Totally refurbished in 2006, the Pestana Carlton Madeira is one of the most sophisticated ... more
5-star hotels on the island of Madeira.The hotel is built on a cliff, on the best location of Funchal, with spectacular views over the bay and the amphitheatre wh...
Information:
Price is per double room per night and may vary depending on date booked...
The Pestana Promenade is a new 4-star hotel in Funchal, situated close to the Lido, on the ... more
promenade that stretches along the seafront to Praia Formosa.The resort offers fabulous views over the ocean. A relaxing sea view can be enjoyed from 90% of the ...
Information:
Price is per double room per night and may vary depending on date booked...
Advantages: Good rooms, helpful staff, free bus into town Disadvantages: Its a bus ride from town.
on table top holders in others. They are called espetada and are well worth a go. The main specialtiy of Madeira is of course the wine. There is no shortage of tasting opportunities but unfortunately we both hate the stuff so can't give you much more detail about it.
The hotel welcome presentation sets out all of the activities and trips available and I believe tries to sell you a timeshare. The levada walks are popular and well worth doing one or two. Take a waterproof jacket, some decent trainers or walking boots and a jersey as it can get cold, wet and misty at altitude. We hired a car and did our own thing for the week. Hiring the car gave us access to a couple of sandy beaches although one was man-made and a bit grotty.
Pestana have a number of hotels around Funchal. The first Pestana hotel that we stopped at in the airport coach ...
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 ...
Advantages: Lovely big spacious rooms and balconies Disadvantages: Location
We have stayed recently at this hotel and I found it exremely good! The room we stayed in had this fantastic balcony (room 601). It overlooked the marina where the ferry and the cruise liners came in. The hotel itself is very small, but the rooms are excellant with every thing and more to make the stay pleasant. Thye kitchen was fully equipped which is just as well considering the price of eating out. The price included breakfast which was beautifuly presented and was top quality food with plenty choice but I found that the hot foods were not particularly hot. However the hotel was very enjoyable in itself but we did not really like Madeira as a holiday destination. Overall the hotel was good but Madeira was not as we expected. ...
