I would highly recommend this hotel. The gardens are spectacular, the pool area is lovely, the breakfast is delicious, the staff are wonderful, the hotel is very clean, all the rooms face south over the bay and the giant tortoise is very cute! The place is a real find. Not exactly cheap but worth the money. You can get down to the centre of the town by way of a steep 15 minute walk but the hotel also provides a courtesy bus service during the day, and a taxi down in the evening should only cost €5-6.
The staff are very helpful and started the breakfast service early on our last day so that we could have breakfast before going to the airport.

Since we discovered this fine hotel several years ago, we appreciate the kind and comfortable atmosphere although we did not use all facilities which are offered. It is a real anchor in life and we intend to come back as often as possible.

My wife and I stayed here in October 2012 and had a fantastic time, despite some poor weather. The hotel was spotless and the staff extremely helpful and polite. I have given the location a v.good rather than excellent, because it may not be to everyone's liking. We like to walk a lot and found the walk up the steep hill a good bit of exercise. It is not for the faint hearted. Have to admit to cheating with taxis a couple of times after a night out! Taxis are generally good and cheap, but one did try to rip us off by taking a circuitous route - fortunately we knew where we were going. The pool area is really nice, the gardens well maintained and the restaurant excellent. You will find better deals for dinner including wine at the top rated restaurants in Funchal, but the food and wine served at the hotel were top drawer. I would say the guests were mostly more mature, 40s upwards (including us), and it was a really peaceful place to stay.

We stayed here in December and were very impressed. The hotel's staff struck just the right balance - helpful, friendly attentive but not intrusive. The hotel itself was spotlessly clean, elegant and spacious; the pool was attractive and not at all busy when we stayed (in December admittedly) and the gardens were beautiful.
Its relatively small size and location were important plus points for us as we prefer smaller hotels.
We selected half-board as it is a little way from the centre and were very pleased to have done so. The meals were excellent.

Thanks to all at the hotel.