History worth knowing · São Miguel, Azores · Last updated: October 29, 2026
High on the rim of the Sete Cidades crater on São Miguel, right next to one of the most famous views in the Azores, sits a five-story hotel with no guests, no staff and not a single light on. This is the Monte Palace. It was supposed to put the Azores on the luxury travel map. Instead, it became one of the most famous abandoned hotels in the world.
So would you go inside? We did. But first, here’s how a hotel that won Portugal’s top award ended up empty for more than 35 years.
The dream
The Monte Palace opened in April 1989 as the first five-star hotel in the Azores. In the late ’80s that was a bold bet. Back then the islands barely saw tourists, apart from families of Azoreans who had moved to Canada or the US coming home to visit.
The location was the whole point. The hotel sits beside the Vista do Rei viewpoint, looking straight down at the twin blue and green lakes of Sete Cidades. It had 88 rooms, including a presidential suite, two restaurants, three conference rooms, a nightclub and a shop. More than 100 people worked there.
Hotel of the Year… and then closed
In 1990, about a year after opening, the Monte Palace was named Hotel of the Year in Portugal. It was a huge win for a hotel on a remote island in the middle of the Atlantic.
It didn’t last. Around 18 months after the doors opened, the hotel went bankrupt and closed for good. Some locals will tell you the award and the bankruptcy landed in the same week. Either way, the best hotel in the country was empty before its second birthday.
So what went wrong?
Pretty much everything except the view.
- Too early. The Azores weren’t a tourist destination yet, so there weren’t enough guests to fill a luxury hotel.
- Too remote. It’s far from the airport and Ponta Delgada, up one steep, winding road.
- Not enough to do. For a five-star resort, it was missing basics like a pool.
- The fog. Sete Cidades is famous for clouds rolling in fast. On a lot of days, guests couldn’t see the one thing they came for.
Twenty years with one guard
After it closed, the hotel ended up owned by a bank. For roughly two decades a security guard (and his dogs) kept watch over the empty building. Around 2010–2011 the payments for that security stopped, the guard stopped coming, and the island moved in. Looters stripped it, vandals smashed it, and moss and ferns started taking over.
Then it became something nobody planned: an unofficial attraction. In 2016, during São Miguel’s Walk & Talk street art festival, Catalan artist Javier de Riba spent a week painting the floor of the lobby. Graffiti now covers almost every wall, and explorers climb to the roof for the view the hotel was built for.
Is it ever coming back?
In 2017 the property went up for sale for about €1.5 million. By the end of that year, Level Constellation, a Lisbon-based developer backed by Chinese investors, had bought it. The plan was a new five-star hotel by 2021, with a spa, a rooftop area, a science center and space for hiking and birdwatching. It would probably get a new name too.
2021 came and went. Last we saw it, the building was still standing empty on the crater rim, still waiting.
If you go
- It’s right by the Vista do Rei viewpoint, about a 30-minute drive from Ponta Delgada. It’s also on our São Miguel guide.
- Check the weather first. Fog can roll in and hide the whole view in minutes.
- It’s an abandoned, decaying building. Watch your step, and check whether it’s fenced off or guarded when you visit, since access has changed over the years.
Sources
- Brandon Donnelly – São Miguel’s abandoned five-star hotel
- Live the World – Monte Palace ruins
- Lonely Planet – Monte Palace to reopen
- idealista – Monte Palace for sale
- idealista – Level Constellation’s plans