We were due to fly on the 2nd March within a week of the terrible floods of Madeira. We were concerned that this hotel would be inaccessible so I emailed the hotel twice but had no reply at all. We went ahead with the holiday anyway & kept our fingers crossed. We arrived & the roads & the hotel were ok. The hotel is very remote & a car is a must which we did have but the drive up to this hotel can be a bind as its very steep winding roads to its remote location take about 30 mins each way before you hit the main carriageways. We stayed 8 nights here which is way to long at this hotel, I would only recomend a few days just to enjoy the views & the walk to the Nuns Valley but apart from that you could get bored here easily. The hotel has stunning views, it is generaly clean but lacks atmosphere,its a case of going to dinner & then back to the room. Most staff members were very helpful & friendly with the exception of one misserable staff who never smiled once, never said hello & just slapped the change on the table.He works in the cafe which is mostly for the tourists but if you want to sit in the lounge this is where you have to go to order your drinks.The food is very average & is typical Madeiran food, avoid the Bread panada, its a bowl of hot Olive oil with a lump of bread in it which they told us was soup. The waiter also asked us how we wanted our chicken ( medium rare or well done) I asked him are you joking , he said no , so you can imagine our worry. We later found out he was new & got mixed up with steak. After a few days there seemed to be a funny smell from the kitchen/ dining room almost like dirty water smell. One by one my family became I'll with sickness & Diarrhea. We only ate at the hotel & drunk bottled water , I wonder if the flooding may have contaminated something the hotel was using or if they were using tap water to wash the salad in. In general the hotel is recommended for a few days stay but no longer. I would recommend the Residencial Encumeada instead which has similar views of the mountains & is about £100 cheaper & easier to drive to.We stayed there 2 years ago & was very pleased.

Although tripadvisor list is as a Funchal hotel, this is further away in the mountainous central part. If you plan to rent a car, this is a good location (typical Madeira) with spectacular views to spend one or two nights at. The rooms were spacious and the restaurant served very good food. Apart from that there were some smallish road side restaurants on the way to Funchal with mouthwatering delicious beef.

my partner and i stayed here for 2 nights during a little tour of the island. the views and location are simply breath taking. out superior room had stunning views of the valley of nuns below and was large and relatively private. the food served as part of our half board stay was delicious, beautifully presented and served by the most polite and helpful staff of our stay. We used the jacuzzi, relaxed on the spa terrace and enjoyed the views from the view point close to the hotel. we walked an hour down steep terraine to get to the Valley of nuns, which was quaint but small ad quiet, and walked an hour up the very steep terraine back up, althought there are taxis and buses available for those less energetic/crazy. i'd definately reccomend this hotel for a short stay and would return. we particularly enjoyed watching the shooting stars from our balcony in the clear sparkly night sky

This place still puzzles me - just got back from a 4 night stay

It's clean, modern, spacious, friendly & professional staff, good food, stunning mountan views from the dining terrace and well worth its 4 stars - there is no pool but the hot tub's never busy and there's a nice sun deck

I booked it via a search engin and thought I'd done pretty well to get 4 nights for £120 UK for the 2 of us - didn't realise it was inclusive of breakfast and a 3 course evening meal

Not complaining of course - it's worth a lot more

Not much for younger people really - but I've never been anywhere where you could sit and eat and look down on the clouds rising up the valley