Quinta da Casa Branca - Small Luxury Hotels of the World

We came here for 10 nights to celebrate my husbands 60th and it couldn't have been more perfect! We loved this hotel, what a wonderful, tranquil place in the centre of Funchal. The gardens are a delight and a real haven for birds and butterflies, the gardeners do a wonderful job and you feel you can breathe in this hotel. The hotel itself is delightful, with first class staff, and food and two delightful pools. We dined half board every night in the Manor House, and what a treat it was. The food was amazing and some reasonably priced wines which is not often the case in such establishments. Breakfast on the outside terrace is lovely, with a buffet of pretty much all you can think of, as well a cooked options, such as eggs benedict, omelette, pancakes etc. They do a lovely assortment of lunch options too! We opted for a premium room and so glad we did, room was huge, with a large bathroom and a daybed and chair on the balcony, if you can afford the splurge,then consider one of these. Yes, in fairness the rooms are a tad dated, but that didn't detract for us as it was impeccably clean and we both said that should we visit Madeira again this would be our first choice of hotel, no question. Also a big thank you to the staff for making our holiday so special and working so hard to make this hotel so unique

This was our second time at the Quinta da casa Branca. The hotel has excellent service and we were pleasantly surprised by the foreign language skills at reception. If you are looking for a relaxed and quiet vacation in very well-kept surroundings, this is the place for you. Due to the higher average age of the guests, it is rather quiet here, which we really liked. The whole complex in the middle of a botanical garden is spacious and you rarely meet other guests. Quinta da Casa Branca is the opposite of the usual mass tourism. We had a really good rest here. Maylin und Markus Weber

The hotel is set in beautiful and well maintained gardens but apart from that it has serious limitations for a five star hotel. The rooms in the main block are tired and out of date and sadly lacking in some modern facilities. Our room lacked a walk-in shower, only offering a shower over the bath, not really suitable for older guests. Room furniture, like bedside lockers, was cheap and dated. Most annoying is the scarcity of power sockets in the room and complete absence of any near the bedside lockers. Charging everyday items like phones and tablets is a challenge and a nightmare for guests with rechargeable hearing aids or watches. Room cleaning was careless at best. I was able to draw in the dust on the television stand and writing desk. There is serious discolouration on the timber panelled walls in the corridors and in the rooms. I suspect there have been water leakage problems as there are residual smells of stale water. Breakfast is provided in an outhouse in the garden which is accessed by a stone pathway which is a real slip hazard when wet. The building used for breakfast is too small for the purpose, especially on days when the outside terrace can't be used. The Breakfast Buffet is congested, poorly labelled, especially in regard to allergens, and not really fit for purpose. The problem could be solved in an instant simply by moving breakfast to the spacious Manor House. We made the bad mistake of buying the "3 dinners for €45 each". What you actually get is a very limited choice (especially if one has allergies) from an already limited menu. Although we stayed 8 nights we found it hard to find 3 nights on which there was anything suitable on the menu. There is much better fare on offer in the many outside restaurants nearby. My recommendation to anybody considering a visit to Quinta da Casa Branca is to wait until the hotel has had a makeover and modernisation.