Sao Miguel Azores -- downtown vs rural

If you have not read the Azores Advice post at the top of this forum, I suggest you do. It has a link to my Azores Guidebook. The first 52 pages are totally free to read.

The Sao Miguel chapter includes the locations of all the free parking lots in Ponta Delgada. I always use one of them.

Santana is indeed rural! You might hear the roosters in the morning or the cows mooing any time of the day. I am serious!

I also include in the Sao Miguel chapter all my recommended hotels. Most will be located on streets that you should not hear anything. Casa das Palmeiras-Charming House (https://maps.app.goo.gl/xpQ3agszEGFamufP7?g_st=ic) in Ponta Delgada is our favorite! You can narrow your search to 3 or 4 places and I can better alleviate your concern.

With 8 nights, you can stay at 2-3 places across the island. This way it will be more conducive for driving, walking, nighttime adventures, and general sightseeing.

Carl,
Thank you for the input.

For the date we want and the budget we have, the choices in Ponta Delgada are Hotel Alcides and Hotel Insular. Are you familiar with or have an opinion on either one? I think you mentioned Alcides in your book, so it would have been our choice but I did read several reviews complaining about the noise from a bar next door with a band playing until 3 AM. So that leaves us with just the option of Hotel Insular.

Also, regarding the free public parking lots and that it would be ok to even park illegally if the lot was full. How likely is that the lot will have spaces every day when we come back to the hotel from our excursions in the afternoon? Our stay will be in the early Sept. (I am not going to hold you to it of course, just want to have a feel of the "risk".)

Carl,

I found another possibility -- Hotel Comfort Inn. It does have free parking. The price is a little higher but still within our budget. But it has pretty low ratings overall.

Between the 3 hotels (Alcides, Insular, Comfort Inn), I would have preferred Hotel Alcides, but that noise issue was scary. Based on what I could read, it seemed to indicate that the rooms facing the street had it the worst. Do you think if it's possible if we request a quieter room facing away from the street? Or do you think it's all going to be the same, since everything is packed so tight and both sides of the building is going to be affected no matter what?

Hotel Insular I am not familiar with. I have walked by it on this side street with minimal traffic.

The same goes for Hotel Comfort Inn. I've walked by it, one street over, with minimal traffic.

Hotel Alcides is very nice with an excellent restaurant. The street in front is mostly a pedestrian alley. On Google maps, look for Restaurant Alcides and the red building to the right of it. The hotel is located there and also with rooms above the restaurant, not where Google shows it on the map. That street, Rua Machado dos Santos, is VERY busy almost 24 hours a day.

In any of the free parking lots, nothing is considered illegal. You will see locals park any which way they can in them and it is legal. The afternoons will almost always have empty spots. They start filling up in the early evenings. Do not park on the streets or you will be ticketed. You might also sustain damage as the streets are very narrow.

Let me know your budget and specific date (s) (by private message if you want) and I can take a look on Booking.com.

You can always contact a hotel by email, but nothing will be guaranteed.

Carl,
Thank you so much for your answers. After reading more of your book and on this forum, we have decided to take your advice and split our 8 days into at least 2 and possibly 3 stays around the island. We will probably pick a place on the eastern side of the island to start, then move to Ponta Delgada for the end of the trip, so that we can get to the airport quickly on the day of departure.

So now the decision is whether to rent an Airbnb or a hotel for Ponta Delgada. We normally prefer Airbnb, simply because there is more space and a kitchen. But so far in our research, we have noticed an interesting fact: almost no private residence (house or apt) has air conditioning while all the hotel rooms usually have A/C. Since we will be there at the end of August, we are a bit concerned about the lack of A/C in the Airbnb. I know the weather is unpredictable, but in general, they say August can have daytime temp of mid 70s, and nighttime in the mid 60s. Do you think a fan will be enough? Especially if we are staying in the city, opening a window may not be possible due to the traffic noise.

There are a multitude of wonderful hotels in Ponta Delgada. Choose from among them on www.booking.com. Most come with included breakfast. I assure you that you will not be in your room except to sleep. Discovering Ponta Delgada by foot is essential and rewarding. It also requires a lot of time. Why some travelers complain that this city does not have much to see is beyond belief. They certainly did not do their research before arriving.

Humidity will be high in August, and nighttime mid-60s will feel much warmer. Choose a hotel with air conditioning. Window screens in the Azores are almost non-existent. With an open window, you will let the humidity torment you and will be welcoming pesky insects in to bother you. Don't worry about mosquitos. A fan will only circulate warm, moist air. That's not fun in the middle of the night as you try to sleep. A hotel might not even have fans for their guests, and if they do, maybe not enough for every room.

We stayed at Grand Hotel Atlantico in Ponta Delgada and had a nice stay. We were able to walk to whatever we wanted in the downtown and the hotel is located across from the ocean so we saw a cruise ship and Coast Guard ship from our room when we stayed. Although the hotel seemed to be on the "main drag" so to speak we did not find it noisy. We thought the hotel suited our needs and food was terrific. Hotel also has an indoor heated pool if you are interested in that.