Ponta Delgada: Travel and tourism

Ponta Delgada is the historic maritime capital of the largest and most populated island of the Azores, São Miguel, known as the «green island» due to the miraculous transformation of a volcanic scenery into a staggering landscape of lush green woods and fields of diversified crops.

The capital of this garden-like island is lined with impressive Renaissance churches, convents and other monuments, noble mansions of basalt (a volcanic rock abundant in the city's architecture) and an excellent museum, Museu Carlos Machado, lodged in the former Monastery of Saint Andrew and reflecting São Miguel's natural history and its fishing and farming industries.

Ponta Delgada also provides an excellent starting point for tours along the rugged coast or to the crater lakes and steaming springs in the interior.

Of the county's sites, perhaps the most known is Caldeira das Sete Cidades (cauldron of the seven cities), a giant volcanic crater with a 12-kilometre circumference and sheer walls rising above several lakes, of which the most beautiful are the Blue and Green lakes, with tranquil waters framed by hydrangeas.

The county has many idyllic sites for calm walks to admire spectacular views, but Ponta Delgada also offers the visitor facilities for big game fishing, sailing, rowing, canoeing, windsurf and jet-ski.