Madeira Holiday Reviews

Plenty gardens to visit, cable car up to Monte and toboggan down is fun. The old town and cathedral area is nice. Everywhere is clean and well kept.

We just loved Funchal, there's such a cosmopolitan air about this wonderful capital of Madeira. There's so much to see and do the municipal buildings alone are wonderful examples of architecture. The people are very friendly and recommended lots of coach tours of the island which we went on a few and experienced the mind boggling tunnels which traverse the whole of the island. Funchal is definately a place worth visiting theres so much to see and do.

This resort is very hilly. The Lido area main road is easy to walk but most parts are very steep hills. Funchal is a busy town and worth a visit. The bus service was very good.

Very good resort,take the cable cars and visit Monte,it is about 20mins walk from the hotel.

This is the first time we have visited Madeira. We loved it and we will certainly return next year. Madeira is not really for young people and there are no lager louts - thank goodness.

Funchal is a modest sized town, with all facilities near the town centre. Whilst tourism is a major industry for Funchal, it has not dominated the town, and you do get to experience the place without being surrounded by tourists. The market is unmissable, as is the cable car trip up to the mountains,

Funchal is the capital of Madeira and so is quite large and commercialised, although it still has a very friendly atmosphere.

Whilst we were there, the Christmas lights were on show and were a sight to behold. It seemed like every street had magnificent displays on offer. There were also Carol Concerts and entertainment being provided free of charge on the streets.

There are plenty of restaurants on offer, with much of them specialising in the local food which was not really to our taste, but would be of great interest to people with more adventurous tastes.

The cablecar ride up to Monte Gardens is spectacular, but a bit nerve-wracking if you're not too good with heights, as some of the valleys you travel over seem to be a very long way down indeed, but it's definitely worth the effort.

Overall, Funchal is somewhere where you can 'chill out' if you wish, but also has lots of spectacular walks on offer, if that is something that is of interest to you. Unfortunately, there's no beaches as such, but the walk along the sea-front back to the hotel was a nice way to end an evening.

We would definitely return to Funchal, probably for 7-10 days during the Winter months, as the weather was nice and comfortable without being too hot.

Mainly middle aged/ elderly visitors so no problems with loud music etc. No pressure to be dragged into restaurants. Thre are timeshare touts but they do not bother the elderly. Excellent walks along the levadas etc but one has to get to and from them by bus or taxi.

The main town (Madeira's capital) “Funchal” is 5 euros in a cab,2 euros by bus,or free courtesy bus service running at varying times to and from our hotel.Slightly livelier BUT by 11:40pm the bars down by the 'front' (the marina) have NO SHAME in clearing up and shutting up shop around you even if you are half way through your drink – no exceptions! Even McDonalds is open later !!!

There is 1 tiny little market down by the cable cars in Funchal, every second stall has the same products as the other,approx 12 stalls,not worth it.

There is a main supermarket about a 10 minute walk from The Residence. You can get to it two ways. Outside reception, turn left past the park and then walk through the car park. The other way u can go is to walk through the Porto Mare hotel which leads to the Eden Mar hotel – through reception and turn right down the stairs in to the small shopping centre. There is a pharmacy a 10 min walk away. The quickest way to get there is turn right out of Residence reception and up the steep hill and turn right past the cab rank.

The organised trips – we went on 4........ VERY VERY good! The Thomson tour guide was BRILLIANT! It was so interesting to hear facts about the people and the country. Highly recommend the following: 'FLAVOURS OF FUNCHAL' (included in this is wine tasting,cable car,tobogan ride,visit to lace factory etc), 'EAST TOUR' (absolutely brilliant – don't wanna give too much away but you go 6000ft up a mountain, go to a lovely restaurant for 3 course meal,go on a lovely walk through forest to see amazing views........and more).

Clothing – Madeira is a VERY hilly mountainous place and PLEASE take this literally! There are slopes and hills to get to shops to restaurants to everywhere! Take comfy walking shoes, and most importantly TAKE A JUMPER to all of the trips that go up high in coach – the temperature drops BIGTIME!

The island is COVERED in christmas lights and a few of these were turned on on our last night down in Funchal – they are spectacular – the official switch on is Dec 6th – gutted to have missed it. Madeira is in the Guinness Book Of Records for their New Years fireworks display – from what we heard its stunning!

It's a very quiet hoteland (to my relief but maybe NOT to yours) there's no happy clappy-ness around the pool or loudness........ everyone keeps themselves to themselves and its all very quiet and restrained. Just old people reading books...... which is fine.

Whilst there we discovered the common nickname for the island was newlyweds and nearly deads. I'd say that was very appropriate. Nothing to do for families at night or evening except eat and day time was no better. Taxi got more expensive each time we used one and we were regularly pestered by beggers. The most memorable was a young boy around 11/12 yrs old who was obviously under the influence of something who became threatning when you refused to give hime more money and grabbed my sone after trying to steal from his pockets!

Machico is very good for all families. Younger children can play on the beach. Older children can body board or surf all day. Older people can sit at the marina or fish themselves. Trips out to tourist spots are excellent. The scenery is fabulous. The weather (November 2008) was OK - sunny and not too hot with infrequent showers. The special walks (Levadas) would entice anyone keen on nature. OVERALL EXCELLENT.

Madeira is such a wonderful island, I would highly recommend it to anyone who just wants to unwind and relax for a week (or three!) The weather is pleasenty warm almost all year round, there is next to no crime. the locals are wonderfully friendly. A* holiday!

Canico is great if you want to be away from the hustle and bustle of Funchal but it's just a twenty minute bus ride away.

very little to do apart from going up to the caves and hanging around the vilage were not all the locals were friendly

Not really suitable for families with children or for those seeking an active night life. Very popular withthe retired community and majority of holidaymakers seemed to be in their 60's. Ideal as a base for visiting Madeira's many gardens, or for walking in the hills and along the numerous lavadas (irrigation ditches). Popular destination for cruise liners and there was at least one docked on each day of the week we spent there.