Just returned from a 6 day break in Funchal.We chose the Pestana Gardens after staying nearby last year and were not dissappointed by the hotel.Set in a kind of tropical garden with hundreds of different plants/bushes trees etc,very well kept grounds The staff were generally helpful. I thought the cost of food was too much for the somewhat bland food.Breakfast the same every morning and dinner little better.Obviously this reflected in the restaurant in the evening with very few diners.Rooms were quite large really advertised as studios/kitchenettes but in actual fact had only a fridge.2 rings one saucepan and little else.A microwave would have been ideal

We used the Pestana Village Garden hotel through a timeshare programme and so that was our initial reason for selection. But we were so glad we did! Most of the hotels in the funchal hotel district are almost side by side, and so if your not too particular how long your walk is into town, you have a wide array of options. The village garden though, was an easy down hill walk to the centre of Funchal, but also a local area of restaurants. Our apartment had a view of the sea and a lovely balcony overlooking the hotel pool. Because of the garden like design, it creates a lot of privacy between the rooms, and the hotel seemed to be full of couples who had been going there for years! The guest relations were excellent, and you can book trips from the reception. There is also a bus stop outside which goes on the main funchal tour bus route! For a hotel with a mix of everything Pestana Village Garden is the one. You are near enough to everything, but still feel seclusion when relaxing. Also, a perk of staying with the pestana is that you are entitled to use the beach access at the other hotel, or go to any of their hotels to use their pools! Not that we felt the need as ours was so nice! It isnt a holiday for party-goers, but my boyfriend and I are in our twenties, and it was the relaxing sun-trap we wanted! Go for it!

A hotel which needs a bit of TLC. The room we had (1028) faced the front of the hotel and got extremely hot, but it was impossible to keep the verandah door open due to mosquitoes. The ceiling was blood-spattered - obviously due to previous guests encounters with said mosquitoes, and could have done with a wash. And the walls could have done with a lick of paint. The carpet was a bit old, and not what I would have expected from a 4 Star Hotel. The room itself was quite large, and the beds very comfortable. There was an abundance of storage space, and the bathroom was also quite large. Unfortunately there was no extraction fan, so you came out of the shower sweating (or glowing for the ladies). But there was plenty of hot water. The room had a black-out curtain, and was extremely quiet during the night.

On our arrival we found that the verandah door could not be locked, but this was fixed very soon after I reported it. There was a safe in the room, but they rent out the locks, so it was effectively useless. As this was a (British) first floor there was easy access from outside via the verandah, so the security of a working safe would have been welcome.

Breakfast was included in the package and there was an abundance of food and drink. However the Bacon and Eggs were floating in oil - a heart attack on a plate. But there ware plenty of cold meats, cheese, different breads, fruit, yoghurt, fruit juices and tea/coffee. The cold breakfast option would be the recommended route.

There appeared to be entertainment provided every night, but we went out most evenings and missed it. This varied from a movie (Cats), through a six person line dance exhibition, to a dance band/group. There is also free wi-fi in the centre of the hotel (inside and just outside the bar), but though our room was about 5 meters from this area we could not get wi-fi in the room.

The grounds are great with plenty of room around the pool for those who wish to sun-worship. There are plenty of trees and shrubs from various parts of the world. There is also a connection to the higher class Mirimar hotel, though we did not avail of it's facilities, so cannot report.

The staff are excellent and all appear to speak at least Portuguese, English and German, though I did hear other languages spoken also. They were all very friendly - but then we found all the Madeirense to be very friendly.

When we arrived at the airport friends informed us that there was Dengue Fever on the island, but it was only on our last day at the hotel that we noticed a small notice to this effect at reception. I feel that this should have been drawn to the attention of all guests on arrival. But then, perhaps they wanted to keep any panic/distress out of the hotel. We went to a pharmacy on our first afternoon and were recommended to use a roll-on. This was great - for the mosquitoes! It told them exactly where we were and what parts to avoid. So in the early evening we went out and bought an electric (plug-in) mosquito killer. Much more effective - though it didn't kill the ones hiding in the ward-robe. Perhaps we should have kept those doors open to let the fumes in.

A tip to those travelling from the UK - buy an electrical adapter for your chargers etc. The electric current is the same so you won't need any converter, but you will need your iPad charged (What could we do without it?).

The hotel is within easy walking distance of Funchal centre - about a 20 minute walk and all downhill. But what goes down must come up, so expect the return trip to take a bit longer. Remember that Madeira is all hills.

It is difficult to judge a hotel without taking into acount it's star rating. If this had been a 5 Star hotel I would have given it a much lower grade, but as it is only a 4 Star hotel, I would tend to grade it between 3 and 4. And the price we paid has made me bring it up to the 4.

We selected the Pestana Village Garden Resort Aparthotel for our honeymoon. We had read some great reports about it. When we arrived we were not disappointed. The reception staff made us very welcome and told us that they had upgraded us to a junior suite and when we got to our room we found a bottle of champagne waiting for us The suite was immaculate although the cooking facilities were very limited but this didn't matter as we were having bed and breakfast and we intended to eat out every night. At this point everything seemed great.
As we were carrying quite a lot of cash we decided to hire a room safe. On Monday night which was our first day we counted all the money into the safe. We had 50, 20 and 10 euro bills. We totaled the amount. and noted that we had 450 euros in fifty bills i.e 9 bills. We didn't count the number of 20 or 10 bills. My wife decided to do another count on Saturday morning and found that there was 1200 euros and that one of the fifty euro notes was missing. At this time she thought that I must have taken it and she didn't mention it to me. On Sunday evening after a long day out sightseeing, we decide to do another money count so that we could balance our money for the next week. The count was now at 1100 euros, another 50 euro note was missing along with 50 euros in 20 or 10 euro notes.After having a chat, we definitely knew that neither of us had spent any 50 euro notes.. We then suspected that someone must have another key to the safe.
We immediately contacted reception but were told that no one else had a key and that nothing like this had ever happened at the hotel. We insisted that she call security which she did. The security officer arrived 10 minutes later and took all the details he then photographed the safe door and the door to the suite. I asked him if we should contact the police but he said as it was late we should leave it till the morning when he would give us feedback and then decide if we wanted to get the police involved. That night we discussed what had happened and both thought that the hotel staff and security had not been very helpful. It seemed that they didn't want to believe that this could have happened at their hotel. The next morning my wife contacted our holiday rep who was surprised that the hotel had not contacted the police. She told us she would come round at once. When she arrived the hotel manager and the security officer joined her.
Again they said that it was very unusual to have a complaint like this. I again had to say that I thought the police should be notified and eventually the manager told the security person to take us to the police station.
When we eventually got to speak to the desk sergeant He was surprised and angry that we hadn't contacted the police at the time. When I told him what had happened at the hotel he then seemed to get quite angry with the security officer. After I had made out the report he gave me the report number and told me that he would get back to me if anything was found.The security officer also took a note of the report number and said he would give us an update if he found out anything before the end of the holiday. He then took us back to the hotel.. Needless to say nobody got back to us as it was obvious that the hotel staff did not believe us.
As if this wasn't bad enough when we checked out, the receptionist had the cheek to ask us for 24 euros which we had already paid when we took the safe key out at the beginning of the holiday.
So the motto of this little tale is hotel safes are not as safe as you think, especially in the Pestana Village Garden Resort, Funchal, Maderia