Exploring A Haunted Abandoned Hotel in the Azores: Monte Palace Hotel

Are you up for the coolest urban exploration ever? Monte Palace Hotel in Sete Cidades, the Azores, was once one of the grandest hotels in the world with an unbeatable view of a lake inside an ancient, dormant volcano.

Nowadays Monte Palace Hotel is abandoned and nature has taken over. It's the perfect spot for adrenaline junkies and amateur photographers.

It's one of the creepiest, coolest places we've ever visited, so allow us to take you on a tour of the abandoned Monte Palace Hotel:

WHY WAS THE MONTE PALACE HOTEL ABANDONED

The Monte Palace Hotel was a very, very bad French investment in the 80s. Ostensibly it seems like a good idea: the rooms were gigantic and had jaw-dropping views like this:

That's a view of Sete Cidades and Sete Cidades lake - an ancient, dormant volcano now filled with a lake.

But Monte Palace Hotel was 30 years ahead of its time, they highly overestimated the amount of people that would visit Sete Cidades or even the Azores themselves.

So despite the incredible location and views, the hotel was only open for little more than a year before it had to be closed.

IS THE HOTEL GUARDED

For ten years or so guards were employed to keep an eye on the place (hence why it's still in such 'good' keep). Azoreans told us great stories about trying to break in as teenagers and then being chased by guard-dogs!!

But nowadays the money has run out and the guards and guard-dogs are gone (along with the windows and most of the carpets).

But this is part of the reason it feels so weird (I think). It's from the 80s, but was kind of kept in a preserved state for over ten years, and so the damage from the nature is still pretty new.

CAN YOU GO INTO THE HOTEL

With no guards and guard-dogs you are free to come and go as you please. In fact there's no fence or barbed wire or even a sign that says keep out - nothing to suggest you can't go in.

IS IT SAFE THOUGH

Absolutely, with a little bit of common sense - like not falling into the elevator shafts or walking under bits of ceiling that look like they are going to fall off - it's super safe. The floors are extremely solid and there's the odd sharp edge or two, but nothing for experienced urban explorers - or even unexperienced urban explorers - to worry about.

I'd even go so far as to say that it would be safe enough to go at night - just make sure you bring a good flash-light.

IS IT SCARY

Thanks to the architect who utilised a lot of natural light and wanted the best views possible, it's really light and not scary inside, even it's beautiful. Nature has been allowed to take over and there's flowers and grass everywhere.

Saying that though, on our second visit we gathered enough courage to go down to the lower floors (no lights) and that was creepy as hell. There's a kind of underground nightclubby bit down there that looks like it's straight out of the shining and we scared ourselves silly pretending our torches had gone out etc.

It was also the set for a French horror film!

HOW TO GET THE BEST PHOTO OF SETE CIDADES LAKE

Pretty much all the rooms on the north side have fantastic views of Sete Cidades (I bet they were the most expensive).

But to get the best views of the Sete Cidades lake head up to the roof.

Now turn around and feast your eyes on this:

Best views in the house!

HOW TO GET TO THE MONTE PALACE HOTEL

The Monte Palace Hotel isn't marked on Google Maps, but Miradouro da Vista do Rei (or Viewpoint of the King's) is, and that's exactly where Monte Palace Hotel is.

You can easily rent a car in the Azores or do what we did and hitch-hike in the Azores (click that link for a full guide). Hitch-hiking is easy in the Azores. Taking a bus is not. They basically don't even have buses there, trust us we tried.

HOW TO GET TO THE AZORES

People used to joke that it was cheaper to get to the USA than to the Azores (which really wasn't a joke for the Azoreans, most of which could never afford to leave their islands. Sure, when you see how beautiful those islands are you might wonder why they'd want to, but imagine needing medical care that you could only get on the mainland...)

Just recently Azoreans and tourists have easily been able to come and go from the Azores thanks to the cheap, cheap flights that have just opened up in the last couple of years.

CONCLUSION

So there you have it, our experience exploring the haunted and abandoned hotel in the Azores - the Monte Palace Hotel. We really recommend you take a trip when you visit the Azores.

Visiting the Azores is an absolute must for everyone's dream European bucket-list, and not just for urban exploration, they also do: whale watching, natural hot springs, adventurous activities, delicious local foods, kind locals - the Azores truly has it all and more! Not to mention, it's a great place to hitch-hike.

To find out more about our love for the Azores check out our post: 10 Reasons You Must Visit The Azores.

And I will leave you with some of our other photos of the Monte Palace Hotel - enjoy!