I must say this is one of the best hotels I have stayed in. We were shown around the hotel and room, experienced wonderfully friendly staff, very much enjoyed our stay. I would definitely recommend this place. The airport, despite its close proximity, is not busy enough and is located above so you really do not notice it (I had been concerned with this before we stayed). The hotel restaurant is pretty good (Lilly's in Machico and the restaurant at Parque Timatico in Santana were better) but is especially convenient if you don't want to be "exploring" some really steep roads at night. The rooms are 10m from the small cliffs on the ocean and have an spectacular view of the small islands to the east. Wonderful place!

See my previous two reviews. This July, we stayed at the Albatroz for the third time since 2010, and we keep coming back for the same reasons: a beautiful hotel, excellent service, excellent food, and a peaceful setting. It's the perfect place to relax, and we hardly ever left the place as the hotel and grounds had everything we needed. Can't wait to go back next year!

My wife & I have just returned from our first holiday in the beautiful island of Madeira having stayed for two weeks at the Albatroz Hotel near Santa Cruz. An exceptional hotel where everyone from Goncalo Nunes the Director through every staff member proved to be extremely competent and helpful. On arrival at reception (after being picked up at the nearby airport) we were greeted by Goncalo with the words "welcome to paradise" and indeed it proved to be pretty close.
A small private hotel which is expertly run, the food excellent & the accommodation second to none. Well done the Albatroz and we certainly intend to return.

Jim & Margaret Baird
Scotland

The Albatroz staff could not have been more welcoming; this is a hotel where the employees go above and beyond what's expected.
On emailing the hotel a day before our trip asking whether there was a shuttle bus, I received a prompt reply from the hotel (in better English than many people I deal with at home!) offering to collect us from the airport, which they duly did the following evening.

On arrival we received a basket of fruit welcoming us to the hotel, and enjoyed a good night's sleep, waking up to a beautiful sunrise and an ocean view.
Our room had a huge bed, sofa, table with two chairs, big flat screen TV (with BBC news and entertainment) and a fridge (and safe too).

The breakfast each morning is very pleasant with a good selection of food, and a chef is always on hand to cook omelettes and other items to order, which was a pleasant surprise.

There are 3 pools; a fresh water one at the hotel level, and two salt water ones at sea level (both of which offer even stronger sun and great snorkelling).

Santa Cruz itself was about a 10 minute standard walking pace (we're both 34); the only very slight niggle I had was that the first few hundred metres of the walk is down a pavement next to a dual carriageway; although there are barriers it's a shame there isn't enough room to put in a separate path - but that's not the hotel's fault; from that point on it's an easy walk along the coast with no roads nearby which is very pleasant.

It was a very quiet and peaceful place; even though the airport is right above the hotel on a cliff you barely hear it during the day or evening; in fact you hear it more if you're in town.

There's also a lounge on the first floor with a PC where you can use the Internet, and there's a wireless signal available throughout the hotel which is great if you need to stay in touch with things back home.

The only slight (and these are really small) thing I'd have improved would have been to suggest having background music or even radio playing at breakfast - it's a little quiet otherwise and people tend to be very hushed as there's very little background noise - it's a small hotel, and my girlfriend and I thought it would have made people more comfortable to chat.

That aside, wonderful stay, and the staff (and everyone on the island in fact) all seem to be multi-lingual so we almost felt bad speaking English all the time!
On our last morning we missed breakfast and the staff made us sandwiches to eat in the airport - this is the sort of lovely people they are!

Thank you Albatroz, we may well be back again when we need a well earned rest! :)