing

Os golfinhos não colaboraram.. Mas inesquecivel

Mario_M, Sep 2023

Os golfinhos não colaboraram. Era um grupo dificil. A equipe tudo fez para proporcionar a melhor experiência possível. Apesar da dificuldade, a experiência, a sensação foi bastante positiva

Increíble suerte la nuestra

AMANDA_L, Sep 2023

La experiencia fue increíble. Tuvimos muchísima suerte y vimos una familia enorme de delfines. Las chicas que nos acompañaban y nos guiaban se portaron super bien y disfrutamos muchísimo de la experiencia.

Likely to Sell Out