LOCATION
This hotel has to be in the perfect position in Funchal being the only large hotel in the old town area so no taxis or minibuses are required to explore the shops and restaurants. Only the hotel grounds and the promenade separated our ground floor room from the sea. The hotel grounds are not huge but seem to be sufficient for those guests who choose to spend their holiday around the pool. The pool area is overlooked by the promenade which runs alongside so the lack of privacy might deter some from using this area. There are two swimming pools, one indoor and one out but we didn't use either so apart from saying that they both looked very clean we can't comment further.
FOOD
We didn't use the outdoor bar/restaurant ourselves but as we passed through the food looked very nice and the prices were very reasonable. The breakfasts in the main dining room were excellent with so much choice that nearly all tastes must be catered for. There are so many restaurants within strolling distance that we only used the hotel once in the evening but that was very good and the a la carte menu was only slightly more expensive than the other restaurants.
ROOM
The room itself was just as the brochure showed which in our experience is not at all common. The furnishings consisted of two large single beds pushed together , dressing table, an armchair (two would have been nice but perhaps a bit of a squeeze) a small table with two chairs plus similar on the balcony (our most used furniture). Amazingly for two dedicated TV viewers we didn't use the smallish wall mounted room television once. When you can sit on the balcony with a glass of wine watching the cruise ships come and go who needs television.
SERVICE
All the hotel staff were very friendly and couldn't do enough for you. The room was cleaned daily and was spotless on our return in the evenings. The hotel itself was well decorated and spotless. I was totally surprised on returning to my room on the Wednesday to find a card and birthday cake from the hotel. How they knew I'm not sure but a very nice gesture nevertheless. We found nothing at all about this hotel which we would even consider complaining about.
RECOMMENDED
This is one hotel I would have no hesitation in recommending and whilst it's not the cheapest hotel in Funchal we will almost certainly try to stay here on our next visit to Madeira.
