Ribeira Grande is the second largest town on São Miguel, set on the island's north coast about 15 minutes by car from Ponta Delgada. The town has a handsome historic centre with baroque churches and manor houses, centred on a striking eight-arched bridge over the Ribeira Grande river, with the Igreja Matriz and the basalt-arcaded city hall anchoring the small square nearby.
The north coast here is wilder and less touristy than the south. Ribeira Grande is a good base for visiting the Sete Cidades crater lakes to the west, the tea plantations at Gorreana (the only tea produced in Europe), and the hot springs at Caldeira Velha. The dark-sand surf beach at Santa Bárbara is a couple of kilometres west of town, and the cliff-edge Miradouro de Santa Iria is fifteen minutes east along the coast road.