Best Hotels near Nossa Senhora da Paz, Vila Franca Do Campo

I just returned from a three night stay at this hotel with my girlfriend and our teenage daughter. We have been countless times in S. Miguel as we consider it such a pleasant and beautiful island. This time we opted for a hotel outside the main towns and in fact we managed to do just that. At the same time it is only 20 minutes away from the airport and 15 minutes away from Ponta Delgada or Ribeira Grande, the two main towns. We already visited the nine islands of the Azores archipelago and always get a rental car at the airport (exception at Corvo Island). If you are staying in this hotel, it is paramount that you do the same. As to the hotel itself, we booked it only four weeks in advance on high season, thus we had to pay the full rate of the stay at that moment. Upon check-in on room 206, we were given two identical cards without any distinctive element, one to open the door and the other to insert into the slot for lightening. That is odd, generally, hotels give two identical keys to open the door and one of them, if necessary can be left on the slot when we are out. We were assigned a spacious accommodation with living room, bedroom and bathroom. We did not have sea view and the living room had lots of glass walls overlooking the adjacent condo. All those glasses made it very hot on the sun shining days and we had to keep the AC on during the day. The décor of the room was unstylish and lacking attention to details. The bedroom had a big closet but no clothes rail or hangers. Besides that, one of the doors of the closet could not be opened fully, because it bumped into the shelves that are installed as bedside tables. The safe was old style, that is to say, it closes with a key that we had to ask for at the reception at no charge, along with a cumbersome key ring that we had to take with us whenever we were out of the room. The living room had a well equipped kitchen, that we did not use but it was constantly patrolled by half a dozen ants. We had bought previously some good looking fruits and had to fill a big dish with water and in the middle of it we put a small dish with our fruit so that the ants weren’t able to cross the water in order to get to fruit island. The bathroom was very spacious and pleasant looking even if the washbasin was more stylish than efficient. This room lacked tremendously of a place to put one´s belongings (toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, electrical razor and so on). Amazingly no one foresaw the installation of a shelf. The social areas of the hotel such as the lobby are, again, unstylish, corridors have shabby carpeting. The room where breakfast is served has a view to an outside wall and lacks natural lightening. Breakfast itself has a reasonable variety of items, but by no means is it worth 12 euro per person per day, that in our case we were asked to paid in advance, precisely at the same moment we made the reservation. There is a restaurant at the hotel, called Dragoeiro but it features mainly sushi. It is in

Facing the Atlantic Ocean and directly on the sea, there is no obstruction in front. The room has a balcony, which is very comfortable and has a wide view. You can see the sea directly from the bed. The bathroom is equipped with a bathtub. You can take a bath while watching the sea. It is comfortable! The hotel is very clean, I like its decoration style very much, it has a sense of design, the color matching is very suitable for the local scenery, and the details are well done. The service is very good, the buffet breakfast restaurant can watch the sea and the food is plentiful. The hotel has an outdoor infinity pool. You can swim while watching the sea. If you don’t want to swim, you can come up lazily to bask in the sun. There is also a bar next to the pool. If it rains, there is also an indoor heated swimming pool, so you can swim while watching the sea. 【Seaside Scenery】 🧹Hygiene: 🍃Environment: 🔔Service:

This apart-hotel complex is absolutely beautiful, flowering bushes everywhere with a lovely scent. Our apartment was large and airy and had a great private terrace on the first floor (2nd floor if you’re North American). It really was a home from home with a full dining area with table and chairs and lounge area with sofa, soft rug and tv. The main double bedroom was upstairs with an anteroom having a sofa/pull out bed for children or guests 3&4. Lots of storage in the bedroom but there was a distinct lack of hangers in the wardrobe but loads of drawer space. The kitchen is adequate enough for simple meals (no oven) with a twin hob and microwave, kettle and toaster, and a selection of pots and pans. We managed really well. The hotel provides breakfast 8am - 10am if you want it at 12euros per person. We didn’t try this option. Housekeeping are amazing and come every day! Everything is clean and beds are made. Towels can be changed daily if you like. For a self-catering holiday we found that a lot was provided in the apartment for us: washing up liquid, washing up sponge, washing up cloth and a tea towel. These are replenished and changed as needed. There is also toilet roll, shower gel and hand wash provided in the bathroom which was lovely - again, replenished when needed or on request. The complex gardens are beautiful and well-tended. The pool looked lovely and well-cared for, however we didn’t try it out. There seems to be a hot tub in a wooden building off the pool area - we took a look but it was grubby and the water had floating debris. I’m sure they would have sorted it out if we had asked, but we were out and about discovering the island every day. You definitely need to hire a car for the duration of your stay here as there isn’t any bus route nearby and taxis would be very expensive to get around the island. HANDY TIP: If you’re picking up your hire car on landing at the airport and driving to Quinta da Santana - to get into the complex there is an electronic gate that requires a remote control. When you first arrive, drive past the big metal gate and find the next smaller (pedestrian) gate. Put the hazard lights on in the car and get out to ring the bell. This alerts reception who will come and open the gate for you or just give you a remote straight away so you can drive into the complex. We had a horrendous time of looking and looking and going around and around the roads trying to find the entrance!! We didn’t know about the need to ring the pedestrian gate bell (face palm!) The reception staff are lovely and very accommodating and speak English very well. I’m not sure what other languages they can speak. The area that Quinta da Santana is situated in is the one fly in the ointment….it seems really run down and the road they are situated on is all full of industrial buildings and commercial businesses. Further exploration within Santana uncovers the grubbier side of agricultural life with its local working class community.

The location of this hotel is absolutely stunning. Everywhere you walk on the grounds, you are offered another beautiful, yet different view. Looking out over the ocean and the black sand beach from all the different vistas and viewpoints never grew old for us. There are small lounge areas at varying levels from the top of the hotel and down towards the beach. They all offered quiet and private places to lounge and relax. We had a 2 bedroom “retreat.” The “retreat” was not as lovely as the grounds. First off- the door to the retreat is a massive, wood door. However, being an eco lodge- I think someone may have just chopped a tree down and hung it on some hinges. While it looked beautiful- it did not seal or close properly. So there were giant gaps between the door and the frame and we watched bugs fly in constantly. The second issue with the rooms were a complete lack of privacy. Both bedrooms had sliding doors on them, again nothing really truly shut. The master bedroom had a sink area and bathtub when you walked into the room, no shower and if you wanted to use the bath- you would have had to do so literally right next to the bed. The main issue in this room though was the toilet. It was in a cubicle but the cubicle was see through so anyone could see you going to the bathroom! The second bedroom had 2 twin mattresses laying on a concrete platform. Nothing else was in the bedroom area at all. When you entered the room you were immediately in the bathroom area. This time there was a closet and 2 sinks, there was a sliding wood door here to separate the toilet and shower but you could not shut a door between the sink part of the bathroom and the sleeping area. So if someone needed to turn on a bathroom light during the night, anyone in the room would wake up. The service at the hotel was good and it was a relaxing place to stay for a couple of days after a busy week on the rest of the island. There is not much in the immediate area, but if you are looking for a beachfront place to relax in San Miguel, this is a solid choice.

The scenery is good, a bit biased, eating is very inconvenient, the hotel restaurant is not bad. With the children to go, there is no extra bed, I received a breakfast fee of 12 euros, the facilities and breakfast of this five-star hotel is really flattering, the domestic three or four stars level, breakfast is too bad

The team at White made us feel instantly at home, we were welcomed and well taken care of for the entirety of our stay. We’ve fallen in love with Sao Miguel and it’s all thanks to each person at White. Every day we’d get personalised recommendations on where to go, what to see and what to avoid to make the most of our time on the island. Communication was effortless as the team gave us a phone to talk to them with - very responsive and helpful every time we spoke. The suite was beautiful and uncluttered with rich details and textures - a real calm retreat after a day filled with lots of sites and scenery. Every person that works at White are friendly, helpful and accommodating even our airport pickup created such a wonderful impression. This was by far our most favourite part of our holiday. Thank you to Sandra (for helping us arrange a rental car and welcoming us to white), João (for personalised tips on where to go on the island), Rodrigo (for making a proper martini and chatting to my husband for hours while I was resting and recovering from a flu) and each and everyone of you for treating us so special during our stay. Highly recommended for amazing service and incredible suite.

Love love love this hotel! Don’t let the slightly odd location fool you (it’s right at the entrance to the city; it’s actually perfect once you’re acquainted with the area, and walking distance to just about everything in PD). Also, the inside of the hotel is perfect – new, modern, clean, spacious, and refined. The outside doesn’t do it justice. The spa: Amazing and pristine. We used it almost daily. It’s so clean and has everything you need after a full day of exploring on your feet. The breakfast: Wow. There’s little else you can think of wanting. The service/concierge: This is the best part. Every single employee of the hotel was wonderful, caring, and attentive to our questions and wants. The recommendations given by Luis and Victor (apologies if I misspelled your names!) were exactly what we wanted. We arrived without much of a plan, which ultimately didn’t matter – Luis and Victor helped plan out or itinerary, location by location, including the restaurants. This hotel has few, if any, negatives. Stay here, it won't disappoint. We’ll be back!