Also this hotel belongs to the "major" Azores Hotel Chain and suffers of missing investments in renovations (as practially do all the hotels on the islands).

The hotel is maybe open for 10-12 years and the bathrooms would urgently need some updates, the decor is ok and the balconies are a big plus (if your neighbour doesn't start to smoke on the balcony and you forgot to close the windows)

Breakfast was nothing special, generally we didn't feel welcome (no greetings on arrival)

Can't recommend this hotel but there are not many alternatives in Nordeste....

My wife and I only spent one night here after a disappointing stay in terra nostra,furnas beautiful hotel situated above the small village of Nordeste great panoramic views. This hotel will get more popular when the highway from Ponta Delgada is completed. Usual issues with bed comfort but at least our suite had a king size bed. The dining room had the best food of our trip, all in all a very pleasant surprise. The area holds some of the most spectacular scenery on the island. Suggest you take the drive back to ponta via povocao just spectacular.

General: Clean, comfortable. Friendly staff, nice cheerful décor. Relaxed atmosphere. Great place to explore that part of the island.
Location: Quiet,(except for 2 cockerels at 5am!) up the hill above Nordeste. Great views across the town and to the sea.
Reception: 24h friendly helpful staff with good English.
Wifi: available throughout hotel but not free. You have to purchase 30 minute vouchers from reception for 2 euro each. Bit annoying if you are in the middle of something and the voucher runs out + you have to start again and enter another voucher.
Pool and Gardens: Beautifully kept with comfortable seating and loungers. We didn’t use the pool due to the time of year but it was cleaned regularly despite this. I noticed that the shade creeps across the pool area by the end of the day so you may end up fighting over the sunny spot!
Bar: Very comfy. Big squooshy sofas, small bar but most drinks available at good prices (cocktails for 5 Euros!) Veranda with sea view for the summer. One negative though – the hotel didn’t have many guests when we were there and so they didn’t put the heating on in the bar and restaurant. This was a great shame as it just wasn’t warm enough so we didn’t spend as much time there as we would have liked. We just ate our meal and went back to our room. I did manage to distract the waitress at one point and flick the switch on myself though! Not a problem in the summer months obviously.
Restaurant: Also nice and relaxing and with veranda for al fresco eating in the summer. Menu limited in my opinion and may get a bit boring if you’re there for more than a week. Not really 4* quality either but plenty of it and good value. There was a set menu for 17.50 which included 3 courses and coffee. Usually soup followed by a choice of fish or meat served with chips or boiled potatoes and overcooked carrots, then a choice of something like cake or choc mousse or ice cream. Like I said, nothing exciting but it tasted ok and certainly filled me up. There was an A la Carte menu, which included a few more interesting things but only about 5 choices, and still served with the same boring veg.
Breakfast was super. And served until 10am so you can have a lie in! Usually buffet style with a choice of fruit, yoghurts, cereal, various breads and cakes, as well as bacon and eggs which were delicious.
Nordeste has 2 snack bars which didn’t look very appealing, and one restaurant which was about a 20 minute hilly walk away. We didn’t try it but it looked good. (called restaurant Tronqeira on the road heading out of Nordeste towards Povacao)
Rooms: All on 1st or second floor with sea view balcony. There is a lift. Spacious enough with gorgeous pine furniture and good amount of storage space. Individual heating which was very effective and easy to use. Beds were two single beds pushed together. Plenty of bedding and pillows. Very comfortable. No tea or coffee making facilities – this is usual for the Azores. However coffee was only 1 euro at the bar. There are plenty of plug sockets so suggest bring a travel kettle if you like a cup of tea first thing in the morning! No fridge or minibar though so will have to have it black! Bathroom clean with complementary toiletries. The extracter fan didn’t seem to work in ours so I didn’t use the hairdryer that was provided in the bathroom as the mirror was steamed up! Apart from hearing the cockerels at 5am, all was quiet in the rooms, though the hotel was not full when we were there.

Nordeste and surrounding area: Quiet town fairly spread out, no real centre. Great views, especially down towards the lighthouse. There is a swimming area by the sea but you need to drive down a very steep road to it. We walked down there and back up but it was hard work! The area was mostly of concrete and not particularly attractive but maybe better in the summer. One end of the concrete had broken off into the sea and there was a boulder which had fallen down from the cliff so I rather wander about the safety of the area!
The best bit about Nordeste is the surrounding areas. There is a beautiful “miradouro” (viewpoint) every mile or so, each with picnic tables, barbeque equipment and often toilets. Fantastic. I believe you can walk a path from the ones near Lomba de Fazenda all the way round the coast to Nordeste. Plus of course you are close to the high mountainous area of Pico de Vara, with its fantastic walking and nature.
There is a new road being built on the north coast which will significantly reduce the time getting to the area and avoid all the twisting and turning on the country lanes. It will sadly, however, bypass some of the pretty little villages along route. At the moment it is a bit awkward cos of the amount of lorries on those little winding roads due to the construction work. You can bet your bottom dollar you’ll be stuck behind one at some point. Or, as happened to us, you’ll run over some of their rubble and get a flat tyre. Close to the villages, you usually get stuck behind a herd of cows on their way for milking or a couple of escaped bulls being chased by their farmer – this is a much more pleasurable way to be held up!

In summary – Estalagem dos Clerigos is a comfortable hotel with everything you need, perfect place from which to explore a superb area. I would recommend a stay of 5-7 days out of season, maybe longer when the sun shines.

Nordeste is a small village in beautiful surrounding. For hiking in the rainforest or exploring the small roads by car, this hotels location is good. Reception didn't have much information about good walking trails but local turist infrormation had some maps. But good ones are not for sale. And they also didn't know that some walking trails were closed (for safety reasons) for a good time ago. If possible, might be good idea to buy good hiking maps from Ponta Delgada beforehand.

Hotel itself is nicely decorated, but nothing special. We felt that it's a little bit overpriced comparing the price/quality and the other hotel we had on same trip in Ponta Delgada. Breakfast was ok-. No fresh fruits or vegetables at all. Looong minus =)

If you want to have a hotel (instead of B&B) I recommend to stay couple of nights here. Spend some time to explore the beautiful area in Nordeste. Weather changes fast in mountain area, so a spare day or two might be a good idea.