Hotel do Colegio

A real favourite of ours, the Hotel do Colegio is a friendly, family-run hotel right in the heart of Ponta Delgada.

The building was originally constructed as a grand townhouse in the early 19th Century, when the lucrative orange trade between Sao Miguel and the UK was at it’s height. When the island’s orange crop was devastated in the 1850s (by the same ‘Great Blight’ that almost laid waste to the wine industry across mainland Europe), the house became a successful music school (hence the name ‘Colegio’), before being sympathetically converted into a hotel. Much of the original basalt stone architectural features have been retained – the décor feels minimal but comfortable, and since the recent refurbishment (in 2017), there’s a really nice balance between city hotel and ‘traditional Azorean’.

There are fifty-seven en-suite rooms (forty-five standard and 12 twelve superior) and two suites – all the rooms have a bathtub with a shower, TV, hairdryer and air conditioning, and free WiFi is available throughout the hotel. The outdoor pool is set in the original quadrangle at the centre of the building – next door to the breakfast room, restaurant and the residents’ bar.