Guest User
March 8, 2024
My wife and I spotted the unique Pestana Vila Lido Hotel when we were on a Dolphin trip on a previous Pestana holiday in Madeira Nov/Dec 2023, both my wife and myself thought this is a hotel where we would like to stay and more or less booked it straight away for a 2 week winter break when we arrived home in the United Kingdom, the Hotel has a Pay on Arrival Policy which gave us some time to save up for a holiday in February/March 2024 The holiday itself, we flew from Leeds and Bradford Airport and arrived in Funchal Madeira Airport, from the Airport we chose the Aerobus (6 Euros per person)which you find outside the arrivals area and this takes you into Funchal and Hotels at various stops, it is to be noted that this service doesn't take you directly to the hotel but at various stops along the route which are close to the hotels, we found out that our stop was stop 15 the Lido area and which is just at the top of Rua Gorgulho where the Vila Lido is situated at the bottom of the hill towards the sea. The Pestana Vila Lido Hotel is even more impressive close up with it's unique shape and the traditional part of the hotel is equally striking and with the check-in procedure a breeze we paid the amount and were shown to our room. Our room one of the Classic Sea View rooms was light and airy with the best views ever of the Atlantic from the room and balcony and dependent which side of the hotel you are on you either have the sunrise or sunset. There were a couple of minor issues with the room and these were pointed out via an online review of our stay so far. To our surprise, the following day we were offered by the Hotel Manager an upgrade to a superior room which was out of this world and had the best views of the Atlantic we had ever encountered, with a view to the West of the Island for the amazing Sunsets. It has to be said that we once again had some minor issue's with the Superior Room and we addressed these at a later internal management review of the hotel. My wife and I like swimming and there is ample opportunity for this with the hotel pool which was awesome and also an option if the sea state is ok to enter the sea safely with ladder access and egress, the area is fenced off and appropriate warning flags raised when the weather is too bad to swim safely. The breakfast facilities at the hotel are perfect with the staff being very friendly and accommodating to our needs which are not extravagant just some tea and a poached egg sometimes, there are coffee machines and an excellent choice of hot and cold food available, you can even sit outside to view the ocean whilst you have breakfast should you so wish. In the traditional part of the hotel is a bar and A La Carte Restaurant where the menu has a variety of options As well as the Hotel Bar and Restaurant where we dined on 2 occasions there are a number of nice restaurants in close vicinity and further to the West is the Public lido which has adjacent bars and restaurants, something for ever