Café 1

Café 1 is your landside caffeine stop before security

This is a pre-security café in the public hall at João Paulo II Airport, handy if you’re dropped off early and check-in isn’t open yet. Prices sit in the low tier ($), so coffee and a snack here usually runs under €6–€8 per person. It fills the same niche as the better-documented Go to Cafe – Coffee and Food at PDL: basic fuel before you even see a boarding pass.

Café 1 focuses on quick café standards rather than full plates, so think pastries, simple sandwiches, and espresso drinks, not full meals. The headline item is the pastel de nata, which regulars across Portugal know as the safest order in small airport cafés. Pair a nata with an espresso or galão and you’re still typically under €4, useful if you’re trying to burn through the last coins in your wallet.

Being landside, Café 1 works both for arrivals and departures: meet someone off a SATA/Azores Airlines flight, grab a coffee, then head into Ponta Delgada, or camp here before an early TAP or Ryanair departure. Opening hours track the flight bank, so expect it to be open from the first morning departures until the last evening waves, but don’t bank on midnight snacks if you land after 23:00.

Watch out for the airport’s very limited food options overall, a complaint that shows up repeatedly in PDL trip reports. Once you go through security, choices shrink fast and you may find only a small bar or vending for anything more. If you care about coffee quality or want an actual pastry instead of packaged snacks at the gate, this is the moment to sort it out.

Tip: eat and caffeinate at Café 1 before security, then head airside with just a bottle of water so you’re not stuck hungry in a nearly empty departures area if flights bunch up or your gate area gets crowded.