Recent reviews Funchal
[Praskipark, 25/10/2011] Quinta do Monte translates as farm on the hill but this attractive hotel situated high up above the capital, Funchal in a hilly suburb of Madeira known as Monte, isn’t a farm as such but a lovely old manor house that has been lovingly restored. Set in gardens filled with verdant shrubs and trees the Quinta is easy to reach once having stepped out of the cable car from Funchal. The walk is up hill and takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes.
Rooms
All thirty eight rooms are a good size and have terraces overlooking the sea. As you might imagine because of the hotel’s high situation the views ar
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[tomson2101, 08/02/2011] Very good Hotel. Contructed not too long ago. I usually stay at Madeira Island in several different Hotels, but the last few trips I've enjoyed the supreme service and peaceful environment of the Promenade. It has a great dinning room, and the outdoor pools look fantastic, unfortunately it was a bit too cold at this time of year.
[kaizenking, 29/01/2011] Located in the center with Cable TV and Super Fast secure Wifi 200Mbps from studio. In one way system but easy to find. Excellent Self Catering Studio with supermarket within 5 minutes walk. Marina and Historical Town within minutes walk. Casino and Sea Parks a short bus ride away. Secure Underground Parking for a small fee and far more convenient and cheaper than meter feeding.
[solveigazalite, 13/01/2011] We were treated as if we were staying in the 5 star hotel. Vila Marta was extremely clean and in a fantastic state of decoration. A hire car is essential, but the hotel can offer this or arrange it on your behalf.
Each day fresh bread was brought to our room and left outside, the staff was friendly and was always at hand to help.
We will definetely return in Vila Marta when visiting Madeira again.
Many thanks to Joel for being so good host!!
Solveiga and Adrian (Latvia / UK)
[arvi, 05/01/2011] O jardim botânico do Funchal, está localizado numa zona alta da cidade, o que faz com que vistas sejam excelentes.
No jardim pode encontrar-se uma incrível variedade de plantas, provenientes de vários continentes e também algumas aves exóticas. O jardim está dividido em várias áreas: plantas aromáticas, industriais, indígenas e palmeiras.
A diversidade de cores é constante, este é um dos grandes ex-libris do Funchal e um local a não perder.
[buddleia, 27/12/2010] Funchal est l'endroit idéal pour visiter Madère sans changer d'hôtel tous les soirs, et Vila Marta très bien placée dans Funchal, car c'est un bon compromis entre la proximité du centre ville, des commerces, de la voie rapide, et le calme.
L'hôtel est très bien tenu, d'une grande propreté. Les chambres sont sobres, mais bien équipées, avec balcon et vue sur mer.
L'entreprise est familiale, et Joao, son épouse et leur fils sont au petits soins pour leurs hôtes français ( ils parlent la langue).
Les prix pratiqués sont raisonnables et la prestation fournie les justifient largement.
En résumé
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[Helencbradshaw, 26/12/2010] Quinta da Casa Branca was my five star base for my recent visit to Madeira. The holiday itself was a last minute affair, booked about two weeks before departure. We selected the 43 bedroom hotel specifically for its small size, accepting that there might be slightly less features than in a massive hotel, but we would rather have had a more peaceful surrounding. In any event the five star rating and also ranked as one of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World, we felt this would be a special treat.
We did book a package holiday, something I have done on about 2 other occasions in my life. The
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[Praskipark, 09/08/2010] Portuguese people never need an excuse to celebrate or throw a street party. As well as food, wine, music and dancing they love something else - flowers. Well, Madeira certainly is the perfect place where you will find the most exotic of blooms and during the second or third weekend of April, just as the spring blossom gets on the way Funchal's dazzling Festa da flor (Flower festival) begins.
Funchal's Flower Festival was invented for the tourists, but a healthy competitive spirit between local clubs and businesses has turned this into a major fun event for the local people too.
The dates do
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[Praskipark, 09/08/2010] The Casa Museu Frederico de Freitas is known to the locals as the Casa da Calcadas because it is situated about half-way up a very steep road, Calcada de Santa Clara in Funchal. Casa is the Portuguese word for house and Calcada means pavement / sidewalk.The house is very easy to spot because it has been painted the deepest shade of pink I have ever come across. This fine late 17th century Madeiran villa is crammed full with antique furnishings, carvings, religious paintings and china, amassed by a local lawyer and keen hobbyist who bequeathed the lot to the nation upon his death in 1978.
A d
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[Praskipark, 09/08/2010] Funchal's main square, Praca do Municipio is a very attractive square where dark volcanic basalt was used for paving the square and for decorating the surrounding buildings. The overall result is splendid but even more splendid for me is that in the south west corner of the square you will see a 17th century stone portal of little Capela do Sao Luiz ; walk pass this enchanting chapel down on to Rua do Bispo. The baroque bishop's palace at the end of the street houses the Museu de Arte Sacra, best known for its magnificent cache of 15th and 16th-century Flemish paintings, bought by local merc
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[Praskipark, 09/08/2010] When touring the city of Funchal it's sometimes difficult to know where to start. One of the best places is probably from the capital's cathedral, Funchal's Se. An interesting fact I found out about the cathedral last time I was in Madeira was that the city of Funchal was called Piccola Lisbonna ("Little Lisbon"). This title was bestowed upon the town in 1508 when Italian sailors docked here and the city was given status by King Manel I. Six years on, this very same king paid for the building of the cathedral.
Funchal's cathedral is one of the city's few surviving Manueline-style building
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[Praskipark, 09/08/2010] One of the top tourist attractions on the island of Madeira is the suburb of Monte, famous for its toboggan rides. The central meeting point in Monte is the Largo da Fonte; this is the square where buses and taxis drop visitors off. Just east of the square is the twin-towered Nossa Senhora do Monte which looks down over Funchal. If you visit Monte by cable car, you will come in at the eastern end of the village, so the church is to your west, down Caminho das Babosas. This pretty white church was built in the late 1700's on the site of a chapel 300 years older, the work of the first person bor
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[Praskipark, 09/08/2010] It seems strange for me to review a golf course as I am not really a sporty type apart from hiking and climbing. However, after spending many years living in the Algarve I don't mind a round of golf and because Madeira's mountainous terrain makes for some challenging golf in spectacular situations we decided to check out the Palheiro Golf. Course in Funchal.
Actually, the course is a fifteen minutes drive east of Funchal not actually in the capital itself. A beautifully designed course set in classic Madeiran hills, incorporating ridges and deep valleys. This is truly a dramatically interesti
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[arthurwellesly, 20/12/2009] A hotel that appears to be managed by Ebenezer Scrooge, Everything about it is cheap and nasty. The non-air conditioned rooms are shabby, the bathrooms smell, the breakfast is limited in scope and poor in quality. There are vagrants in the streets around the hotel. Oh, and for the final moment of pleasure - they don't take credit cards.This hotel is 2 star at best and even at that is very poor value for money. Don't go there!
[matlee, 07/12/2009] We were in Madeira 2 weeks driving arroud the island and stayed in Vila Marta 3 lovely days. We have visited in many apartment hotels, also in Madeira, but Vila Marta was “amazing. When we arrived to Vila Marta friendly Bruno welcomed us and showed on the map, where is bus stops, supermarket, nice restaurats and so on. In our room waited fruits in the basket, lovely flowers in the vase and even some food for the first day. Everything was very clean and pleasant.
In Vila Marta there was daily cleaning including dish-washing and every morning 4 warm bread rolls were hanging outside the door
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[walkejoh, 01/12/2009] The Hotel Windsor is advertised as 4 star - the reality is a down market 2 star hotel. The rooms are poorly furnished and shabby. The bathrooms have questionable hygiene. The breakfast is of very poor quality and limited in scope. The breakfast staff are less than friendly. The area around the hotel has lots of homeless people, or maybe they are drug addicts or alcoholics. There is no air conditioning. The hotel does not accept credit cards.
[Praskipark, 09/10/2009] In the upper town of Funchal in Madeira you will find a dauntingly steep Calcada de Santa Clara, a cobbled street that leads up to the historic Convento de Santa Clara. The convent was founded in 1496 and is till in operation today. The first abbess was Zarco's (the Portuguese discoverer and founder of Madeira) granddaughter, Dona Isabel, and the nuns were high-bred young ladies, many sent there because their parents were unable to find a suitable dowry.
If you are ever in this area of Funchal and have a spare hour then stop off at the convent and ring the bell at the gate, you will be show
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[Praskipark, 06/10/2009] One of the things I love about Madeira apart from the wonderful scenery is its wealth of aristocratic quintas (mansions) that grace its streets and countryside. Some of the earliest buildings date from the 15th century, built for Portuguese aristocrats who settled on the island. Many properties were added in the 18th and 19th centuries when the ever growing trade in Madeiran wine attracted many British merchants, who settled on the island and joined Madeira's elite.
Architects were hired to follow the latest fashions of Europe, while gangs of gardeners worked hard to create lush landscaped oa
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[Praskipark, 06/10/2009] To find your way to the market in Funchal, Madeira, or as we say in Portuguese, to the Mercado dos Lavradores you need to walk along the cobbled street caled Rua Dom Carlos. Here you will encounter cleaned up fishermen's houses which are now used as craft centres by sandal makers and lace makers. There is also a small chapel called Capela do Corpo Santo and it was a chapel built by local people who formed a guild to provide help for destitute sailors and fishermen.
Numerous bars and restaurants line Rua Dom Carlos I, and others have begun to spread into Rua de Santa Maria, Funcha's oldest st
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[Rosie60, 25/08/2009] A delightful hotel with the best staff we have every known.
