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Best hotels with a view in Madeira

The Cliff Bay's Funchal Bay View rooms face across the harbour to the city on its hills. Reid's Palace, A Belmond Hotel faces the bay full on from its Deluxe Sea View balconies. Every room at VidaMar Resort Hotel Madeira sees the sea; Estalagem da Ponta do Sol faces the Atlantic from a south-west cliff.

4 of our ten · Hand-pickedHotels cannot pay to be hereLast checked: October 2026

9.4/10

4,200+ Expedia guest reviews of the 8 hotels we list

Average of the guest scores Expedia publishes, weighted by review count; read 30 October 2026.

At a glance

  1. The Cliff Bay: Palms and lawns above the open Atlantic

    The Cliff Bay

    Balconies across the harbour to Funchal climbing its hills

    Funchal · From about €385 a night

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  2. Reid's Palace, A Belmond Hotel: Reid's Palace on its cliff above the bay

    Reid's Palace, A Belmond Hotel

    Deluxe Sea View balconies facing Funchal Bay full on

    Funchal · From about €825 a night

    See prices on
  3. VidaMar Resort Hotel Madeira: Seawater pools on the platform above the Atlantic

    VidaMar Resort Hotel Madeira

    A sea view from every room, over the gardens and the platform

    Lido · From about €355 a night

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  4. Estalagem da Ponta do Sol: The infinity pool on the clifftop

    Estalagem da Ponta do Sol

    Clifftop Atlantic views above a village on the sunny south-west coast

    Ponta do Sol · From about €225 a night

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What we looked for

Funchal climbs from its bay like an amphitheatre, and the hotels on the cliffs west of the centre look back at it. That gives two kinds of view. Turn east and you see Funchal Bay: the harbour, the breakwater and the city rising up its hills. Turn south or south-west and it is the open Atlantic, with nothing between you and the horizon. Both are good, and The Cliff Bay sells rooms facing each way.

In the Hotel Zone the rooms on each ladder are often much the same size, so the price steps are really a choice of which way the balcony faces, and the entry rooms tend to face the gardens or the drive. Book the category named for the view, not the cheapest room with a glimpse. For sun, look west: Ponta do Sol is known for the most hours of sunshine on the island, and the Estalagem's lounge bar has a terrace for the sunset.

The Cliff Bay: Palms and lawns above the open AtlanticThe view

1 / 4

The Cliff Bay

Funchal, Madeira

The Cliff Bay rises from its own promontory, the rooms stacked in one tall block over a garden of old palms that drops in terraces to the water. Below the suites, every room bar the 42 m² family rooms is about 30 to 36 m² with a balcony, so the price ladder is really a choice of direction. The Funchal Bay View rooms look across the bay to the harbour, the breakwater and the city climbing its hills, with Reid's Palace, A Belmond Hotel on the next headland. The Sea View rooms face the open Atlantic instead.

The view carries on below the room: the palms, the saltwater pool at sea level and, in season, a massage gazebo over the bay by the spa. For height, the Superior Upper Floors Funchal Bay View rooms, on the 6th to 10th floors, see more of the city over the hotel towers to the east.

Funchal Bay View at The Cliff Bay, by PortoBay: twin beds made up as one, a sofa and armchair, and a balcony with wicker chairs looking across the harbour to Funchal on its hillside

The room to book

Funchal Bay View

about 30 to 36 m²€499 a night

The same room as the entry Standard, but its balcony turns from the entrance gardens to the harbour and the city, the view the hotel is built around.

Every room, and why

Ask for the 4th or 5th floor for the widest view over the harbour, or book the Superior Upper Floors Funchal Bay View to go higher.

€€€From about €385 a night

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Reid's Palace, A Belmond Hotel: Reid's Palace on its cliff above the bayThe icon

2 / 4

Reid's Palace, A Belmond Hotel

Funchal, Madeira

Reid's Palace, A Belmond Hotel has held its cliff at the western edge of Funchal Bay since 1891, and the best of it faces the water. The Deluxe Sea View rooms, 26 to 31 m², give you the bay full on from a large furnished balcony, and the suites above them mostly face the sea too, up to the Atlantica Suite on the seventh floor of the main building.

The view is part of the day as well as the room. Afternoon tea is served on the terrace above the bay, at 14:30 or 16:30. William, starred since 2016, serves its tasting menus behind full-length windows over the coast. Below the 10 or so acres of subtropical gardens, the two heated infinity pools sit on the cliff terraces with their edges over the bay.

Deluxe Sea View Room at Reid's Palace, A Belmond Hotel: a large bed with a floral headboard facing open doors to a furnished balcony over the sea

The room to book

Deluxe Sea View Room

about 26 to 31 m²€974 a night

The cheapest way to have the bay full on: a larger balcony facing the sea, where the entry Superior looks over the gardens to only part of it.

Every room, and why

Book afternoon tea on the terrace early, and ask for a Deluxe Sea View with a separate walk-in shower, which some of them have.

€€€€From about €825 a night

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VidaMar Resort Hotel Madeira: Seawater pools on the platform above the AtlanticThe family one

3 / 4

VidaMar Resort Hotel Madeira

Lido, Madeira

Every one of VidaMar's 300 rooms has a balcony or terrace and a view of the sea, straight ahead in most categories and from the side in two, which makes it the easiest hotel here to book for the water. The two towers stand on the cliff at the Lido end of the Hotel Zone, and the balconies look down over the palm gardens to the 2,000 m² platform at sea level and its seawater pools, then out to open ocean.

Guests find the sea views best higher up, so ask about the floor as well as the category. For something special, the Terrace Junior Suite Sea View, on the third floor of Tower 1, has a large patio set up with two loungers and an umbrella in place of a balcony, and the Master Suite Sea View on the top floor has a large double balcony on the sea.

Superior Sea View at VidaMar Resort Hotel Madeira: a large bed, a desk, a sofa and an armchair, with a glass wall to the balcony and the sea beyond

The room to book

Superior Sea View

about 39 m²€353 a night

The sea straight ahead from the balcony rather than from the side, in a 39 m² room with a sofa and room for up to four.

Every room, and why

Ask for a higher floor when you book; the sea views are widest from the top of the towers.

€€€From about €355 a night

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Estalagem da Ponta do Sol: The infinity pool on the clifftopThe design one

4 / 4

Estalagem da Ponta do Sol

Ponta do Sol, Madeira

Estalagem da Ponta do Sol steps down the rock above Ponta do Sol, on the south-west coast, and the design is built to send your eye outside. The rooms are spare on purpose, white walls and black stone floors, with big panoramic windows, so the view does the decorating. The Sea View rooms look out over the cliff to the Atlantic; the Garden View rooms see the lawns, the village's red roofs and the banana terraces on the hills opposite.

The shared spaces face the water too. On the clifftop sun deck, the infinity pool's edge seems to run straight into the ocean along the south coast. Kabo, the poolside bar, takes in the sea through 180 degrees, the glass-walled restaurant looks over the ocean and the village, and the lounge bar's terrace is the place for sunset.

Estalagem Double Sea View at Estalagem da Ponta do Sol: twin beds with striped throws beside floor-to-ceiling glass doors to a balcony over the sea

The room to book

Estalagem Double Sea View

about 18 m²€262 a night

Inside it is the same room as the Garden View, so the balcony over the Atlantic is the whole of the upgrade, and the reason to book here.

Every room, and why

Take a drink to the lounge bar terrace before dinner for the sunset over the south-west coast.

€€From about €225 a night

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How to choose

Your tripBook
You want the harbour and city lightsThe Cliff Bay
You want the bay with afternoon teaReid's Palace, A Belmond Hotel
You want a sea view whichever room you getVidaMar Resort Hotel Madeira
You are a family who wants the sea from the balconyVidaMar Resort Hotel Madeira
You want sunsets and a quiet village belowEstalagem da Ponta do Sol

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Questions people ask

Good questions about Madeira

Where should I stay in Madeira for a sea view?

On the cliffs of Funchal's Hotel Zone, west of the centre, if you want the bay and the city in the view: The Cliff Bay and Reid's Palace, A Belmond Hotel both look back across Funchal Bay, and every room at VidaMar Resort Hotel Madeira has a view of the sea. For open Atlantic, sunsets and a village rather than a city, Estalagem da Ponta do Sol sits on a cliff on the south-west coast, 28 minutes from Funchal's Sé by car.

How much more does a sea-view room cost in Madeira?

Less than you might expect at the smaller steps. For a night on Tuesday 8 June 2027, for two with breakfast, Estalagem da Ponta do Sol's Sea View was €262 against €226 for the Garden View. At The Cliff Bay the Funchal Bay View was €499, €26 more than the Sea View and about €115 more than the Standard. At Reid's Palace, A Belmond Hotel, the Deluxe Sea View was €974, €150 over the Superior Room.

Which Funchal hotel rooms look over the bay and the harbour?

At The Cliff Bay, book a Funchal Bay View room, on the 1st to 5th floors, or the Superior Upper Floors Funchal Bay View, on the 6th to 10th, for the harbour and the city climbing its hills. The Sea View rooms there face the open Atlantic instead. At Reid's Palace, A Belmond Hotel, the Deluxe Sea View rooms face the bay full on, while the entry Superior Rooms have only a partial view of the sea.

Can you watch the New Year's Eve fireworks from a hotel in Funchal?

The fireworks go up over Funchal Bay on New Year's Eve, during festivities that run from 1 December to 10 January. At VidaMar Resort Hotel Madeira, the rooftop view of the fireworks is for guests on the hotel's Gala Dinner package, so book that package if the view is the plan. At The Cliff Bay and Reid's Palace, A Belmond Hotel, Christmas and New Year are the dearest nights of the year, so book early and read the cancellation terms.

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.

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Prices are a guide from our last check, not live rates.