Hotel berhampiran Igreja da Lombada da Ponta do Sol, Ponta Do Sol

A well organised hotel in rural Madiera, on the sea shore. It would have helped if we knew just how rural beforehand as the 25euro and 20 min taxi from Funchal turned into 35-40euro and half an hour in practice or an hour on the express bus if you could find it. This hotel definately needs a courtesy bus as almost everything is based in Funchal. The hotel has local trips but they turn out to start in Funchal as well so lots of messing about for an hour or more to get there at start and again to get back. The meals and staff help were excellent, there is a small indoor pool and as with most of Madiera a pebble beach. Means to make tea in the room would have made this an ideal residence. There are two local levadas if its walking you want but take a taxi to the start point if your doing the long one, or you may run out of legs and light! Well worth the effort.

I was looking at my reviews on TripAdvisor when I saw my previous review of this hotel where I gave it 4 stars. Still not bad of course, but I wanted to write another review as me and my husband have been back to Saccharum twice(!) after my first review. So I thought about writing a new review. This is now our favorite hotel on Madeira, as it’s not as crowded like a lot of hotels in Funchal. Calheta is beautiful and not crowded at all. We really appreciate privacy and a calm environment when we go on holiday, and Saccharum is great for this! Sometimes restaurants are packed with other tourists and you’re seated a couple centimeters away from other guests but here at Saccharum you can eat all relaxed in whatever restaurant of the hotel you please. We really like the bar next to the sea, Calhau. They have nice vegetarian options for me. Also everything is clean and hygiene is great. That’s so important to me. So after our new experiences at this hotel I’ve wanted to change my 4-star review into a 5-star review. We are now planning to take my parents to Madeira in October of this year to show them this beautiful island, and we will be staying at Saccharum!

Hotel au milieu de la montagne, jolies vues, très bons repas, personnel très gentil Un peu vieux en terme de deco, nous avons eu froid dans la pièce commune et en dormant (manque de couverture), lit très inconfortable…

Location is great. Housekeeping excellent. Room was clean and comfortable. My bed was comfortable but my husband's bed was not (can feel the springs). The hall carpets very dirty. Lack of staff. Poor customer service at reception. The process was not explained for the pool towels and the parking card. We did not receive pool and parking cards in our envelope. The roof top pool is very nice. No staff there though. No bar men available. It is extremely hot and there's no shade provided. We asked for umbrellas but were told they don't do that in October even though it was mid 30s!! It was too hot to be there without shades!! The neighbouring hotel had umbrellas. With staff attendants always present. The wall plant, at the pool, was knocked over and soil was left on the pool deck. The soil spillage was still there 3 days later. Breakfast is included. It has a lot of variety. Cold foods great (fruit, breads, cakes, cheeses) but hot food was a low rating (eggs tasteless, bacon and pancakes sit too long and are hard),

Our experience of the hotel was enhanced by our meal in the restaurant, which I have reviewed separately. My favourite thing about the room was the enclosed balcony. It was like having a private yoga studio in the sky. (Fellow yogis note, the floor was slippery.) I also enjoyed the spectacular view from the Sauna, which at the time was free because it was not working optimally. (So do ask!) It was good enough for me, but it took over an hour to heat up. The Pool looked too small and shallow to actually swim in, but mostly it was unusable as it was colder than the sea. I don’t know if this was usual. Breakfast was fairly similar to ones we had at other Madeira hotels, but this place had the tastiest selection of fresh bread rolls and very good garlicky mushrooms. The room was clean. We liked the 3-section recycling bin in the room. Others mentioned lack of plugs for phones. Erm... we knew about that but were surprised to find that there were not enough plugs for the room items. The Kettle and TV had to share a wall outlet. They really should consider supplying an extension lead, which could be given out and collected at check-in, just as they (bizarrely) do with the TV remote control. We did start off on a rather bad note. At check in, we were downright ignored. One receptionist was settling a dispute with another guest, but both members of staff deliberately avoided any sort of eye contact with us. I don't normally notice this sort of thing, but it was rude and infuriating and lasted some time. A simple nod would have sufficed. I’ll put this down to a bad day for the first member of staff, who later was helpful. After a long wait for no discernible reason, the other receptionist demanded payment before we had even seen the room, for which we had paid in advance. We've stayed at many places who use multiple booking sites. Sometimes you pay on arrival, sometimes beforehand, and we understand that the hotel needs to know. However, there are ways of asking that don't come across as offensive and like one is trying to get away with something. Not everyone is out to steal the remote control. Make sure you bring proof of payment if you’ve paid in advance, as we had. The hotel is lucky that they have out of this world views.

Visited the Pestana Royal in April for a week. We are aware of the area in Funchal as having stopped at the Pestana Grand in the past and had decided to try the all inclusive Royal this time. An excellent holiday. The room had a sea view and was clean, well equipped with fridge, microwave and usual tea and coffee/ kettle . The buffet meals were constantly good with plenty of choice, specially of fish dishes and the wine included in the package was also good. The hotel grounds were well kept, the heated outdoor pool well used and the indoor pool and gym area good. Uniquely for the area , the hotel has a lift down to the promenade, and there is a twice daily free shuttle bus into and from Funchal although the hotel is on the regular bus route and the trip into town is only 1.90 Euro Finally the staff were excellent. The room service staff friendly, reception very efficient and the restaurant staff both friendly and efficient, with everyone having a very good command of English. We will definitely return.

Das Hotel Next in Funchal auf Madeira überzeugt durch seine ausgezeichnete Lage direkt am Wasser. Die Zimmer, obwohl geräumig, neigen dazu, aufgrund ihrer Dunkelheit eine etwas gedämpfte Atmosphäre zu schaffen. Trotzdem punktet das Hotel mit komfortablen Betten, moderner Einrichtung und ansprechenden Badezimmern. Das Frühstück, serviert in einer Art Kantine, weist eine begrenzte Auswahl auf und die Qualität könnte verbessert werden. Ein Highlight ist jedoch der Beach Club am Wasser, der, obwohl ohne Strand, mit einem Pool und direktem Zugang zum Meer über einen Steg positiv hervorsticht.