Madeira is short of sand, so these three put you in the sea another way. The Cliff Bay has a saltwater pool and a jetty with ladders below its garden. VidaMar Resort Hotel Madeira has a 2,000 m² sea platform with seawater pools for guests. Sentido Galomar, for adults, has lifts down to a lido in a marine reserve.
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Madeira is a mountain in the Atlantic, steep and short of sand, and Funchal has no sandy beach at all. Here a beach hotel means sea access: seawater pools at the water's edge, concrete platforms and ladders or steps straight into the ocean, which runs from about 17 to 22°C through the year. The nearest thing to a town beach is Praia Formosa, west of the Lido, the island's largest public beach, of pebbles and dark sand. For true golden sand, Calheta on the south-west coast has an artificial beach of 100 metres, opened in 2004 with sand brought from Morocco.
So choose by how you like to swim. The Hotel Zone round the Lido gives you resort pools on the sea with Funchal a bus ride away, and the public Lido complex, open all year, has lifeguards in the bathing season. Caniço de Baixo, east of the city, puts you on a marine reserve with a dive centre, and Sentido Galomar is 12 minutes from the airport.
The Cliff Bay has a promontory to itself, and its palm garden steps down to the water. At the foot of it, right by the sea, you find the saltwater pool, kept at about 21°C, with a children's pool and an outdoor hot tub beside it and the Blue Lagoon serving lunch. Steel ladders drop from a concrete jetty straight into the Atlantic, and reception books snorkelling and diving.
There is no sand, and the ladders open only when the sea allows, so plan around the pools and treat a calm-day swim as the prize. The heated indoor-outdoor pool by the spa, at about 27°C, is the warmer swim for a cool morning. Pool towels are free. For a walk along the sea, the Lido promenade is 11 minutes on foot, and the pebbles of Praia Formosa are a 9-minute drive.
The room to book
Sea View
about 30 to 36 m²€473 a night
Its balcony looks south or south-west to the open ocean, the water you swim in, for less than the Bay View rooms that turn towards the harbour.
From VidaMar's lobby and palm gardens, lifts drop to the shore and a platform of 2,000 m², which the hotel calls the largest at sea level in Madeira. It is kept for hotel guests and watched by lifeguards. Three outdoor seawater pools look out to the ocean, the infinity pools are for adults, and children have their own pool, 25 m² and 40 cm deep. On calm days you can step straight from the platform into the Atlantic.
The outdoor pools are seawater and feel cool outside high summer, so for a warm swim head indoors: the Aqua Area's heated pool has its own children's area and costs guests nothing. Sabor a Mar, beside the pools, does lunch, local fish and ice creams, and you will find pool towels in the room. The public Lido complex is 10 minutes along the promenade.
The room to book
Superior Sea View
about 39 m²€353 a night
A full sea view straight ahead from the balcony, over the gardens to the platform and its pools, in 39 m² with a sofa and room for up to four.
Sentido Galomar is Galo Resort's adults-only hotel, on the clifftop at Caniço de Baixo. Up top is its own seawater pool of about 100 m², kept for adults, with nothing beyond it but the Atlantic. Below, 2 minutes from the door by lift, the Lido Galomar sits on the volcanic rock: a large saltwater pool, lifeguards, steps into the sea, kayaks and paddleboards for hire, and the Manta Diving Centre.
The water below is the Garajau Partial Nature Reserve, set up in 1986, where groupers, barracuda and, at times, manta rays swim; the centre dives its house reef from March to early January. The lido is open to the public, families included, so the clifftop pool and the spa's sea-view saunas are the adults' own. Praia dos Reis Magos, a Blue Flag pebble beach, is 11 minutes' walk.
The room to book
Double Room Cliff Balcony
On floors 0 and -1, very close to the cliff edge, it puts you as near the sea as the hotel goes, with the only true king-size bed among the doubles.
Two heated infinity pools on the cliff terraces, one seawater and one freshwater, above a tidal pool with a lift and steps down to the ocean, plus a children's pool at the Kid's Club for ages 3 to 12.
A clifftop infinity pool on the sunny south-west coast, with a lift and footbridge down to Ponta do Sol's pebble beach, 5 minutes on foot, and Calheta's sand 16 minutes by car.
From about €225 a night
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Very few. Funchal has none: Praia Formosa, west of the Lido, is the island's largest public beach, of pebbles and dark sand. Praia dos Reis Magos at Caniço de Baixo and Ponta do Sol's beach are pebbles too. The golden sand is at Calheta, an artificial beach of 100 metres opened in 2004 with sand from Morocco, busy in summer. That is why the hotels here are chosen for their seawater pools, platforms and ladders into the sea.
Do any hotels in Madeira have a private beach?
No. Beaches in Portugal are public, and none of our ten has a beach of its own. The nearest thing is VidaMar Resort Hotel Madeira's 2,000 m² platform at sea level, with seawater pools and direct access into the sea, kept for hotel guests. The Cliff Bay has its own concrete jetty with ladders below the garden. Sentido Galomar's lifts lead to the Lido Galomar, which belongs to the resort but is open to the public, with steps into the Garajau marine reserve.
Can you swim in the sea in Funchal?
Yes, from ladders, steps and platforms rather than sand. The sea runs from about 17 to 22°C through the year. The Cliff Bay's jetty ladders and VidaMar Resort Hotel Madeira's platform are for calm days, and the public Lido complex, open all year, has three saltwater pools, steps into the sea and lifeguards in the bathing season. On a day with a swell, the seawater pools are the swim, and both hotels have a heated pool as well.
Which Madeira beach hotel is best for families?
VidaMar Resort Hotel Madeira. Its platform has a children's pool of 25 m², 40 cm deep, kept for children, lifeguards and a heated indoor pool with its own children's area, and Aquatica Kids World is free for ages 3 to 11, daily in season. The Premium Family Sea View Room gives children a room of their own. The Cliff Bay has a children's pool at sea level, a playroom and babysitting. Sentido Galomar is for adults, from 16.
Which beach hotel is closest to Madeira Airport?
Sentido Galomar, at Caniço de Baixo, is 12 minutes from the airport by road with the roads clear, against 25 for The Cliff Bay and VidaMar Resort Hotel Madeira in Funchal's Hotel Zone. The trade is the evenings: Funchal's Sé is 16 minutes away by car, or a ride on line 555 from Ponta da Oliveira, while the Hotel Zone has city buses into the centre.
How did you choose these hotels?
Independently, through extensive research, trusted sources and first-hand visits. Hotels cannot pay to be included, and every one of the ten has to exist for a different reason.
The view
