What a beautiful beach. Very long beach with black sand. Waves were very big, when I visited the beach. I saw people swimming, and there were a lot of surfers there. There are restaurants and toilets at the start of the beach. Also there is a free parking lot there.

One of the best and largest beaches on the island. Perfect for windsurfing, a long walk, or just relaxing on the sand. Big waves, in some places a high sand threshold on the beach but most of the beach with a gentle slope. The scenery of green cliffs, rocks and stones covered with algae creates a really nice beach and also a restaurant/bar and a large car park (free). Just go and enjoy!

Amazing views and relaxing atmosphere! The beach has clean sand, great waves for surfing, and stunning natural beauty. Highly recommended for a peaceful escape and unforgettable moments in São Miguel.

Lovely soft black sand beach about a mile long with life guards at both ends and some nice looking cafes, changing rooms, showers and bathrooms. Chair rentals and surf lessons also available (although waves weren’t really big enough for that today). Plenty of parking.

Amazing beach! It’s really big with many free facilities. Free WC, showers, changing room and many life guards.the beach is really clean and some nice big waves. I definitely recommend this beach. And make sure you eat at the bar. Their food is great.

This was our favorite beach on the island. We often tried to end our day here. Stop by the close by supermarket, get few bottles of wine and some local cheese and head to the beach to swim and watch the sunset. The beach is long with soft send. It's also the local surfers favorite spot and many of them are in the water trying to catch some waves. There's a bathroom and a restaurant on the cliff top.

This beach is awesome if you want to relax, watch surfers and enjoy a beautiful sunset. There are also facilities like fresh water showers and a few small shops nearby to grab an ice cream or drink. Be careful if you take a swim, because there are strong currents and few lifeguards for the length of the beach.

Mesmerizing waves seen here, probably not great for swimming, but very intriguing to watch from the beach. Easy to get to & has parking. Only downside side, A lot of seaweed and garbage were further up the beach.

It’s prohibited to swim here due to E. coli bacterial contamination. It’s such a shame, as it’s the best surf spot on the island and one of the largest sandy beaches. The problem with the bacteria has been recurring for years, and the authorities have failed to resolve the cause and protect this beach.

Great for surfing, but it can get quite crowded in peak surfing hours. It has some good free parking spaces around which is nice, but it has no public showers or toilets as far as I know.

The beach is beautiful and the waves are amazing. Perfect place to learn how to surf or for the intermediate surfer. However, sewer water is being led directly from the town into the ocean and contact with the water or swimming is not advised (don’t know if this is always the case, but for now it is). When surfing or swimming here it’s on your own risk, but you can get pretty ill. Also the smell of sewer is all around which is sad because it’s such a pretty place

Best beach experience on the island. Big waves, but no problems with currents, rocks or anything. Lots and lots of space both in the water and on the beach. Felt completely safe. The was lifeguards on duty (end of Juli). We were a family of 4 with kids age 12 and 17 and we are all used to water and some waves. The beach might not be for “beginners” and the weather will definitly affect the experience. We only left the water when we got exhausted. :-)

Perfect beach for surfing. Very little people

Best beach of island

Very beautiful view! we were lucky we catch with no clouds! We got the service bus from parking down which is i think 2km down no quiet sure and with bus we got a mini tour in 3 view points and the last view was to the lake.

It's hard to judge a natural site or attraction if you can't see it properly. That's what happened during today's visit, which was very limited due to the extremely bad weather. During heavy rain, wind and fog, we luckily caught a few minutes when the fog lifted and the lake was visible. The lake certainly looks magnificent when it's bathed in sunlight...

Update Another visit this time not from the viewpoints but directly from the trails. Just me and nature. Clouds, birds, wind, somewhere piercing blue sky and sun rays. For a few hours no one on the trail. Unforgettable landscape sceneries like from the Lord of the Rings stories and I felt like a participant in the Fellowship of the Ring. Absolutely amazing. Not all trails are available due to bird protection but the one I chose (to be honest part of the section off the trail) was really demanding and treacherous (heavy night rainfall made the ground very soft and there were a lot of landslides). The path to the lake is easy. Further on it is harder but oh so beautiful! ...................... 1st visit. One of the places you must see. Stop and stay here for a while to feel the magic of this place. Photos or words cannot convey what you will experience while being here, standing or hiking the trails. The access road itself and the views along the way are unforgettable!

Nice, but inbetween 9u00 and 19u00 you can’t drive directly to the viewpoints and need to take a paid shuttle (5 euros/person). The shuttle we took (north road up) stopped 3 times, 2 times you had 3 minutes time and 1 time 10 minutes. Which is to be honest quite a rush and nog calm like it should be when watching nature!

100% worth the trip. Just make sure you check spotazores cameras before going there, it’s prone to heavy fog.

Beautiful hike with some steep but well paved inclines. Finding the parking lot is an off-roading adventure but stick through it and you’ll find a smooth parking lot. We met the sweetest kitten on the way back up. He’s so friendly and playful and enjoys gentle scratches and pets! Please bring cat food for him and post pictures in your review if you see him! It nearly broke our hearts when we had to say goodbye after playing with him for 30 minutes. He has a really unique coat pattern so it should be easy to spot little Queijo (what we named the lil fella bc he’s so perfect and everyone loves him).

We parked our car at fabrica da cidade, and then we took a 1,5 hour hike to Lago do fogo. It was a really nice hike through the valley.

This is such a beautiful viewpoint to hang out. There is a souvenir kiosk at the end of the path. Sunset is also stunning from here.

Must visit during day! The views are one of the most beautiful in the island. You can get there easily with the car.

Worth a stop on the way. In the beautiful moments between the rain and fog, when the sun shone on the area, the view of the coast and the hinterland was truly beautiful. However, the really strong wind was annoying, which made it impossible to keep a steady hand while taking photos.

Nice viewpoint where you can see the coast on both sides. Plenty of parking available, but no toilet facilities.

Amazing view, strongly recomnend visiting, if you are passing by.

We was here 15 of November, it was windy. It’s good to take with you warm clothes

Beautiful views, even in bad weather it's worth a visit.

Things to know: 1. Admission is for up to 100 people for an hour and a half. If you arrive at a random time, you may not have a place. 2. Admission costs 10 euros per adult, less for children and the elderly, and there are also lockers for storing for 2 euros per unit. 3. There are 4 pools with varying heights from knee to thigh at the temperature of a jacuzzi and another pool with a waterfall at the temperature of a shower. 4. You can purchase tickets for viewing only without bathing. 5. The experience is pleasant and a little crowded, but not too much, thanks to the restrictions. There are plenty of toilets and changing rooms.

I had such a magical time at Caldeira Velha, it’s peaceful and beautiful. If you’re lucky it’ll rain while you’re there, really such a cool place. There’s not many bathrooms though, but there’s plenty of changing rooms.

Amazing place regardless of the weather, but even more amazing if you know about these hacks: 1. Book your tickets in advance and, if you can, arrange your schedule so as to visit the hot springs on a weekday to avoid crowds of tourists (the place IS touristy though, so you'll probably be with a lot of other people). 2. When booking your tickets, choose the first time slot of the day (the one that starts at 9.00 AM). 3. Before heading to the park, pack a swimsuit, a towel AND swimming shoes! Ideally, it's better to already wear a swimsuit under your clothes (this will be life-changing for your experience, you will see why if you continue reading). 4. If you plan on taking a backpack with you, make sure to empty it from all things that won't be necessary for visiting the park and leave as many things as possible in your car or at your accommodation. 5. If you've just entered the park and haven't put on your swimsuit yet, you may want to change. DON'T stop at the very first changing cabins you'll see. There are other cabins higher up on the path which are considerably less crowded, behind which there are lockers to store your stuff in. On your way to those cabins, you will find a building with a desk, a small museum and, close to it, another small building with showers. Go to the desk and ask for a lock to close your locker (if you've booked the tickets online, I think it is possible to also mention whether or not you may want to use a locker... and trust me, you do!). 6. After getting the lock at the desk, head over to the changing cabins near the waterfall and get changed. Put your personal belongings in the lockers behind the cabins. A lot of people also put their stuff on the ground near the springs. 7. Head back towards the desk where you came from and take a shower (most tourists don't even see the showers so they don't use them and that might be very unhygienic!). 8. You are ready for a nice bath/swim. Enjoy!

Very cosy, 4 warm medium size thermal lakes. The security staff are not very friendly, and unnecessarly strict and not welcoming, which we didn't appreciate. Other staff members were ok. You also have to pay for hot shower and locker extra money, which is uncomfortable if you pay already quite enough for 1.5h entirence.

Nice and surreal place to take a hot plunge. I thought the pools will be warmer. It is absolutely mandatory to get your ticked a day ahead of your visit

A park with natural spa. Buy tickets online in advance! The price of the ticket was 10 eur for adults, the price for a locker was 2 eur. Lockers are quite old, and do not have much space inside (I put my backpack and my shoes inside the locker). Your ticket is valid for 1 hour and 30 minutes, I suggest buying ticket for the first time slot (from 9.00 am to 10.30 am), at that slot there aren't that many people inside yet, you have a lot of empty parking spaces, and you most likely get an overall better spa experience. Spa has 4 natural pools. Pool at the top is the most beautiful with a waterfall, and the coldest water (water temperature around 24 degreec Celsius). Three pools below are smaller and the water thete is much warmer (probably around 40 degrees celsius, different temperatures on each pool). Close to the pools are two shower cabins, and two toilets (one for males and one for females). You get the keylock for the locker at the wodden cabin by the toilets. I think there can be max 100 visitors at the same time slot in the spa. I recommend visiting the spa, if you are visiting the island, it is really one of a kind experience.

We had a fun time exploring the thermal springs here. There are three sets of springs you can enter and one that has boiling temperature water so you cannot. The first and second were hot springs and the third was much colder but had a nice waterfall and picture opportunity. The second seemed to be the most crowded and the highest spring the least (probably due to the colder water). Research told us to buy tickets to the first available time slot and I would pass that bit of information on. In the interest of time, I would also recommend coming dressed ready to enter the springs, as we were able to walk in and were the first group to get into the springs. We enjoyed a good 10-15 minutes at the first spring before anyone even joined us.

This place warms my heart. My understanding is, this establishment is owned by a farmers cooperative and the names of the founders can be found at the entrance. Besides the restaurant you can find an exposition of farming equipment and other facilities supporting their affairs. I wish such farmers ventures were more present in my country. But, we didn't came there to admire the plows but to eat ;) and we were not disappointed. Well, this restaurant aims for beef lovers bur can also accommodate vegetarians a bit. You can count on a prime selection of various meat parts, with different sauces. If you are really capable you can count also on some desserts but caution is recommended, they don't spare on sizes here. And "the burger for two" really stands to it's name. The beef is really prime and cooked properly. We enjoyed the hospitality here several times as the taste demanded a comeback. During rush hours the main room is a bit loud but not extremely. There's a smaller room so one can reserve a table there. The staff is great and helpful. We absolutely enjoyed ourselves there.

Please read!!! - review from someone from the states on how to order your steak so you aren’t shocked. My husband and I come from Boston and we were here for about 2 weeks, we love getting our steaks medium. The first night we went to a restaurant and got tapas and ordered a medium steak and it seemed like it was rare. We were totally fine with it because you can never expect something to be done the same way as in the states but we learned how to order at other restaurants. Here we both got the shrimp and 300gr associacao steaks, well-done. It came out perfectly!!! Pink in the middle and seared on the outside! Flavor was amazing!!! Medium- seared, red middle Well done- seared pink middle (perfection) Rare- probs still mooing ;)

Hands down the best steaks we had in the area and very reasonable prices considering the quality of the food. We ordered our steaks medium and they came out perfectly cooked. Would highly recommend the Tomahawk and the white sangria was also delicious. Would recommend to anyone in the area and if we're there again, we would definitely go back! Make reservations.

This place has over 13,000 reviews and I can see why. Their steaks are decent but the portion size is VERY generous. You get a whole 300g steak for just 30 euros (the tenderloin) or you could get an even cheaper cut (round steak) for just 15 euros. My sister and I shared a tomahawk (700-850g) for 45 euros and we couldn’t finish. The cuts, though, could have been better. Some of the meat had so much sinew and tendon that we could only eat 3/4 of it, but still had a lot left to take home! Also get the Associação’s cheese!

We were seated immediately as a party of 5. The food was amazing. We got a couple different steaks but I got the three pepper steak and it was in the top 3 best steaks of my life. It was a little warm in the restaurant and there’s no noise other than the chatter and the kitchen. The red sangria was phenomenal.

One of the best steaks you can get in São Miguel, made with high-quality local meat. Super tender, juicy, and absolutely delicious - cooked to perfection. A true masterpiece and a must-visit for anyone wanting to experience authentic Azorean flavors. The service can be a bit slow, but the food more than makes up for it.

We had such a great experience in this restaurant, starting with the quality of the products and also with the service. The meat is unbelievably good, especially taking the prices into account… We had two main meat dishes plus bread and cheese and paid 30€ per person. The service was great, very quick and everyone was kind to us. However, something that surprised me was that almost all meat had different types of sauce (pepper, cheese…). This is not a complaint but an observation, so if you’re looking for a typical steak you won’t find it. I highly recommend the associaçao cheese and the lagartinho de porco, the sauce was made of garlic and butter and was delicious.

What a nice place! The food portions are really big so watch out what you order! We definitely got too much, they’re very generous. It’s got typical local fare but done really well. I had the braised tuna and it was delicious. The waiter was very nice too and we cracked some jokes. The restaurant is quite vibey with nice music on and seating outside. You have unobstructed view of the ocean and you can smell the breeze. I really recommend this place - it’s such good value for money!

Beautiful restaurant by the sea - you need to visit during sunset absolutely beautiful! The food was amazing. The best fish cuisine I had in a long time! The service is a bit lets say overwhelmed but not unpleasant or rude. Must visit!

It was one of few restaurants open on a Monday so we went despite the reviews. The staff were great, attentive and always friendly. But the food was mediocre at best. Nice presentation but they tried too much gourmet that simply didn’t work out.

The setting of this place is fabulous, a clear view too the beautiful coast which on a sunny day is even better. The food. The fish was amazing, fresh, tasty simply perfect. The meat however wasn't as good a bit chewy (the only reason it doesn't get 5 starts for food). So if you come here I would definitely recommend the fish. The passion fruit mojito was also very good, even though it is a bit pricey it is definitely worth it (I order 2 as it was so good). Overall I definitely recommend this place to anyone.

This restaurant has a unique selling poi t, a terrace that is perfectly placed to view a sunset. Any other time of the day, you can look at the ocean and listen to the crashing waves. Can't beat a good view. Notwithstanding the view, food was very nice. We have ordered limpets to start with, I'm not a fan, too rubbery (totally not the restaurant's problem, my taste only!) but by the husband was delighted with them. For the main course we shared the Alabote fish casserole, stunning dish. Onions, peppers and potatoes with two types of fish, clams and tiger prawns all served in a tomato broth. Very nice dinner! Washed it all down with two glasses of house wine, no issue there either. Definitely recommend it!

Excellent experience. They have reserved an amazing table for us, given our anniversary. All the staff is so customer-oriented. The food is gorgeous: cataplana a "Alabote" must be taken! Everything is tasty and fresh: the menu offers many options both for fish and meat. Nice view on the sea. Top!!!

Quite simply, everything is good here. The owner casts an ever watchful eye and friendly smile. From two trips to this island, hands down the best food and dining out experience. No fuss and no pretense. Also, for a Sunday afternoon, we walked in and were sat on the terrace overlooking the sea pretty much right away. All the staff were so nice. To the owner and staff, your formula works perfectly and thank you for a wonderful afternoon meal! Superb.

I really enjoyed the flavours of the flaming chorizo and bacalhau. The staff are friendly but it is definitely a slower speed of service than I'm used to. Overall it was great to experience the cuisine.

Very tasty and fresh fish, well seasoned, perfectly cooked. The octopus was great, but the tuna was perfect. The soup of the day was tasty, but a little bit too salty for my taste. The staff is very kind and attentive. You pay a little bit more than in other restaurants, but it is deserved.

The food was delicious and fresh. The Sangria with some of the best I have ever had. The desert was also delicious

Had two fantastic meals here, great service and taste!

Delicious tuna, extremely attentive weiter and fine atmosphere. We arrived at the opening hour in the evening and we barely found a table. The only thing you should be attentive is that is a bit difficult to find a parking place near the restaurant when it's full.

Food was good, not the best we had in the area for the prices, but overall the food was a good experience. A lot of our ordered items were missing and the server unfortunately kept forgetting to retrieve our ordered items. Atmosphere was too bright and with the table setup made it feel too much like a cafeteria.

Good food, good priced! I had the grilled squid and it exceeded my expectations both in flavour and in texture. It is chewy but not in a bad way. Bonus that it came with some greens!! My partner had the grilled octopus and the sauce was delicious. I found the octopus to be a bit too soft for my liking (soft as in almost mushy, not tender), but I think this may be my personal preference. Because it was soft, i felt it was slightly dry as well, but the sauce made up for this. For dessert we had their home made ice cream. It looked very underwhelming to be honest, but the taste was surprisingly good! It was thick, creamy, milky and just the right amount of sweetness. It seems like a neighbourhood favourite as there it was getting busy as we were leaving (we booked a reservation for 7pm on a saturday). They have a very spacious dining area, however I would recommend booking a table just in case. They do not have online booking abilities and I emailed the restaurant owner to secure my table (response time ~24h). Parking was along the street (public parking, no designated lot or spaces) but you should be able to find parking around (free).

We found this place almost by accident after seeing a sign — decided to give it a shot, and wow, what a great surprise! It’s up in a beautiful area, close to the thermal baths. We had the clams — super fresh and full of flavor — and a cheese board that was absolutely delicious. Then came the cocido, and honestly, it was next-level. So good! Tried a couple of their homemade desserts too, and they didn’t disappoint. Everything was super tasty, the portions were generous, and the prices were more than fair. Also, the girl who served us was incredibly nice — really friendly and made us feel right at home. All in all, a great experience

You have to go inside to order. There is no table service in the patio! They’re short staffed. We had the stew. It was delicious with some bread. Also the red sangria was excellent. Perfect meal after a long hike. Also, if you intend to go to thw hot springs after, make sure they’re not full. Sometimes they have a long wait and we should’ve gotten on the wait list while we were eating.

We tried the beef and the cozido, both generous portions. The beef was quite good, cooked with cloves, the stew a nice assortment of vegetables with the meat, all tasty but not exceptional. The slow cooking left everything tender.

We had dinner there today and were very satisfied. The food was extremely tasty and the service was excellent. We will definitely come back.

This was an amazing cozido. We ordered the original and the veggie cozido. It was delicious. Cooked in a hot hole with the heat from the ground.

One of the worst experience I had in restaurant they forgot our table twice and we never had food on our table after 1h30 of waiting. We ordered local beers and had industrial one because they were too lazy to tell us they didn't have local anymore and they also forgot our kid apple juice twice. The other table seems to have good food but I can't relate unfortunately. No apologies, nothing they cared about. Not used to give bad review but that one deserve it.

This was the worst restaurant that I visited in all my 10 days in Sao Miguel. The servers were overwhelmed and tending to a very large table of Spanish people, they seemed to be jumping over hoops for those 2 tables and ignoring the rest of the clients. When my chicken salad arrived it was literally a bunch of tomatoes and 2 pieces of lettuce, some shredded carrot and a warm processed breaded piece of chicken. I had to get up and pick up my own salt, vinegar and oil to dress my salad as the server did not bring it. 12 euros for this. My husband had shrimp and chicken wings which were both very nice. Poor service, fair food, very overpriced, the decor is absolutely stuck in the 80’s, all of which of course wouldn’t matter if they treated people better. I won’t be returning or recommending.

Unfortunate we had a bad experience here, the fish(€25 very expensive) and shrimp were both overcooked. Thats why we understand we had to wait for almost an hour for our food. Also we were expecting a whole fish and not some filets. I think they can do better but for now this is it.

Monte Verde may not look like much but we were delighted to discover this local family restaurant. The menu is simple, fresh fish fried or grilled and sides (tomato rice and boiled vegetables including sweet potato or yams). Whatever is caught that day, will be on the menu. We have also tried a bowl of fish soup, warming broth, very tasty, and baked pineapple generousluly covered with local liquor. The pineapple was to die for!! Best desert I have ever tasted. There is a good selection of wine, red and white.

We ate here twice during our stay in Ribeira Grande. First night we ordered only battered fish (by accident, we’re not native English speakers so we didn’t know “fried” would mean battered), which we found okay, but way too salty and not what we were looking for. We decided to give them another chance and ordered only grilled fish on the second night, but this was way too salty as well. So unnecessary! It ruined the flavor of the fish for us. Positives are you get a lot of side dishes (some are too salty too though) so you will not go home hungry, and service is friendly. I would not recommend this place to anyone though (unless you’re used to insane amounts of salt in your food).

I was looking for a retaurant in Ribeira Grande And I was very lucky that I found it It is really a very nice jem in Azores The food is very delicious , I took the suggestion from the people working there and every time was perfect I went 3 times, and if i satyed longer i would definetly go All workers are very polite and helpful And the owner even introduces me to the the Azores culture and gave me some advices The chefs were very nice and really cook the best fish in Ribeira Grande

All I can say is that the food was really good. We had been looking to eat here for a few days, and finally decided to go tonight. The grilled sea bream was absolutely delicious, and so was the grilled squid. Combined with a bottle of local wine, I can only give them five stars!

We came here for dinner 3 nights in a row because it was that good! If you like seafood and good wines, don’t look any further!

Food is good but a little bit expensive. I recommend for you to taste shrimps. They say that it one of the best in the island. It was very good. At the beginning of lunch they give you a plate of starters without asking and everything you will eat from that plate will be counted in your bill. Lunch for two costed 60 eur.