Stayed here last week in feb. Having seen this hotel from previous visits & location booked last minute. Excellent facilities & location . Thoroughly enjoyed indoor pool as weather no great. Happy hour in bar is excellent. Stayed on B&b basis which I can say was excellent as plenty of restaurants nearby . Would gladly return

I recently spent five days at the Pestana Promenade Hotel and had a wonderful time, despite less-than-perfect weather. The only negative was that we couldn't stay longer.

The hotel is very well situated overlooking the sea and with restaurants nearby. It's an easy 30-35 minute walk into Funchal but the local bus stops outside the hotel. The service is frequent and cheap.

The hotel and grounds are beautiful. Service is impeccable and the rooms spacious and very well equipped. We had a side sea view and our room included a kitchen area with fridge, dishwasher, kettle, toaster and hob, as well as cutlery,crockery and glassware - everything you need and excellent quality.

We slept like logs - the beds were extremely comfortable and there was complete silence at night. I've never stayed in a hotel where there have been no banging doors or noise from other guests.

The outdoor pool, although beautiful and the subject of numerous photos, was FREEZING COLD. The indoor pool was warm and never crowded and towels for the pool are provided in the hotel rooms. Further towels are available on request.

Breakfast was excellent and offered plentiful amounts of hot and cold food, cereal, fruit and a vast array of breads and bakery items. The buffet was re-stocked every few minutes and one day there was even champagne!

We didn't eat in the hotel in the evening but did take advantage of the "happy hour" between 5-7 p.m. when all drinks were half price. There are many restaurants close to the hotel but most of them are mediocre. However, we did find a very good Italian restaurant "Luigis" a little further along the road to Funchal opposite Reids Hotel - food good, inexpensive and staff very professional and courteous.

We booked a day trip of the West Coast by mini-bus - 20 euros each and an excellent day out. A word of warning - there are numerous trips on offer for less than this amount but a lot of them are part of a "time share scam". The usual advice applies -if it looks too good to be true it probably is"!

Madeira Airport Transfers operate a service from the airport to your hotel for £20 euros each way - pre-bookable but pay on arrival at your hotel. The drivers are exellent; smart, professional, reliable and very knowledgable - thorougly recommended.

We were a little unlucky with the weather. We had two days of torrential rain and gale force winds and got soaked a number of times! We went into Funchal on the local bus on one of these days, hoping to go on the cable car, but it was cancelled due to the weather. There is a lot of buiding work underway at the quayside/harbour area but the rest of the town is worth a visit.

A good proportion of visitors are over middle-age but this is what makes Madeira such a pleasant place to be - no drunks, "chavs" or unruly behaviour!

I have stayed here a couple of time now whilst visiting Madeira with my Grandparents, and I can honestly say I love this hotel! The rooms are beautiful! The reception area is breath taking and you cannot fault the staff one bit! Its fairly close to the local supermarkets and extremely close if you'd like a dip in the sea. Would return to this hotel over and over! Its like a home from home! The only little niggle is, the pool can get fairly warm, however they may have sorted this out by now. A beautiful hotel on a beautiful island.

as everyone says, the hotel is a fantastic building and the staff really are excellent. we had a few reservations about the room, mainly no tea making kit and lack of storage space. the classic side sea view room was huge but had a lot of wasted space, which was filled with furniture that didnt need to be there. the wardrobe was big enough but needed more hangers, but there are only 3 small drawers which is not enough for 2 people. it seems that the lack of kettle is a pestana policy in all of its hotels, which is a bit petty considering that this is a 4 star hotel. we took our own but this took up valuable suitcase space. we also took beach towels, not being aware that these were provided. so, more wasted space! the safe is free, which is good and you get 7 days free wi-fi, which is availiabe all over the hotel, including the bedrooms. it seems that they used to charge 18e for this, so that is another good point in their favour. the breakfast comes straight from central casting, being the buffet type that you will get anywhere in europe these days, but not bad.
it was our first time in madeira, and we were very impressed that it felt clean and safe , everywhere that we went. it caters mainly for older people, so if you are expecting magaluf you will be dissapointed. we also thought that we were going to break a world record by not seeing a fat man wearing a replica english football shirt for an entire week, but we spotted one on our last day. still,you cant have everything! as everyone says, there are lots of places to eat near the hotel. we liked the 'hole in one' pub, more relaxed than restaurants and with good live music.
we did the ' being pulled down a hill in a basket' thing which was was a bit of a tourist trap, but where else do you get the chance to do it?
all in all, a fantastic hotel but those couple of quibbles stopped it getting 5 out of 5. we had a fantastic holiday and would return without hesitation.