Pestana Grand Hotel Reviews

Came back from a week at the Pestana Gransd , was as anticipated- a really relaxing ,lovely hotel, beautiful lounges, fountains, nice spa with in /out swimming pool and great views from Jacquzzi. We went half board and it was well worth eating in fab service, fresh and delicious food, we loved everything. Service from bar staff and waiters superb!Could get fresh fruit smoothies in fresh fruit at snack bar and lovely frothy cocktails I had one ina whole pineapple delicious.Food different every night .Buffets, Barbeques, fish or steak speciality nights, demonstration cooking nights ,the lovely 5*Italian restaurant so good we booked for another night.Tunisian fabulous in every way -what a beautiful restaurant. The Atrium was fab for buffets and sitting outside ,We had the madeiran steak on a stone on the last night great fun . Rooms are spotless and cannot fault.Beautiful; free form pools getting warmer by degrees . The one with the bridge by the lawn, games and dressing rooms being the coolest.Great jacquzzi jets which came on at various times, fun for the children and adults. Good position overlooking sea ,steep hill one side but nice viewsand had nice modern shopping centre great for gifts 4 mins walk (150m) away up a steepish bend very nice courtesy bus running from hotel air conditioned took us to Funchal , never had a problem getting on. Sunday was a quiet day as shops mostly closed so wouldnt venture out that day. Cable car worth a visit as well as dolphin and whale watching catamarans or pirate boats apparently. Did not do the famous man pulled toboggan run but those that did loved it. Had clean towels every day changed from spa . Had a relaxing massage from offers that week 50 euros for two . Wish had brought my trainers as had good gym .The library complete with fireplace and brown leather setees is fantastic as I got to borrow and read all the books I didnt buy at the airport for free . Lastly , have to say doctor was very efficient as we called for him as a guy was having problems in pool and he was there to help in a minute! The hotel had no problem with people getting up at 6 to reserve beds.How refreshing !Never a problem to get beds. A man came round at about 10.30 giving out parasols. Nice complimentary cocktail party on first night in lovely lounge areas. Nice singers, pianists, jazz bands and dancers for entertainment.We loved the hotel and particularly the bar staff and we all had a great week.Would recommend!

Stayed here in April 2008. This is a large, modern hotel with a full range of leisure facilities including hairdresser, spa, indoor & outdoor pools and enough loungers for the most dedicated sun-worshipper. There is a library and children's playroom and three restaurants, two of which only opened on certain days. Breakfast was very good with just about everything you can think of on offer and a chef made omelettes etc. fresh while you waited. Sparkling wine was available too. Other meals eaten in the hotel were the steak on a stone which was OK as a novelty although the steaks we had were a bit stringy and tough. The hotel is set right on the promenade and is a pleasant 20 minute walk one way to the Lido area, passing restaurants and bars, and a 5 minute walk the other way to the Doca do Cavacas steps. At the top of these steps are 3 restaurants and in the centre behind them is a supermarket and laundry. One restaurant is O Barqueiro, very popular and a bit expensive, down the steps is another restaurant, Doca do Cavacas which does fish only but was very good. Leaving the hotel via the Reception area and going up the hill the first restaurant is Real Canoa which others have said is very good. We didn't try it for 2 reasons, 1 - another guest said he had been left waiting for ages and eventually just walked out and 2 - there is usually a member of staff out on the street touting for business and I have learned in the past that is not a good sign for what to expect inside so I avoid these places. At the top of the hill and across the road just to the right is a small restaurant, Churrascaria Galinha Dorada, which does the best estepada I have had and also chicken or ribs. To the left is the Forum Centre which you can't miss and on the top floor are some well priced snack bars, ideal for lunches at around 4 euros a head with a drink. The hotel itself is roughly north/south so the rooms (which mostly seemed to have balconies) look either east or west and apart from the south end ones mostly have an oblique sea view. The east side has the best views with the west side looking out over what look like private apartments. Entertainment was in the garden level bar and varied from quite good one night to dire most others. There is a courtesy bus a few times a day but the last one back was usually full so don't rely on getting it back. Taxis from town cost about 9 euros and there is also a rank at the top of the hill at the Lido if you are there.

Madeira is a friendly, beautiful, lush island. Got home two days ago after a great holiday in the Pestana Grand. Couldn't fault the hotel. The rooms are spacious and thoughtfully equipped. Altogether excellent. The breakfast at the hotel was probably the best I have ever had. Found the main restaurant too expensive, but the local places to eat are very good. The Canoa, which is very near the hotel, is brilliant. Most of the places to eat offered free 'nibbles' and sometimes a glass of Madeira wine whilst the meal was being prepared. If you go, treat yourself to afternoon tea at Reid's Hotel - a once-in-a-lifetime experience and well worth the cost. Altogether a good holiday. Can't wait to return!

Other reviews accurately describe this spotless two year old 5* resort hotel with all the facilities one needs. We particularly enjoyed the indoor/outdoor saltwater pool, jacuzzi and steam room. Staff are very professional, friendly and obliging. Rooms are large and well appointed. The evening 'entertainment' was very missable though. I guess that the avearge age of the guests is somewhere in the 60's, predominently British and Scandanavian with a few other European nationalities.

The brochure and website pictures are rather misleading, implying that the hotel sits in splendid isolation on a coastal promentary when in fact it is part of a quite densely built up area. This is no bad thing as it means that shops and a good choice of restaurants are nearby - but I do think they need to update their pictures. There was some minor work going on at an adjoining site, which was mildly irritating when the machinery started at 8:30, but that will be finished within a month or so. There is a major building going up a little further to the west, which looks as though it will take at least another 6 months to finish, though it was not noisy while we were there.

Most rooms have some sort of sea view because of the design and position of the Hotel, but the more direct views are from even numbered rooms. The lower the room number the nearer you are to the sea and the higher the floor the more extensive the view. The top 3 floors (5, 6 and 7)seem to be reserved for time-share, but if you can get something even numbered on floor 3 or 4 you're likely to have a very nice view.

We stayed BandB and ate out both nearby and further afield. Local restaurants use good quality ingredients but rather spoil them by overdoing the olive oil based dressings. Our most enjoyable meals were often lunch in smallish provincial towns, where simple fare like barbecued meat or grilled fish was about 25 Euros for 2 including a half bottle of wine. This is about half the cost of an evening meal in a resort restaurant near the hotel and getting on for a third of the cost of eating in the hotel itself.

I would certainly recommend this hotel to anyone looking for a very high quality well appointed, luxurious base from which to explore Funchal and Madeira more widely.

We booked this holiday online with Atlantic Holidays 3 weeks before departure. They were very efficient with the booking and all of our questions were answered with a telephone call.

As for the hotel well it was superb, it is probably one of the finest Hotels on the Island and is well worthy of it's 5 star rating. We have stayed in many 4 and 5 star hotels all over Florida and the Pestana Grand is certainly up to the best that we have stayed in. The rooms are spacious,pleasantly decorated and well furnished with the bed even bigger than an American king size. The general standard of cleanliness throughout the hotel was excellent. A small (empty on arrival, can be filled as a mini-bar if requested) fridge hidden in the unit under the TV is very useful for keeping drinks etc cool. The bathroom is of a good size and both bath and shower cubicle, wc and bidet. The hotel has 4 themed restaurants and the food served in these although slightly pricey was of excellent quality, we ate evening meals there for 4 out of our 7 nights stay. They offer an ";eating around"; promotion which consists of 3 three course meals plus 1 bottle of wine and 1 bottle of mineral water for 105 euros per person, which is a considerable saving over paying per meal per person per night. After our evening dinner we often spent a couple of hours in the very comfortable bar listening to live music (some good some not so good) and enjoyed a couple of drinks before bedtime.

There are also 2 comfortable and relaxing reading rooms off the bar area if you wish to seek quieter surroundings. The locally brewed ";Coral"; beer is good and not expensive and is available all over the Island. Outside the gardens are very well maintained as are both the seawater swimming pools, albeit a bit on the cold side, towels and sun parasols are available free of charge and guests are not allowed to reserve sunbeds by placing towels on them as is so often practised by certain nationalities. The staff are extremely helpful and most speak very good English. On the negative side there is a new building being constructed on the east side of the hotel which will probably be finished by the end of 2005. However this did not cause us any discomfort from noise, dust or any other building site effects even when relaxing by the pool.

Summing up this is a beautiful, comfortable, clean welcoming hotel where you can relax in style. We loved it and will most certainly return.
The hotel is situated about 3 miles from the centre of Funchal and it runs a regular shuttle bus to the centre throughout the day. The alternative which we did on several occasions (other than taxi) is a very pleasant walk along the recently constructed sea front path which takes about 45-50 mins .Access to this path is directly behind the hotel.

Funchal is a busy town with plenty of bars and eating places and a feeling of security when roaming about. The cable car is well worth a trip and the Monte gardens at the top is a very pleasant place to spend a few hours. However we gave the toboggan run a miss after watching 2 toboggans nearly embed themselves in the front of 2 oncoming cars on a blind left hand bend.

I could write for a lot longer about the Island mainly good but summing up Madeira is a lush place with spectacular scenery, a bus trip of the Island is well recommended as long as you don't suffer from travel sickness, plus lots of walks excellent cuisine and pleasant climate.

We will definitely return.