Pestana Bahia Hotel, Salvador

Advantages: Nicely restored tourist friendly old town
Disadvantages: The ladies hunt in packs

...Salvador, in the state of Bahia, north east Brazil (or São Salvador da Baía de Todos os Santos as it was named in the past) was the first colonial capital city of Brazil and, although power shifted to Rio de Janeiro in the late eighteenth century, then to Brasilia in 1960, it retains much of it's past grandeur and colonial architecture. One of the main reasons to come here, however, is the wonderful mix of cultural influences that make the cuisine, music and lifestyle here so different even to other parts of Brazil. The population of over three million, consists mainly of people with African origins descended from slaves, although there have been many other strong influences through Salvador's history. Salvador is also famous for it's carnival and street parties. The final stop on my extensive two-week tour of Brazil was to Salvador... Read review

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Advantages: Good rooms, helpful staff, free bus into town
Disadvantages: Its a bus ride from town.

...We booked a last minute holiday in Madeira in september 2007 and on the advice of our agent decided to go for the Pestana Grand hotel. The hotel was rated as a 5 star by our agent although this site rightly has it as a four-star. We booked on a bed & breakfast basis and with flights and transfers It cost us about £650 each for the week . On arrival the reception staff were very helpful and spoke excellent English. We had been booked into a mountain view room and asked if we could upgrade to a sea view. This was no problem for, I think, an extra £20 per night. This was well worth it as we noticed that the mountain view rooms all overlooked the car park. The view was excellent from our room and we could see people fishing from small boats, the hotel gardens and pools and people walking along the promenade which takes you from the hotel... Read review

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Advantages: Informal, clean, decent food, right near the beach
Disadvantages: Hideously expensive bar and wines

...We stayed at the Pestana Bay "Aparthotel" four-star hotel in Funchal (the capital of Madeira) in August 2005 and I'm happy to recommend it to anyone reading this. It was clean, conveniently placed (i.e right near the beach and with a nearby bus stop for trips into town), not too formal or "stiff upper lip" and the breakfasts were pretty good. COSTS: We paid just over £500 each including flights, for a 2-week stay in August, which we thought was pretty good value given that it's not the cheapest of locations. This included buffet breakfast each morning. The bar is expensive and probably best avoided if you need to watch the euros- we paid something like 10 euros for a Southern Comfort and coke, and a small bottle of beer. There are plenty of bars in Funchal where you can get the same drinks for under four euros, so I would advise... Read review

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