As I was googling places to stay for our Azores trip, I came across the WHITE Exclusive Suites & Villas. A “wow!“, escaped from my lips. I browsed a bit more in the picture galleries and I knew right away — this is it, let me at it!
Book it!
Looking at this white villa with the turquoise swimming pool, I can’t keep the Ferrero Raffaello ad out of my mind. That was the early 1990s TV spot selling that seductively white almond-coconut ball using a pretty white ocean-side estate with pool. I can still hear the jingle today “as if the summer never ends.”
Back to the here and now, I can already visualize myself in this new-found white villa sipping a delicious coconut drink. From this moment on I’m sure: this lodging is exactly our thing! Book it!
WHITE Exclusive Suites and Villas in the Azores
The hotel is in Lagoda, on the south coast of the Azores island of São Miguel and located 4 miles from the island’s capital of Ponta Delgada.
On arrival, as we skirt a long white wall and ring the bell by the wooden door, Sandra opens the gateway to the white jewel. Warmly and euphorically she invites us in as if she’d been waiting the whole morning for us. And as if we hadn’t seen each other for years ;-)
A warm welcome
Proudly, Sandra shows us around the hotel and reveals that they had just the day before celebrated the one-year anniversary of the hotel’s opening.
White Exclusive Suites and Villas was indeed opened in the summer of 2017. The owners succeeded here in integrating the traditional architecture of an 18th century mansion with a modern design, creating this stylish boutique hotel in the process.
They kept some of the original walls as part of the new structure. So, for example, you will find walls decorated with basalt rocks, the stone arches of the former wine cellar, and other elements of the earlier house on the site.
We’ve just settled in the lounge when a very pleasant, tanned Ricky Martin type beams at us, asking what good things he could do for us. Walter digs his elbow in my side…
Oh, yes, I actually wanted a coffee. So, from “Ricky” we order coffee and cake to enjoy while we soak up the whole ambiance before we move into our first floor Ocean Suite.
Color accents
Many people associate white with an unspoiled state or elegance but also with sterility. Here in the White Exclusive Suites and Villas the service staff with its friendly demeanor provides the color accents — and so does Walter in his pink shirt.
Or at the blue hour, the stylish designer hotel in blue-white!
Suite views
Our suite is done in bright colors. A knotted wall hanging in blue and white that does double duty dividing the living area from the bedroom inevitably brings the ocean to mind.
The suite in fact is named the Ocean Suite. That’s because the view of the Atlantic from the veranda or a little alcove that also serves as a bench is glorious.
The hotel only has 10 rooms or suites as it were. Anyone looking for a quiet, stylish holiday on the Azores who is not looking for a traditional hotel will be well served here!
Tip: If you want (even more) of a private space, book one of the rooms on the first floor. Some of the ground floor rooms are right next to the kitchen and the pool area. You’ll have guests constantly moving back and forth in front of the room.
A nice small restaurant
The food, too, is not standard army rations here. If you are expecting a traditional breakfast buffet though, you might be disappointed at first.
The breakfast consists of yogurt with fruit, home-made bread and marmalade, cheese, cold cuts, as well as scrambled eggs finished off with pancakes and is served at your table.
The fruit juice changes every day and there is a detox drink.
If desired, breakfast can of course also be served on the terrace.
To take the evening meal in the hotel, make sure to reserve a table the day before. It really pays to try the hotel cuisine at least once; the menu is small, but the fare is formidable.
I may not have found any of those Ferraro Raffaello balls in the WHITE Azores, but at least I had a taste of summer that never ends…
Our warm thanks go to…
…to Mário Ladeira, Sales Manager, for coordinating our stay. It was supported by the hotel. Muito obrigado also to Sandra Correia for the warm welcome and the terrific customer care! I felt like we had known Sandra forever and a day…
Address
White Exclusive Suites & Villas
R. da Rocha Quebrada, 10
Atalhada
9560-420 Lagoda, São Miguel
The hotel is about 4 miles from Ponta Delgada and 19 miles from Furnas.
Telefon: +351 296 249 153
E-Mail: white@whiteazores.com
Webseite: whiteazores.com
About the Azores island of São Miguel
At 39 miles in length and 16 miles wide at its widest point (287 square miles), São Miguel is the largest and also the main island in the archipelago. It is also often called the blue-green instead of just “the green island“. What all there is to be experienced on São Miguel you can see in this separate report.
Getting to São Miguel
From Switzerland, our home base,Air Portugal (TAP) will get you to the Azores’ São Miguel Island, although with a stop in Porto or Lisbon. TAP at present has an attractive Stopover Program, which makes it easy to combine your Azores vacation with a stay in one of the two cities.
Apparently there are also direct flights to the Azores out of Boston and New York.
Here we share some tips for a city trip to Porto or also Lisbon.
More impressions:
