The Cliff Bay Hotel

We stayed here for two weeks in a wonderfully spacious room and large balcony overlooking the hills. The staff were super friendly and keen to help, nothing seemed to be a problem for them. The hotel has great facilities and entertainment, although we didn’t use them much. A great location for getting into Funchal town.

Great service by very gracious people. Beautiful views. Most important food is gorgeous . The island is like a huge garden with flowers everywhere. Climate is temperate it was 70 everyday except one morning it rained for two hours.

This was our first - and probably only visit to Madeira. The hilly nature of the island made it unsuitable for us elderly visitors We chose Cliff Bay Hotel because it said that they have walk-in showers in every bedroom (whereas the neighbouring Reids Palace Hotel does not). It is a huge premise at many levels, with lifts down as far as the outside pools at the side of the sea. It has fabulous well maintained gardens, in which we walked several times. The Hotel is set back slightly from the main road, but down a short steep hill. We found that difficult to manage and avoided doing so whenever we could. By chance we learned that the Les Suites extension to the Hotel has a little publicised corridor link then lift from the Hotel. We used that several times until the Hotel barred off the corridor so it could be recarpeted! Our room for the 7 days was on the floor above the Reception level. It was 446, was huge, and had two wide single beds, and an entrance alcove, and bathroom with shower cabinet and bathtub. The toilet was located in the bathroom and was encased in a frosted glass box so that guests could use it while others were in the shower, and still retain privacy for both. We had an outside balcony, giving views over the gardens and the sea. A splendid view. Breakfast was buffet style in one of the restaurants. We found it very crowded on one morning and opted some mornings for the more civilised eaitress-supported room in the adjoining Suites (supplement €7.50 per person per meal). As no check was made on who used the breakfast room, we presume only breakfast-included room rates are offered Dinner we did not have in the Hotel though they promoted a themed buffet option every evening. We preferred some of the many restaurants in the roads outside. The place has the air of a resort and a guest need never leave it during their stay, but that is not our style of hotel. All in all a luxury hotel, which I do not criticise (apart from the hilly access down to the main entrance) but it is not the style we seek