My husband and I spent one week at Hotel Girassol in January. We asked a room with a view to the pool and sea and it was worth doing it. The views were great. We were on 9th floor without any noise. There was only one dog barking in the neighbourhood almost every morning and we heard it very well to our room. But the hotel can do nothing about it.
The breakfast was excellent. The wide collection of fresh bread every morning, very good bacon and scrumbled egg, The fruit salad was the best so far and we have traveled quite a lot.
The staff was nice, only the reception staff could have been more polite. They just did their work but "to do my best" was missing.

We booked into this hotel Easter Sunday 8th April 2012 for 1 week. Thank you to the travel department for choosing such a fabulous hotel.It has left wonderful memories.We enjoyed the food -what a great selection of desserts ! The staff were so professional, helpful and friendly.We loved the lounge and balcony.Everything was so clean and tidy.The only setback was that the bed was very hard and I mean very hard. We enjoyed several walks into Funchal and along by the seafront.We also enjoyed sightseeing on Maderia Island.It was important to my husband and I to be able to come back such a nice homely hotel.

I did not used to write reviews but this time I decided to do so to prevent others from Hotel Girassol. Unfortunately we were totally misled by positive online reviews and decided to stay here. At least, I can help others to choose better.

The hotel is definitely not up to 4-star standard. The overall mood of this hotel resembled us to trade union's hotels from 80s, 70s in Hungary. Furniture, design looked dusty and in some cases even rotting like the lower part of our bathroom door!! There was a terrible smell of blight or whatever in lobbies and even at our room.
I cannot say anything positive about breakfast neither. When comparing the standard to relevant Hungarian hotels, we can say that the choice, the variety and the quality of food here is somewhere between 2 and 3 stars.
Internet was fast but it was not for free! It was a bit of a shock in a 4 starred hotel.

This is not a value for money hotel either comparing room prices to other Funchal 4 star hotels.

A big thankyou to all staff for making our stay at the hotel so pleasant .We have just spent another week at this hotel, it is great value for money. the food is good, and the lunch you can buy at the pool side is very reasonably priced with a wide variety of choices plus the sweets are a must to try . The staff are fantastic and I cannot praise them enough, especially the maid service ,with clean linen and daily supply of fresh towels,soap,shampoo and bath foam. All the bar staff at the pool side are friendly and cheerful , and the pool attendant Gomes is a lovely man always smiling and busy making sure everyone is happy, and he keeps the pool area clean and tidy, If you are a returning customer you get a fidelity card which offers discounts on food and beverages ( not happy hour) a free upgrade if available , a basket of fruit in your room on arrival and much more . .the hotel is near all the local shops and restaurants and only about a twenty minute walk into Funchal itself . This is not a hotel for young couples or young people with young children .It is, I would say for the more mature adults who are wanting a restful quiet holiday. The only negative thing we found which we have rarley come across before on our six visits were the many smokers lighting up when we were eating, as this is no longer allowed in the UK it was off putting to say the least . We overcame this by eating our lunch at the pool side. Madeira is a beautiful island but, do remember to take mosquito repellent as the only place you can purchase this is at the pharmacy and the nearest one is a good 20-25 minute walk away .