Situated near to the Atlantic Ocean, aparthotel Pestana Gardens offers a direct access to ... more
the sea and an uninterrupted view to the Baía da Praia Formosa and Cabo Girão. Built into a bay and protected by a cliff in the back, the hotel enjoys total tranq...
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.
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 ...
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: Plants and birds in a semi-tropical environment Disadvantages: A little steep, some paths uneven
~Introduction~
Jardim Botanico or the Botanical Garden is located on a hillside over looking Funchal on the Portuguese island of Madeira. As Madeira has a climate best described as semi-tropical it has a whole host of plants both native and imported. Jardim Botanico is one of many gardens in and around Madeira and is a garden that represents the many differing plants that are on display all over Madeira. It's most famous item or the most photographed part of the garden is it's carpet bedding or choreographed garden. A splendid display of multi-coloured plants all arranged and shaped into diamonds, squares, lines and even lettering. The choreographed garden has been photographed so much that it is present on many of the postcards for sale in and around Madeira.
~Getting there~
By Car - Jardim Botanico is located on the hillside above ...
