Pestana Royal

Graham Watts

Positives first, the staff were great; welcoming and helpful. The food in the dining room and restaurant was also nice very, with a wide selection covering our different tastes. There's also a wide selection of drinks and tasty cocktails available from the bar and around the hotel. On the downside; first, the rooms are looking a bit tired. The beds in particular looked like they needed replacing as both had noticeable sagging. The biggest downside for us however was that the hotel became the host venue for an international swimming event. This meant that from halfway through our holiday the hotel became full with athletes and their coaches which led to the whole hotel feeling like a training camp. Non swimming guests were unable to get into the dining rooms for 90 minutes plus of any given service with so many athletes hanging around to talk after eating and loading up plates and going back around... There were queues for 10-20 minutes to get food. Fine for a training camp but not for a 5-star hotel experience. The hotel did nothing to make the experience better for the non-swimming guests. I would have hoped that they might have separated the swimmers from other guests to maintain the experience that we had paid for.

David Wright

Staff are among the best I've ever encountered and pretty unobtrusive too. Spotlessly clean everywhere. Food is pretty good and well presented, but there are really interesting local seafood resteraunts a short walk away as well if you fancy a change. Rooms are a little dated but again, spotless and regularly serviced. Will certainly return.

Andrea Ramos

Lovely staying. The hotel has an amazing view of the Formosa beach, and is very well located. The hotel staff were very kind and helpful, we got to change our room for a better fit for us without any problems and any extras costs. The bed is very comfortable and the room very spacious. The service is excellent. We will come back.

Robert Tomlinson

Only had one night at this hotel as put up by airline due to planes unable to land at Madeira (fog/strong winds) room smelt musty, very large hotel not our choice. All inclusive ok but food not always hot unless coked in front of you. Reasonable choice at breakfast. Adequate for the needs as plane load of people need to be put up. Very noisey in dining room, just like school dinner hall.

Martin Southam

Great hotel located in Sao Martino just outside Funchal. We upgraded to a suite when booking and was glad we did as you get a much bigger room with a kitchenette, lounge area with a sofa bed and we had an additional bed in the lounge for our son. You also get a bigger balcony and a large master bedroom and ensuite bathroom. Hotel décor is a bit tired now but the whole place was spotlessly clean. Food was good with plenty of choice and a varied mix of offerings, the snack bar was particularly good compared with other all inclusive holidays we've done and we often frequented there during the day. Easy access down to the beach/prom and the hotel has 3 pools, 2 outside and 1 indoor with the spa. Only downside was that the outdoor pools were not heated (not advertised) which in the first week of April were rather cold, however the air temp did reach 29deg whilst we were there and after the initial shock of getting in the pool, was alright, but you wouldn't stay in it for long. I suspect in summer they would be lovely. The indoor pool is heated but only to 25deg which is still on the chilly side. The only other downside was our bed which was as hard as a rock, we did speak to reception and they had a mattress topper put on it for us which helped a bit, but it was still very hard and difficult to sleep on. All the staff were amazing and very welcoming. All in all we were very happy with our hotel, and would recommend it, just with a softer bed!