Hi Kim.

I am sure that you will like the Azores. It is a very much "off the beaten path type of place." Sao Miguel is the main island and I believe you can get direct flights from Canada to this island. The hiking there is quite wonderful and the food is amazing. I highly recommend the seafood (all freshly caught) as well as the steaks which are organic and so cheap for what you get!

I would recommend a car for sure to get around, if you want an automatic then you need to book this in advance! Europe uses a lot of manuals and so the automatics get booked out quite quickly. The main highways are all new and well signposted. Google maps can occasionally get things wrong but overall it is pretty easy to get around.

For more suggestions and tips, I have written a guide to the island, if you google "solarbranco guides" then it will come up. I hope that this helps you and please do feel free to email me if I can be of any help at all.