Azores: Two Coasts, One Island
Santa Bárbara gives you a beach below the hotel and more space for families. WHITE sits above Lagoa’s rocky shore, with nine suites and a villa on the main grounds.
Both hotels on São Miguel belong to Singular Properties, the group run by João and Catarina Reis, and they are only about twelve minutes apart by car. Santa Bárbara is on the north coast near Ribeira Grande, WHITE on the south coast at Lagoa. Choosing between them comes down to what you want below your terrace: dark sand and surf, or rock and a heated pool above the water.
North: Santa Bárbara, the beach
Praia de Santa Bárbara is a long stretch of dark volcanic sand, and the resort, opened in 2015, sits directly above it. The buildings are kept low and clad in cryptomeria, the Japanese cedar that grows across the islands, and in cork. All 30 studios and villas have a kitchenette and a deck. The twelve Blue & Green Studios share a long saltwater plunge pool, every other category has its own hot tub, and the Garden Villas open onto a garden of native plants while the rest look sideways to the sea and the mountains.
For families there is room to spread out: the villas sleep four or six, children up to 12 sleep on sofa beds, and a baby cot is available on request. Besides the beach there is a heated saltwater pool, an indoor pool and a gym, and the Beach Club on the sand serves light meals, though it closes from November to May. Andreia and Heloísa, the hotel’s experience guides, plan days out to Furnas, Sete Cidades or Nordeste with licensed local partners.
South: WHITE, above the rocks
At Lagoa the shore is rock rather than sand. João and Catarina Reis came across the ruin of an old summer house here, a few metres above the Atlantic, and turned it into WHITE: nine suites and a villa on grounds that run along more than a hundred metres of cliff. The three Unique Suites keep the basalt walls and stone arches of the old wine cellar, the two Junior Suites open straight onto the pool, and the four Ocean Suites upstairs have balconies over the water. The Villa stands alone at the cliff edge with a heated plunge pool. Every suite has a small kitchen.
WHITE takes guests aged 14 and over. Instead of a beach there is a heated outdoor pool, yoga and massages in The Hut above the cliff, and the hotel’s own motorboat for trips to coves along the coast. In the evening CARDUME serves Azorean fish soup, seafood rice and fish confit with sweet potato. Families with younger children can book Casa da Rocha, a separate three-bedroom house about 450 metres away with its own heated pool and direct access to the sea.
Practical
The airport is on the edge of Ponta Delgada, about 15 minutes’ drive from WHITE and 20 from Santa Bárbara. A hire car makes sense from either hotel. Pack a rain jacket as well as swimwear: you may need both on the same day.
