2 Best Restaurants in Água de Pau, São Miguel

It’s more than worth a trip 20 km (12 miles) east of Ponta Delgada to dine at this popular open-air seafood restaurant with lovely water views; since the place doesn’t take reservations, bring your swimsuit for a dip in the adjacent pool while you wait. The friendly staff will grill up your choice of the fresh local fish on display---perhaps tuna, stingray, or barracuda---but you can’t go wrong with baked mussels in a buttery garlic sauce or just-caught limpet, plus (a rarity for the islands) a well-stocked salad bar.

There’s nothing fancy about this beach bar where you sit on plastic chairs under umbrellas, but the views over Áqua d’Alto beach more than make up for the basic decor. The extensive menu appeals to all tastes, with choices from local seafood like sardines, cod, and limpets to chicken and pork sandwiches, all of it accompanied by beer or affordable glasses of wine from the islands.