Casa do Botânico

Sophisticated Island Cachet

Owned by the same Azorean family since its construction in 1832, this elegant island manor house sits prominently on São Miguel’s south coast surrounded by a luxurious estate garden that was first landscaped over 150 years ago. 

This villa for rent in the Azores is polished and refined indoors, where antique furnishings and classic draperies fill its six bedrooms and two living areas, but the home’s botanical garden feels like a scene from The Secret Garden, with thick vegetation magically hiding a circular swimming pool and intimate outdoor living areas for deliciously isolated relaxation. Views from the estate’s upstairs rooms soar over the tree line to reveal the shimmering sea.

An elegant 19th-century estate surrounded by lush, landscaped gardens creates this private oasis in the Azores. The generous manor house has been the private holding of the same family for generations, and it features a spacious main home in addition to a smaller, separate guest structure. 

The main house has six bedrooms and five bathrooms, plus two living areas, a fully-equipped kitchen and dining room, and a small office space. The smaller home features an additional open, mezzanine-styled bedroom upstairs, and a small living room and single bath downstairs, making it ideal for a couple, plus a small child.

Formality with a touch of deeply saturated island color defines the home’s interior design. This is a sophisticated home of another era, where antique headboards and side tables fill bedrooms, dark wood desks, sideboards and armoires line walls, and weighty chintz draperies frame elegantly arching windows and French doors with stained glass details. 

The kitchen offers a more casual atmosphere, lined with royal blue cabinetry and set with a simple farm table and benches. Period chandeliers and sconces and dark wood partitions fill the living and dining areas where furniture is upholstered and upright. Art tends toward hunt engravings and gild framed classic landscapes, and florals dominate the draperies and throw pillows.

Stairs from the home’s vine-covered pergola entryway lead down into the garden, designed by renowned Azorean landscaper António Borges. Palms peek out from canopies of pine and cypress, leafy tropical ground plantings are joined by fragrant flowering shrubs, and the home is fully cloaked in green despite its generous stature. Beyond the botanical garden, the blue sea shimmers.

AROUND

This villa for rent in the Azores is located on the largest island in the Portuguese archipelago. São Miguel is known for its ultra-green landscape and rugged volcanic scenery. The island is a favorite for outdoor adventures, both on water and land. Kayaking, paddleboarding, diving, surfing and sailing are sought-after coastal activities, and canyoneering, hiking, fishing, and road and mountain biking are favorites on land. 

Geysers and hot springs are famed in and around the community of Furnas, where a crater lake and bubbling warm waters give the place a sense of the tropics. Restaurants, cafes, taverns and services are available in the capital of Ponta Delgada, and the island is Europe’s top whale-watching location.

LOCATION

São Miguel, Azores, Portugal. Nearest airport: Ponta Delgada.

BEST TIME TO VISIT: May to August.