Casa da Cisaltina

Set above the Graminhais, with a clear line of sight to one of the trails leading up Pico da Vara, the highest peak on São Miguel, Casa da Cisaltina occupies a country house built at the end of the nineteenth century. It opened to guests in March 2017, restored to hold its rustic bones alongside modern comfort. The house has three suites and two apartments. Rooms are air conditioned, with free Wi-Fi throughout. Outside, a barbecue area sits ready for slow afternoons, and a breakfast area is set among the green of the surrounding countryside. Indoor and outdoor living spaces run into one another, so a morning coffee can just as easily end up on the terrace as at the kitchen table. The house sits in Povoação, the first settled parish on the island, in the countryside known locally as the land of the priolo, a rare bird found in these hills. Breakfast draws on food from nearby producers, and a welcome basket does the same. It is a working landscape, not a resort. Guests can walk to bakeries, ride bicycles along a nearby avenue of plane trees, or simply sit with the view of Graminhais and the ridge beyond. Furnas, with its thermal waters, and Ribeira Quente, on the coast, are both about 20 minutes away by car.