Sao Miguel Azores

Azores Islands Açores

Sao Miguel

Updated 04.16.2006

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Blue and green lagoons

Sao Miguel is the main island of the archipelago, here there is the major town, Ponta Delgada that has his own university. The town isn't very attractive and quite chaotic, but the island is wonderful. It is necessary to hire a car to really enjoy the stay because the island is very large and full of magnificent places to visit. There is a lot of lagoons and waterfalls. At Septe Citade, an idyllic place into an ancient volcanic caldera, there are two adjacent lakes: green and blue Lagoon, that are really superb.

There is also a lot of thermal lakes and sources, the best are in Furnas and at Caldeira Veja. Here you can take splendid relaxing thermal baths, at Furnas in a pool within a park near the Hotels, at Caldeira Veja in a natural lagoon under a thermal waterfall within a forest, it's really superb, impossible to describe!! At Ribeira Cuente (hot river), a little village of fishermen with a beach, Plaja do Fogo (fire beach) is a fantastic place where the thermal warm water sprigs under the sand and also under the sea near the water line, so, if you are so lucky to find the right place, you can have a tepid thermal bath in the ocean, you must try to understand! The coast road to Nordeste, the more wild zone of the island, worth the journey, there are a lot of superb landscapes, take a stop at the Miradouros (panoramic points built for the Sunday picnics of Azoreans). You can also visit the tea cultivations, taste and buy the different teas at Cha Goreana.

I suggest you to avoid the Hotels in the township, try rather the "turismo do habitação" (hospitality in country houses), I have tried the "Casa do Monte" not far from Ribeira Grande and Ponta Delgada, and it was superb, I have found it on the web . You can have also a whale watching trip in Sao Miguel with Futurismo.

Useful addresses

For an exhaustive list of accommodations take a look at the official site of Azores Tourist Office http://www.drtacores.pt/ingl/smi/smi.htm

	Hotel Gaivota Av. Marginal 103 phone (351) 296302510 fax 296302519 http://www.hotelgaivota.com e-mail: info@hotelgaivota.com
	Hotel De S. Pedro Largo Almirante Dunn phone (351) 296301740 fax 296301744
	Casa das Calhetas Rua da Boa Viagem - Calhetas 9600 RIBEIRA GRANDE Tel: 296 498120 Fax: 296 498199 Casa das CalhetasE-Mail: e.regogonzalez@mail.telepac.pt
	Casa do Monte (Turismo Habitação) Estrada Regional, 2 Stº António Além Capelas 9545 CAPELAS Tel: 296 298144 Fax: 296 989344
	Hotel Terra Nostra *** 79 Quartos 156 Camas R. Pe. José Jacinto Botelho, 5 9675 FURNAS Tel.: 26 584133 / 296 584334 Fax: 296 584304 http://www.bensaude.pt E-mail: info@bensaude.pt. Magnificent location inside the Terra Nostra Garden, if you stay at the Hotel you can take thermal bath in the lake also at night, when the Garden is closed, in absolute loneliness.
	Restaurante "Monte Verde" Rua de Areia 9600 Ribeira Grande phone 298472975, may be the best fish restaurant in Sao Miguel.
	Restaurante Aguas Quentes Furnas phone/fax 296584482. A simple but very good and cheap restaurant. You have to try the Cozido nas Caldeiras, a very special meat and vegetables soup directly cooked into a volcanic blowhole.

Terra Nostra pool

A thermal bath in Terra Nostra pool, Furnas

The thermal fall and pool in Caldera Veja

Lagoa do Fogo

Tea gardens at Cha Goreana

Have a good stay.

If you want to share your impressions and addresses E-Mail me.

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If you are searching for travel information and good addresses about these islands just click at the links below or go to Home where you will find a search engine to scan this site or the web for you. All the addresses and the suggestions made in these pages were personally tested.

Azores (Açores) Sao Miguel, Terceira, Fajal and Pico

Outer Hebrides Lewis and Harris

Shetland in Northern Scotland

Ouessant and Sein Brittany, France

Belle Ile en Mer Brittany, France

Chausey Normandy, France

Porquerolles and Port Cros French Riviera

Texel a birds paradise in the Waddenland (The Netherlands)

Whale watching at the Azores

La Réunion a tropical paradise in the Indian Ocean

islands index

Have a good trip.

I'll be glade if you want to share with me your experiences about islands you visited and addresses you think worthy to be added.

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