This hotel is literally 5 minutes from the airport but don`t let that put you off. We were never disturbed by the flights which seemed to stop between mid evening and 7am. In fact from the hotel you can`t hear take-offs until the planes suddenly appear as if from inside the headland, it was actually quite impressive.
We booked a package which included transfers (£60 for 3 of us). Had we known we would have used a taxi of which there are numerous both at the airport and in Machico. There were permanently 2 or 3 outside the hotel . I reckon you could have done both ways for £15.
Machico was very quiet and not at all touristy which meant there was little to do in the evening around the town (village).We found it best to keep busy in the day have a late evening meal and stroll along the promenade before returning to the hotel entertainment /bar.
The hotel was clean and comfortable and we were pleased with our room.All staff were pleasant and helpful.
The food was OK but got a little repetitive after a few days and was probably the only downside to this holiday.
We were due to go to the reps welcome on day 2 and no doubt would have booked a few excursions but on leaving the hotel on day one were approached by one of the taxi drivers all of whom will offer you tours of the island for half or full day. Francisco , who approached us, was extremely pleasant so we chatted and ended up booking him for a whole day tour of the island. It worked out slightly cheaper than the reps tour of the island (3 of us going ) and was a fabulous day out seeing the "real Madeira"
stopping off frequently and staying as long as we wanted in any particular place.Francisco was very knowledgeable , spoke several languages and was an excellent guide for the day .We were so impressed we booked him for 2 further days later in the week.
I would HIGHLY recommend using one of the taxis for your tours
it made our holiday.
Weather was warmer than forecasts we had seen on internet before going , ended up running out of t-shirts.








