White Exclusive Suites & Villas

João and Catarina Reis were walking the cliffs at Atalhada, on the south coast of São Miguel, when they came across the remains of an old house. The view and the quiet were enough to make them want to build there, and what they built is deliberately small: nine suites and two villas strung along more than a hundred metres of clifftop, with a separate three-bedroom house a short way off.

The design is pared back to white, grey and pale wood set against the island's black basalt, and every room faces the sea. It is low and quiet in the landscape rather than imposed on it, and the comparison people reach for is Santorini, though the black stone makes it something else.

The infinity pool is the centre of the place, heated, finished in Azorean basalt, and set close enough to the edge that the water appears to run into the Atlantic. There is a panoramic hot tub along the terrace, and some rooms have their own.

Cardume, the restaurant, works with consulting chef Vítor Sobral, using Azorean seafood, island-reared meat and vegetables from the farm at the owners' sister hotel, Santa Bárbara, on the north coast. Dinner sometimes runs around a fire pit under skies with very little light pollution in them. The wine list leans on the volcanic vineyards of Pico, which are a UNESCO World Heritage site in their own right.

Be clear on what is not here. There is no gym and no conventional spa, only a treatment room and an outdoor wellness cabin, with the water therapies available at the sister property. The main hotel takes no guests under fourteen.

It holds one Michelin Key. Ponta Delgada airport is around fifteen minutes, and Lagoa do Fogo, the Furnas hot springs and the Vila Franca islet are all easy drives.