I spent a week at this fabulous hotel. The facilities were wonderful and best of all the welcome and service we got exceptional. I would truly recommend it to anyone looking for a relaxing, 'posh' but great value hotel.

Thank you for a fantastic 1st wedding anniversary visit, with your kind complimentary champagne in our room, discounts on massages in a beautiful couples room so we could enjoy them together and a room upgrade to sea view, what a fantastic experience. Your staff were extremely professional and accommodating throughout, and we have recommended your hotel to all of our friends interested in visiting madeira in the future.

Myself and my fiancé stayed here for the last few days of January into February. The weather was lovely and sunny. This is the first time in Funchal and also the first time in a Pestana hotel, but I can definitely say, we would consider coming back. We stayed B&B and our room was on the ground floor. We had a lovely view of the sea through the gardens. We were also 2 minutes away from the indoor swimming pool, jacuzzi and sauna. My fiancé used these more than I did, but I did use them and they were great. The outdoor swimming pools were extremely cold, but after a few hours in the sun, it was just what you needed. The food for breakfast was plentiful, varied and good tasting. You could not ask for anything else. The location of the hotel is also good. You can get to the promenade from the door by the pool and this takes you on some lovely sea view walks. I would recommend this hotel to others, but be prepared for the fact that madeira is a quiet place, where eating and having a few gentle drinks at night is the way of life. Lovely relaxing spot to go on a weeks break.

Just returned from a week at the Pestana Promenade, which is located in the 'hotel area' just outside of Funchal itself. Overall this is a lovely hotel, with good facilities and service.

Pros:
- Location is good with several restaurants within easy walking distance, and Funchal Old Town a short taxi ride away.

- Very clean and well presented, in all common areas, poolside and rooms.

- Staff are excellent. Very friendly, helpful and genuniely want to ensure you have a good stay. Any requests made, for extra towels, booking taxis, etc. were met with courtesy and in a timely fashion.

- Restaurants and bars are modern, clean and comfortable. The bar and waiting staff are friendly and speak excellent English. We only took breakfast in the hotel and this was well laid out, and plentiful. Some may consider the selection limited, but it had everything you could want and dishes were refreshed by the chef regularly.

- This was the first four star hotel I have visited where the gym was actually usable and the equipment was of a good standard, clean and maintained. I find most hotel gyms very disappointing!

Cons:
- Some of the bar and snack prices are on the high side, but in my opinion, this is common is most hotels of this rating. However, the bar does offer a daily 'happy hour' which makes it more affordable.

- The Pestana Group do offer 'vacation club/time share' accommodation, which in many ways is a positive. It means facilities are well maintained and you do feel you are getting more for your money. However, you will see parties of people being shown around the Hotel, so it can feel a little intrusive. Also, this does mean that if you are staying on another basis, you do need to be prepared to be approached by the vacation club rep with a view to selling you their offer. This did happen to us, but I have to say the rep was not pushy and when we made it clear we were not interested he did not pester us.

- The beds were large and the matresses comfortable, but all the pillows in our room were terrible. They felt very old and lumpy and it made it difficult to get a comfortable nights sleep.

- There are no concessions made for children beside high chairs in the restaurant and access to the swimming pool (although I knew this on booking, so it isn't really a negative). So if you are looking for lots of activities for children this is not the place for you.

On the whole, I very much enjoyed my stay and would not hesitate to return. The facilities are a step above the average and the staff were excellent.