Ponta Delgada Sao Miguel

Called ‘Portos do Mar' (Gateways of the Sea), the €50m project includes a dedicated cruise berth 380mtr long with 11mtr depth alongside. Passengers will embark/disembark via a gangway connected to the cruise terminal building positioned a few hundred meters from the city center of Ponta Delgada, accessed via a newly laid promenade. Parking for excursion buses is located on the terminal roof. The 10 minute walk to town is very enjoyable.

Ponta Delgada Sao Miguel is by far the most visited cruise port in the Azores.

Printable map to take along.

Cruise Schedule Choose Cruises and which port.

Ponta Delgada is the largest city on São Miguel, and on all the Islands of the Azores. It's an exiting and charming business town with lots of old houses and narrow streets. There is a great variety of hotels, residencias and restaurants for any wallet. Here you will also find the biggest concentration of tourists on the entire Azores.

The pavement of the streets are "mosaic", the patterns are formed by placing cube shaped white marble and black volcanic basalt stones on a bed of sand.

Tours of the town are based along the Avenida where the traveler can find several services to experience the city, including horse-drawn carriage, panoramic bus tours and the Lagarta Tourist Train that travels along the streets.

Many people who want to see more of the island rent a taxi for a few hours. Make sure your driver speaks english.

The majority of visitors though can't resist the temptation to spend half a day visiting what is the island's major attraction: Sete Cidades, an extinct volcano crater which stretches for 40 sq. km, and holds two magnificent lakes, one deep blue colour and the other emerald green.

You can hire a cab outside the pier and it is very cheap compared to a ship tour. The reason of this is that due to weather conditions these lakes often are invisible and going there on a ship organized tour can be wasting your time.

Although shopping in Ponta Delgada is somewhat limited, there are places on the island to buy gifts, souvenirs, and other items. The Hypermarket with a movie theater, is open daily from 9 am until 11 pm. Centro Comercial Solmar is a mall which has several fast food restaurants, apparel shops, bookstores, and a supermarket. Parque Atlantico is located in the northern section of the city. Several shops, Pizza Hut, and Burger King are in this shopping center.

There is a nice market right across from the port that you can stock up on snacks, drinks etc.

The tap water is not always drinking water, but it is suitable for tooth brushing. You can get cheap bottles of mineral water in each supermarket. One should not drink water from rivers and lakes.

Many restaurants are closed on Saturdays or Sundays. That indicates that the restaurants which are open, can be very crowded.

The Azores is a part of Portugal and the currency is Euro as well. Most of the restaurants, hotels and car-renting companies accept common credit-cards. But don't expect credit cards to be accepted in smaller restaurants and residencias. Be sure to carry small bills. There are places that it can be a problem to change bigger notes.

Most banks accept Visa/MasterCard's. Most banks have employees who speak English or French

The national language is Portuguese. Azoreans speak a special dialect. Sometimes the inhabitants understand also English or French, especially the younger ones.