Quiet in Madeira is mostly a question of where you sleep. Funchal's Zona Velha has a nightlife the tourist board counts among the island's attractions, and Estrada Monumental, the road of hotels out to the Lido, is busy for most of its length. The calm is on the hillsides and the cliffs: São Gonçalo, about 500 metres above the bay; Santana on the green north coast; Caniço de Baixo on its marine reserve; and Ponta do Sol, a village in a cove on the south-west coast.
The trade is the evening. From most of these five, Funchal is a drive or a bus ride rather than a stroll, so decide first whether you want to eat in or go out. With a car and a taste for long dinners at home, head for the hills; without one, the coast keeps the bus, the airport and a village table close.
Casa Velha do Palheiro has just 37 rooms, on a wooded estate high on the hill east of Funchal, about 500 metres above the sea, with the Palheiro Gardens to one side and the pines of Palheiro Golf to the other. The city's traffic is far below, nights here are still, and a nature trail winds through the estate's 150 hectares.
Evenings are unhurried by design. The tea house in the gardens closes at 5pm, and after dark the one table on the estate is Oxalis, listed by the MICHELIN Guide, serving dinner from 7pm to 10pm. Days go on the tiled garden pool, the indoor spa pool heated to 27 to 30°C, yoga in the garden pavilion and the trails. Funchal is a taxi ride below, and the airport is 20 minutes away.
The room to book
Double Golf Wing
about 32 m²€409 a night
In the two-storey Golf Wing, with floor-length rear windows across the back lawn to glimpses of the golf course, and some rooms with a semi-private patio.
Hotel Quinta do Furão stands on the cliff at Achada do Gramacho, 3.1 km north of Santana's centre, with two hectares of vines on one side and the Atlantic below on the other. Its 65 rooms share a five-hectare estate, and nothing much lies beyond the gardens and the quinta's own miradouro along the north-coast cliffs.
The evenings are the fireside kind. Dinner is by the restaurant's two big fireplaces or on its sheltered veranda, then a game of billiards by the fire in the pub, or a glass of Malmsey, Bual, Verdelho or Sercial in the wine cellar. Days start early on the trails, with the Caldeirão Verde levada 15 minutes' drive away and the path up Pico Ruivo 26, and end in the indoor pool, the jacuzzi and the sauna.
The room to book
Premium Room
about 27 m²€295 a night
27 m² with a balcony on both the sea and the mountains, so the view you wake to is the north coast rather than the garden.
Reid's Palace, A Belmond Hotel is the quiet way to stay in Funchal itself. Its promontory closes off the western end of the bay, and once through the gates you are among 10 or so acres of subtropical gardens, with the road left behind and the pools and the sea below the main building.
The pace is set by the rituals: afternoon tea on the terrace over the bay at 14:30 or 16:30, a guided garden tour, a swim in the heated seawater pool above the tidal pool and the steps into the Atlantic, then dinner at William, starred since 2016, from Tuesday to Saturday. The Maré Spa has a sauna and a steam room. When you do want the city, the Sé is 24 minutes on foot, or take the free shuttle.
The room to book
Deluxe Sea View Room
about 26 to 31 m²€974 a night
Its large furnished balcony faces Funchal Bay full on, the place for a quiet breakfast or a drink at dusk, where the Superior looks over the gardens to a partial view.
Sentido Galomar keeps one building of Galo Resort, on the cliff at Caniço de Baixo, for adults from 16: 77 rooms, every one with a balcony or terrace and blackout curtains. Guests also have the clifftop seawater pool of about 100 m², with only the Atlantic beyond it, the terraces and solarium, and the Ashoka spa, where the Finnish and bio saunas have windows on the sea.
Breakfast, the one meal kept for Galomar's guests, is at the Atlantis, set into the cliff above the water. Lifts go down to the Lido Galomar, shared with the public, for steps into the Garajau reserve. When the lido is busy, the clifftop pool and the saunas stay calm, and the airport is only 12 minutes away.
The room to book
Double Room Sea View Balcony
€261 a night
The balcony faces the open Atlantic, so the evening view is sea and sky rather than the garden on the west side.
Estalagem da Ponta do Sol sits on the rock at the eastern end of Ponta do Sol's seafront, on the sunny south-west coast, 28 minutes' drive from Funchal. Its 54 rooms are each sold for two adults with no children, and the mood is a quiet clifftop with a spa and a lounge bar.
The calm comes with the design: monochrome rooms with big panoramic windows, an infinity pool on the clifftop facing the sea, and, at no charge to guests, an indoor pool, a panoramic jacuzzi, a sauna and a steam bath. Evenings mean the lounge bar's terrace for the sunset and its two fireplaces in winter. When you want company, the lift and footbridge drop you into Ponta do Sol, with five places to eat within 5 minutes on foot.
The room to book
Estalagem Double Sea View
about 18 m²€262 a night
The same 18 m² room as the Garden View, with the balcony turned to the Atlantic instead of the village and the hills.
Away from central Funchal. São Gonçalo, the hillside east of the city about 500 metres up, is gardens and golf country, where Casa Velha do Palheiro sits on a wooded 150-hectare estate. Santana on the north coast is the place for walkers, with Hotel Quinta do Furão on a clifftop vineyard 3.1 km from the town. On the coast, Caniço de Baixo is a clifftop resort strip on a marine reserve, home to the adults-only Sentido Galomar, and Ponta do Sol is a village in a cove on the sunny south-west coast, below Estalagem da Ponta do Sol.
Is the Zona Velha in Funchal noisy at night?
It is Funchal's liveliest quarter after dark: the old town where the city began, with cobbled lanes, the painted doors of Rua de Santa Maria and a nightlife the tourist board counts among the island's major attractions. That makes it a fine evening out and a lively place to sleep. For quiet with Funchal close by, Reid's Palace, A Belmond Hotel keeps about 10 acres of gardens behind its gates on the western cliff, with a free shuttle into the centre, and Casa Velha do Palheiro is 15 minutes above the Zona Velha's cable car station by road.
Are there adults-only hotels in Madeira?
Sentido Galomar at Caniço de Baixo is adults-only from 16: the building, its clifftop seawater pool, the terraces and the Ashoka spa's sea-view saunas are kept for adults, while half-board dinner and the lido below are shared with the rest of the resort. Estalagem da Ponta do Sol is not labelled adults-only, but both of its doubles are sold for two adults and no children, and babies are not accepted, so in practice it is a hotel for couples and solo travellers.
Can I have a quiet stay in Madeira without a car?
Yes, on the coast. Sentido Galomar is 12 minutes from the airport, and line 555 runs from Ponta da Oliveira into Funchal. Reid's Palace, A Belmond Hotel is 24 minutes on foot from the Sé, with a free shuttle into the centre. At Estalagem da Ponta do Sol the lift drops you into the village, with places to eat within 5 minutes on foot, and lines 320 to 323 link Ponta do Sol with Funchal. Casa Velha do Palheiro and Hotel Quinta do Furão are the two where a hire car makes the stay.
Is there a quiet hotel in Funchal itself?
Reid's Palace, A Belmond Hotel is the pick on this list for the city itself. Its cliff closes off the western end of Funchal Bay, and behind the gates lie 10 or so acres of subtropical gardens, away from the road, with two heated pools on the cliff and a tidal pool below. The Sé is 24 minutes on foot, with a free shuttle into the centre. Casa Velha do Palheiro is in Funchal's eastern hillside parish, about 500 metres up and a taxi ride from 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 hideaway
