SUSTAINABILITY, LUXURY AND HERITAGE

Sustainability does not mean forgoing luxury, it means making a careful and conscious balance in what we do each day, and the impact we have on the environment. Taking a moment out to consciously buy and consume local products, improving our own wellbeing as well as those who live and work in the Azores. The Solar Branco Eco Estate is proud to be a leader in this growing movement. Our hotel and experiences eschew exotic or unnecessary products and foods, opting for local over global and removing unnecessary plastic from all areas of the hotel.

Enjoy Azorean wine on arrival as you sit back and watch the sunset over the green hills to the ocean beyond. Feast on our free-range, fresh eggs from the ladies who roam on the estate. Turn your phone off. Breathe. Take some time for yourself.

Azorean culture is strongly reflected in the house and surroundings. The main house or Solar in Portuguese was built in the 1800s. Honouring the Portuguese explorers and the trading route with England, we are restoring an orange grove with heritage trees, and taking the land back 150 years. At the same time, we are reinventing styles, details and ways of living, to connect the past, present and future. The connection with fauna and flora represents a key part of the Solar Branco Eco Estate.

The Ocean Azores Foundation aims to invest its resources in selected community projects that will help drive lasting social and environmental change, focusing on the protection of the waters that surround the Azores Islands. This will be achieved through multi-year partnerships and providing funding for organisations that promote marine sustainability and sustainable tourism.

This work will help to increase protections for cetaceans in the region, and ensure their long term survival. The foundation will focus on funding projects that include marine conservation, reduction of plastics, and related ocean education and research.