Note this hotel is not in the capital Ponta Delgada. It is about one hour of drive (from Ponta Delgada airport) to Villa Franca del Campo. There, the hotel faces the marina and north from the marina is an incredible sand beach (hotel has its own access to it, although the beach seems to be public), but far to be untouched by massive tourism - the beach is surrounded by some bars and "aqua park" swimming pool - not a very nice sight. If by any chance you crave something less of a tourist trap head south for a smaller beach in Villa Franca, used by natives. Villa Franca offers great variety of (sea) activities, including visiting a very small vulcanic island - if you buy tickets very early in the day and sailing (not to be recommended for beginners - this is the ocean!). Hotel is a dissapointment, especially with the price, as they charge as much as best hotels in Ponta Delgada. The building desperately needs to be renovated. There are some horrible fabric carpets around, probably since early eighties, full of different stains. Any asthmatic may be at risk. Locking the room seems to be unsafe - you use ordinary key. We could not lock the balcony door (we stayed on the ground floor), so another reason to be concerned. The dinning room has really bad neon lights and horrible furniture, but a nice view. We did not manage to have dinner, we rather opted for some snacks in the room. Beds will cause your back to hurt as matresses are very very soft and strange, so swimm a lot during the day. Villa Franca is otherwise a more quiet little town, so dont expect much amusement or great shopping. Make sure you are familiar with hiking possibilities. I would personally not stay in this hotel again. Upon arrival, we were actually so dissapointed we wanted to leave immediately, but we were too tired and Ponta Delgada was too far to drive in the middle of the night. Luckily we only stayed one night, waiting for our sailboat.