AL-NovaVista

The only thing I liked was the terrace view over Fajal Island and the vineyards. The rooms were small and had no view. A balcony might be possible in the main building, but there are only a few, so the odds seem low. It felt rather like being in a bunker. This was the holiday agency’s backup because everywhere else on the island was booked for our dates. Bad choice. The mattress was awful and the pillows were among the worst I’ve had in ages. There was never anyone at reception. We only saw two young women working there, doing everything from cleaning and breakfast to check-in and check-out. Those two hard workers deserve a medal. Breakfast was just okay. The coffee, like in most places on the Azores islands, came from a machine with powder. The air conditioning worked, there was always hot water, and the towels were changed daily. But the bins were emptied and the room cleaned only once during our four-day stay. There was a pool, but the water looked odd and smelled very strongly of chlorine, so we didn’t go in. Parking was large enough and free. A small fridge in the bedroom would be nice, or at least a minibar on the terrace for a drink while watching the sunset.

The terrace is open around the clock, and the view across the vineyards with the ocean behind them is superb. There’s nothing nearby, though, no shops, restaurants or bars. A good workaround is to pick up cheese, olives and other local treats from a decent grocery store and enjoy them on the terrace. Comfort seems to depend a lot on which room you get. Ours was miserable, in a separate building rather than the one attached to the terrace. Breakfast was solid.

The rooms were fairly spacious, and from some of them you can see Mount Pico and the sea together. There’s a nice pool and the staff are friendly. The breakfast was okay, nothing special, and there were a lot of odd decorations, like Christmas lights.

The balcony view was nice, and the room was clean. In most rooms, though, the windows are at ground level, opening directly onto the parking area or street. The staff were unfriendly and made us feel unwelcome. As other people have mentioned, breakfast was just cheap supermarket food.