Pedras do Mar Resort & Spa

The pool and the gym are extremely small and the glass wall in the bathroom gives no privacy

Pedras do Mar hotel is located along beautiful coastline on the northern part of Sao Miguel island. We had ocean view room and it was wonderful waking up in the morning and watching the ocean waves hitting the rocky cost from our bed. The hotel has a nice scandinavian style design, it's very spacious, modern and in natural colours. There's a bar which is open for drinks and snacks until 11pm, a la carte restaurant open until 10pm, breakfast room (7:30-10:30am), pool/snooker table, indoor pool with sauna and steam room, small gym, outdoor pool (didn't use it as it was too cold) and tennis courts. We enjoyed using the indoor pool and sauna very much, however it gets crowded around 6pm and you can barely find anywhere to put your stuff and find space in the pool. We still were there in a low season, i don't know how it is in the summer when it gets more touristy. Reception, bar/restaurant staff and maids all were friendly and helpful. We stayed over for NYE's party which for €95 per person included gala dinner, live band, drinks (local wines, beers, cocktails, champagne) and fireworks at midnight. Everything was very well prepared and decorations were beautiful (congrats to the florist lady who seemed a bit stressful day before the event). There's also plenty of parking in front of the property - and as renting a car to drive around the island is the only way around, that was very convenient to not need to stress about parking.

FOOD! VERY POOR VEGETARIAN OPTIONS. I struggled as a vegetarian. The hotel is quite remote, there are no restaurants nearby, unless you want to drive 20min to Ponta Delgada, you almost have no choice to eat at the hotel. Prices are marked up for food and drinks (eating the same dish elsewhere would cost you much less) and it's really no value for money. The breakfast is boring and every day is the same. After 3rd day I was so breaded out - you get maybe 6 different types of bread for breakfast, 3 forms of eggs, sausages, bacon, beans, cheese, 3-4 types of ham, some veggies (tomato and lettuce - so poor!), cereals and some fruits (pineapple, melon, peaches from a can). Our stay was for a week and we seriously struggled with breakfast towards the end of our stay. Same for the dinner at the restaurant. THERE IS ALMOST NO VEGETARIAN FOOD! From the bar you can only really order a vegeterian hamburger with fries (which collapses in your hands as you eat it) and in the restaurant itself there's only penne with basil and tomato sauce as veg option and then they also have "vegan of the day" with is again PASTA with veggies - I mean you either end up eating, bread, or pasta, or more carbs with a pizza - crazy!! SO DISAPPOINTED with food there - for that reason I have no idea how this hotel has 5 stars. I get it that Portuguese cuisine is predominantly fish, seafood and meat, but come on, they need to cater to all sorts of clientele especially if they call themselves 5 star resort! I also don't think my €95 for gala dinner was worth it as I barely could eat anything there - there was only 1 vegetarian option from hot dishes which was...you guessed it...PASTA with pesto! there were also some salads but they all either had tuna or chicken in it. My last resort was to make my own salad from grated carrots, tomatoes, cucumber, salad leaves and rice. Truly appalling.

Great location, clean and quiet. Free parking and nice staff but definetely it’s not a 5-star hotel. Ocean view is great.

Breakfast is like in a 3-star hotel. You cannot ask for omeletes (unless you pay). After few days you will be bored with this food. I’ve been here two years ago and it was better. Also last night , at 4 am, there was no hot water in the shower.