Hotel Solar Do Conde

“Great Hotel and location but mind the dinner”

The hotel has a great location on the outskirts of Capelas on the north coast of Sao Miguel, with nice views of the rolling hills in the background and a glimpse of the Atlantic from some of the apartments. The accomodation consists of either bungalows or terraced apartments. A car or a taxi i... more

The hotel has a great location on the outskirts of Capelas on the north coast of Sao Miguel, with nice views of the rolling hills in the background and a glimpse of the Atlantic from some of the apartments. The accomodation consists of either bungalows or terraced apartments. A car or a taxi is necessary to get around the island, although there are buses to and from Ponta Delgada, with the bus stop in front of the Moby Dick Cafe (I know, I know !!) some 200 m. from the hotel. If you want to walk to Capelas town be VERY careful because the road is extremely narrow, barely wide enough for two cars to pass each other, and NO footpaths on either side most of the way. I would definitely not recommend walking on this road at night. The rooms were nice and clean, and the receptionist Lucia was very friendly and helpful. She might be able to provide you with a mobile router for the room. There is a large but neglected park at the back, which has a number of interesting plants and trees. Well worth seeing. We had ordered a half-board holiday and here comes the interesting part : The breakfast was OK, but the dinner was something different. The first evening dinner started with the Soup of the day which was quite inedible, tasting like dish water with small bits of vegetables floating around. My wife gave up after the first spoonful, but I being more adventurous and famished after a 5 hour flight, closed my eyes and gulped it down. Then came the tough medium-rare meat on a skewer which appeared to have belonged to a long-suffering cow. I wont't mention the dessert. The next evening the same veg. soup reappeared under a different disguise, after being blended, the same veggies from the previous evening also turned up and were once again rejected by both of us. On the day of the the Last Supper we were pleasantly surprised by a fairly decent dinner. Cook must have been feeling much better, and was therefore complimented for his efforts. Wish he had done better earlier. Anyway, we can't say that we hadn't been warned by previous reviews, but thought how bad can the food be. Believe me, it can be bad !! Capelas is well worth a look around, try the cafe next to the church. They have a small balcony at the back with great views of the coast. There are a couple of restaurants in town but we never got to try them !!

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“Nice bungalow”

We stayed here for 3 nights in one of the bungalows in the garden. A good choice because we could sit outside in sun or shade. In the bungalow there was airco in the livingroom and in the bedroom, both worked very well. The bathroom was very nice, shower had enough warm water. The bungalow was sp... more

We stayed here for 3 nights in one of the bungalows in the garden. A good choice because we could sit outside in sun or shade. In the bungalow there was airco in the livingroom and in the bedroom, both worked very well. The bathroom was very nice, shower had enough warm water. The bungalow was spacious. Breakfast was okay. The food was good but the drinks (orangejuice with too much water and no really hot water for the tea). There was a pool but we didn't use it. In the bungalow there was a coffeemachine but with 1 euro per cup we didn't use it. That should be in the price. The people at the reception were very friendly and spoke quit good English. The beds were too firm, hurt our backs.

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