Pestana Bay Ocean Aparthotel, Funchal

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 ...
...very best points about the Pestana Bay is that the shape of the hotel is such that you can get a great view of the sea, and the afternoon and evening sun (including some sprectacular sunsets) from EVERY apartment. You don't need to worry about your apartment being tucked away and facing nothing more exciting than the people in the apartment across from you. Not only that but from most apartments you can get a great view, facing west, of Cabo Girao, ... more

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 you to hunt them out!

The restaurant isn't bad- we had the buffet dinner one night, which had some interesting local recipes on offer including scabbard fish (a deep sea fish which looks pretty horridying when you see it laid out and displayed in the local supermarkets), and pork and Madeira Beef dishes. When we went there it cost €65 in total which wasn't too bad- although we had better meals whilst out and about in Funchal and Lido. In other words, worth trying for maybe one or two nights, but make sure you taste what's on offer elsewhere- particularly at the "Restaurant By the Sea", a small, local restaurant at the raodside on the way into the hotel (and completely independant from the hotel). The food there is cheap and immensely satisfying.

There are also a couple of supermarkets in the area (which is known as Lido). "Pingo" is the one we chose more often than not, and you can save a lot of money by getting (perfectly ogood) food and drink from here. Some of our favourite evenings of the holiday were spent sitting and relaxing on the balcony watching the sun set, with some food and drink bought from the local supermarket. Definitely recommended.

THE VIEW:

One of the very best points about the Pestana Bay is that the shape of the hotel is such that you can get a great view of the sea, and the afternoon and evening sun (including some sprectacular sunsets) from EVERY apartment. You don't need to worry about your apartment being tucked away and facing nothing more exciting than the people in the apartment across from you. Not only that but from most apartments you can get a great view, facing west, of Cabo Girao, the second-highest sea cliff in the world, which is particularly spectacular as the sun sets just at its base. In other words, the view is pretty much the best you can get in that area.

AMENITIES:

Swimming pool (small and sometimes crowded but not too bad)
Sunbathing area (get there early and keep your place!)
Sauna
Pool table (unfortunately only one cue remained unbroken when we went- hopefully they'll have fixed that by now)
Table tennis
Giant chess
Gymnasium
Library

LOCATION:

As I mentioned, the Pestana Bay is situated about as close to the beach as is possible. If you're a good swimmer and don't mind the pretty tough undertow and numerous pebbles (this is not a sandy beach) then the beach and the sea are well worth checking out. The good thing is that the beach itself, apart from being literally right on the hotel's doorstep, is never too crowded- annoying families with small children are virtually nowhere to be seen so it's possible to sit and relax in peace.

Head east along the walkway along the beach and you come to a tunnel cut through the cliff rock, which forms an interesting walk into Lido where you can find plenty of shops, restaurants and other entertainments. In fact, this tunnel is the easiest way to get from the hotel to the "main area" (if you don't want to wait for a bus) as the alternative is a walk up a very steep hill and then some more walking. So I recommend the tunnel. Occasionally they do close it- if there's been a storm and consequently flooding- but this happens only rarely).

NEARBY RESTAURANTS TO RECOMMEND:

If you walk through the cliff tunnel and up the steps the other side, you'll find yourself near a small shopping precinct which also has a number of decent restaurants. Two of our favourite restaurants in the whole island can be found here: "O Barbeiro" which provides wonderful food (neither particularly cheap nor expensive) in truly vast portions. I warn you now, if you're not particularly ravenous, don't choose both a starter and main course! Even if you feel truly hungry, a starter and main WILL fill you up. These courses are huge.

The other resturant is "Papa Manuel" which is without a doubt the best pizza restaurant we've ever been to. Superb pizzas, plenty of choice, and good, fast service. They also provide you with a complimentary glass of "poncho" (a honey and lemon liqueur popular in the area). Both these restaurants are must-visits if you are staying at the Pestana Bay or anywhere nearby.

THE HOTEL CLIENTELE:

One of the good things about staying in Madeira, and particularly here at the Pestana Bay, was that although the place is popular with British people, it ISN'T popular with loud families and screaming children, or (worse still) groups of single male football fan / lager lout types. Most people seemed to be quite and either elderly or middle-aged, so the hotel always seemed quite peaceful.

Interestingly, hotels in Madeira seem to be 90% occupied by either English, Germans or Portuguese.

IN SUMMARY:

We would definitely recommend the Pestana Bay as a place to stay in Madeira. It's informal, clean, relaxed, great for the beach, not too far from local entertainments, and the view is fantastic. I can summarse my endorsement of the place simply by saying, when we go back to Madeira we will be doing our best to get an apartment there.

Thanks for reading and Happy holidays!  

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