Pestana Carlton Madeira Hotel

, Funchal, Portugal
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Pestana Carlton Madeira Hotel

, Funchal
4 star

Rooms: 330

Largo Antonio Nobre - Funchal - 9007 - Portugal | 291 239 500
449 Traveller

Reviews - Pestana Carlton Madeira Hotel

Historical Traveller Reviews of Pestana Carlton Madeira Hotel

The room was excellent!

from tillypop
We (couple from Sweden) just returned from a week at the famous Madeira hotel; Pestana Carlton Madeira, former owned by the Sheraton Group. This was our second time at this island, and WHAT A PLACE! Madeira is magnificent!! Last time we stayed at the 5* ocean park (tivoli hotels).

Carlton hotel has NOT an attractive exterior, that makes this hotel above average. Seriously it looks like a prison or something like that. The check-in counter and the lobby was great. We had booked a superior sea view room, and what a room! The seaview was excellent, but the balcony is maybe too small though. Everything in the room was brand new, and a funny detail is that the bathroom and the toilet is separated. Two different rooms.

The pools are lovely. Infact there are one at the ocean floor and one in the garden. The ocean pool is the best one. Here you also have direct access to the sea. Im into scuba diving, and the conditions are the best. Maybe the pools are too cold.
The pool also have a indoor pool. Not the best.

The breakfast was good, but not as good as the ocean park. But you can choose all from fruits to meals. We didn't eat any dinners at the hotel, but the hotels restaurants looks nice. There are too many restaurants in Funchal. Hard to choose between them. One tip is Joe's Bar! Awsome!!

Overall I would say this hotel is probably more into older peeps. Not in our age. (20-30) . The hotel staff -- by the way, very disagreeable. Dont expect much from them...But ignore them and you will get a hell of a good vacation!!

Great location, great views, great hotel!

from Edita
I returned from this hotel yesterday and was delighted with it. The room was super - tastefully refurbished [this is one of the oldest hotels on the island and has recently been completelyoverhauled]. Cream, white and blue with beechwood furniture. A fridge, plenty of storage, flat screen tv and the view - wonderful across sea to front, to harbour/marina to left and over to Reids Hotel to the right. Definitely worth paying extra for seaview.

Breakfast great plenty of everything. Main meals fine if you dont mind similar style buffet disguised under various theme nights. All good quality though and plenty of variety. However, i went half board which gave me the choice of usuing local restaurants and i can thoroughly reccomend the Red Lion [don't be put off by the name] it is a little gem just across the road fro the hotel. Very friendly staff and a bar next door for pre or post dinner drinks. i was travellign alone and it was ideal they really took care of me and i met loads of interesting, fun people there. Anoterh good one down on the marina is O Solar da Santola - last but one to the right of the Balloon. Lovly seafood.

The hotel has two outdoor pools. the Garden level pool as it suggests set in gardens with lots of sunbeds - no need to race out with your towel at thishotel - and a bar/restaurant in the middle. Take the next lift down the sea level to the Atlantic Pool - my favourite. This is reminiscent of an old English lido with easy direct access to the sea from a jetty. You can swim out safely to a pontoon for sunbathing and watching the world ail by.

Madeira itself is fantastic - I had wall to wall sun every day except one which was cloudy and a good excuse to see some sights. Dont miss the trip on a catamaran to see dolphins, whales, turtles and seals. Includes a blissful swim of th boat under the highest cliff in the world Cabo Girau. Also take the half day trip to Nuns Valley - try Strawberry World [on the Monumental Lido parade of shops] who are excellent and not timeshare sharks. I have to say having read all ther eviews about Madeira and the timeshare sales i was not approached once - perhaps they only target couples.

Now the million dollar question - building works - i can honestly say that there is no work being done at the Pestana Carlton despite the previous report. I can only think that this person was referring to a small building being done under the Reids Hotel which can be seen from the seaview rooms at the Carlton. My room was directly above it and it was no problem at all - i was aware of some tapping from there early evening one day but it was not intrusive. Quite honestly there is so much else to look at from the balcony I didn't notice it. This buikding can also be seen if you look upwards towards Reids from the Atlantic Pool but again it was not a problem. I will try and attach a photo which shows the area. I woud think it is more of a problem for Reids than anyone else.

As previous reviews have noted there are plenty of older people at this hotel and indeed in Madeira. However, I met people of all ages and nationalities with and without children or teenagers and found there was plenty to do for everyone. Very safe, no lager louts [this is no Ayia Napa] but a very beautiful island and you could go a long way to beat this hotel. I shall be going back as soon as I can.

if you pay for seaview you get building works instead!!!

from IStewart
We are still here and very unhappy. Paid 392 pounds extra for seaview room. However, we found building works outside our balcony instead !!! Atlantic holidays are not being helpfull at all!!! Do not book this hotel !

One to go back to

from bermb1
My friend and I spent five days at the Pestana Carlton from 21st to 26th May 2006. This was my first trip to Madeira and I would really like to go back and do some of the great variety of activities on offer especially the levada walks. Also if you are interested in flowers and exotic trees this is the place to be It is also safe and clean. Now to the hotel. My friend lives in Lisbon and she got a great package for the five days,bed and breakfast, a room each, flights and transfers to and from the airport all for €568. We were met promptly at the airport and brought to the Carlton which is a huge hotel situated on the cliff top looking out to the sea on one side. On arrival we were allocated two rooms. Mine was on floor one and hers was on floor sixteen. On request they changed my friend's room and we were given rooms beside each other on the first floor. These rooms at the back of the hotel were beautifully appointed with great bathrooms including a make up mirror for shortsighted people like me!!! They had patio doors lesding out to a litte patio bordered by a Hibiscus hedge and equipped with two very comfortable wicker sun loungers and table and with the pool right in front. The hotel has a couple of outdoor pools and some beautiful terraces decorated with beautiful flowers. Service was really good, people were pleasant and polite and everything was really well maintained. Only little gripe was we has to pay€2 to use the sun umbrella. Strange? Funchal centre is about 15 mins walk away downhill so coming back in the heat can be tiring. We breakfasted at the hotel which had a great variety of food items including wonderful fruit. At lunchtime we had a snack by the pool and we visited all the many local restuarants for dinner. At 4.30 each evening a classical violinist gave a beautiful recital by the pool bar. When we came back from dinner each evening there was entertainment in the Taverna bar, jazz, classical, pop etc and the bar service was efficient and pleasant. Dining out was a good experience, lots of fresh fish and home grown fruit and veg well cooked and served. Dinner for two including bottle of wine worked out at about €60....Great by Dublin standards where I come from.I Would definitely recommend it and the island.

Pay for the seaview

from AirplanedriverNorway
I will keep it short

This hotel is great, but get the sea view, it costs more but is worth every cent. The so called mountain view rooms are looking straight on to the main road and get no sun. We spent many evenings enjoying a drink on our balcony watching the ocean. Ask for floors 15 and up for the best views, we stayed on the 17th floor, it was spectacular.

The breakfast was good, we didnt try the hotel for dinner because there were so many good cheap restaurants in town nearby. If you really want a treat book a tanle at the Villa Cliff italiain trattoria at the reids Palace hotel next to the Madeira Carlton. the views from the tables are beautiful and very romantic location. You have to check out the gardens at the reids Palace, dont ask at the reception they will say no!??, just walk right in as if you belong there, they wont risk being rude by asking you what you are doing. A bit cheeky but worth it.

You have to go on some levada hikes too, its great. lots to see and good exercise too.




Have a great stay

Service with a smile!

from A TripAdvisor Member
We have just returned from a week at this hotel and we both feel that it is one of the best we have ever stayed in. The staff at the Madeira Carlton are all there to assist and make sure that your hoilday is a memorable one, the door men are the first point of contact and they are wonderful ambassadors for the standards that the Carlton staff acheive overall.

The food is very good. Buffet breakfasts; there is something for everyone, including hot food. In the evenings we tried all the eating venues, the breakfast room serves a self service evening meal which is plentiful in choice, the perch was superb. The "pub" serves a good pizza and the salmon steaks were very tasty. The best place, and most expensive, (but worth it), to eat in the evening is the Taverna Grill, superb food and service, just a pity that it is not open every evening.

The rooms we could not fault, we had a sea view over the harbour from the 12th floor and watched the cruise liners come and go, as well as other activities along the sea front, we enjoyed a couple of picnic lunches on our balcony with local produce purchased from the town. The bed was huge with a very comfortable mattress and ample pillows and cushions. The bathroom facilities were more than adequate, a powerful shower. Note: face cloths are provided. Try channel 29 for relaxing "summer" background music, there is a speaker in the ceiling of the bathroom so as to listen whilst you bathe, meanwhile the TV shows live pictures of the main pool area.

The pools are not crowded, ample sun loungers and other seating on the terraces.

You could have a good holiday without ever having to leave the precincts of the hotel...but there is a whole island to explore, and what an island! We explored to the west and east and undertook a couple of levada walks to build up our appetites for dinner back at the hotel.

We certainly intend to return to the Pestana Carlton in Maderia at some point in the future!

Lovely gardens

from Labiner
Some friends referred us to this excellent Aparthotel. Located opposite the famous Reid's hotel at the start of the hotel zone in Funchall this hotel is part of a complex with the larger Pestana Village next door. Madeira is a beautiful island with wonderful flowers,vegetation and walks and the gardens are a microcosm of this. We found it too cold to swim in the pool. The guest relations staff are particularly helpful and take enormous trouble to give you the information you need. there is lots to see and do on Madeira, though unfortunately they are killing the tranquillity and attraction by stuffing the island overfull of tourists even in the remote locations and country lanes/levada walks. Surpriaingly with the abundance of produce food is not great here. breakfasts at the hotel wer ok, but had a poor selection of fresh fruit and cold scrambled egg /rubbery fried eggs every morning. The bread selection was excellent though.

Lots of fantastic gardens to visit, including the Botanic, Monte and also a small herb garden with an enthusiatic and knowledgeable owner/gardener.

It was interesting to discover the new to us world of time share. We recommend Pestana for being unpushy, the quality of the rooms on offer which were spacious and comfortable (bathroom, lots of storage, well equipped kitchen, comfortable large bed, lounge/dining area and balcony, though time share is not for us. The site has a beautiful old Madeiran house on site where a delicious afternoon tea can be had. we also visited two orchid gardens both beautiful.

Our favourite restuarant was a relatively new one called Cafe Inn. Avoid O Tapposol, overpriced and poor quality but O Jago behind it in the Old Town is good. However both of us were unable to eat the local fish after discovering the horrigic way in which they die..when angled from the deep they die by all their blood vessels bursting as they are brought to the surface leaving them looking black. This is visible at the amazing market in Funchal Centre. Fortunately the flower, leather, vegetable and fruit market dominate and are lovely, but beware high prices for e.g. nuts, and local fruits which may also be underripe e.g. a Swiss cheese plant fruit.

Work in progress!

from A TripAdvisor Member
Have just returned from a 5 night stay at the Pestana Carlton
Had what was classed as mountain view room at front of hotel. The road noise is grim. Starts early 5/6 am, including sundays, with constant stream of buses and noisy motorcyles.
Just outside hotel is set of traffic lights and you will hear the thump of dance music coming from the cars stopped at the lights. Double glazing is inadequate.
As the hotel is north/south facing these front rooms never get any sun on the balcony
To get around this you will need a sea facing room at extra cost.
Hotel is still being renovated and the dust and noise of angle-grinders, and the like, on floors 5 and below does not lend itself to a quite and relaxing break
The rooms are however of a very good standard and breakfast very good
If any one is here for diving Madeira Divepoint is located at this hotel and the operation run by Rolf and Wilfred is excellent. They are attentive, helpful and very professional

Good Holiday

from A TripAdvisor Member
Staff very helpful.Pools & pool area clean.some road noise in rooms at front of hotel, but not too bad,we were on 15th floor at front.Room was adequate, cleaned well, fairly comfortable,plumbing worked. A good choice available at breakfast,but cooked breakfast always cold or just about warm. great access for centre of Funchal & not too far to walk to old town(about 20-25 mins) many restaurants in walking distance.best ones are the very small ones in the old town.excellent Thai restaurant just down road from hotel called restaurant SHENG on Rua Imperatiriz Dona Amelia.
Cancer of time share now in Madeira, you will be asked by a representative in the hotel to look at other complexes,he does not seem to understand the complicated meaning of the word NO, we found this very very VERY annoying. If you wish to avoid timeshare do Not go into the many information centres dotted about, these are all connected to hotels. official tourist info centre on Avenida Arriaga in Funchal (next to Blandys wine lodge). We found the hotel & holiday enjoyable,remember how much you are paying,we considered the value to be greater than the cost.

James Bond meets Tracey Island

from CandAP
From the outside the Pestana Carlton looks dated with its concrete ediface, it is certainly an imposing structure. Inside you step into a 60's style building that brings to mind James Bond films, with it's cubist architecture and dark wood decor.
The hotel has undergone recent refurbishment and our hotel room was on the 16th floor overlooking the beautiful coastline, the famous Reid's hotel and the Pestana Carlton's excellent poolside facilities. The room was spacious and well furnished in a contemporary minimalist style that complemented the hotel's public spaces.
3 pools and a wide range of activities kept our 17 year old well occupied and the lower pool, with scuba diving lessons and plentiful free sunbeds (although a small charge was made for umbrellas) was an area of complete relaxation. This is where Tracey Island comes in, as the hotel from this angle, looking inwards, was a dead ringer for this famous 60's children's series.
A relaxing and enjoyable holiday in a comfortable and very interesting hotel. Good service, excellent facilities and a 15 minute stroll into Funchal, makes the Pestana a good place to stay. Even better, are the local restaurants...especially the Mar Brando just across the road.

Top Local Tips for Funchal

Getting Around To & from the airport, unless transfers are provided, you have to use a taxi (about €30 to Funchal) as public transport's a nightmare & the Aerobus runs only once in a blue moon. We made enquiries about public transport to other places, but most people told us not to bother beyond Funchal. You might get there, but getting back can be "iffy"! The yellow Funchal buses are OK if you can work out the routes, but DON'T buy tickets on the bus (€2/person/journey), but get a Giro card (€0.85/person/journey) from a tobacconist shop.

Great Curry House just next to the Pestana Carlton Madeira Hotel, funtastic food and very friendly staff :-)

A nice and friendly place! Funchal is a beautiful town with nice architecture, friendly people, nice coffee shops with nice coffee. Special attractions are Monte Palace and Botanic Gardens. Monte Garden is unique, I have seen different parks and gardens in diffrerent places but Monte is among the best. It is so nicely organized, there so many unique plants there, it is so special, going down the hill you find out new and new paths of this park and you find yourself among wonderful flowers, ponds with gold and what not fish, fountains.............It is next to impossible to describe it, this should be seen. Funchal itself is full of flowers, they are everywhere. So the place is really fantastic!

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Other names for Pestana Carlton Madeira Hotel

  • pestana carlton madeira hotel
  • pestana carlton madeira funchal
  • pestana carlton madeira
  • carlton hotel madeira
  • Address: Largo Antonio Nobre - Funchal - 9007 - Portugal
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