Reid's Palace opened in 1891 on a clifftop promontory at the western edge of Funchal Bay. William Reid, a Scot who had arrived in Madeira in 1836, planned it as a grand hotel but died before it was finished, and his sons opened it as the New Hotel. George Bernard Shaw wintered here in the 1920s, in what is now the Atlantica Suite. Winston Churchill came in January 1950, just after it reopened from near closure in wartime, and stayed under a fortnight, painting the harbour at Câmara de Lobos. Belmond runs it today, with 126 rooms and suites in the original main building and the 1960s Garden Wing, set in about 10 acres of subtropical gardens.
The entry Superior Rooms are 23 to 26 m², each with a furnished balcony over the gardens and a partial sea view. The Deluxe Sea View Rooms, 26 to 31 m², look straight out to sea from a large furnished balcony, and the Family Rooms in the Garden Wing open onto a patio and sleep four. The Deluxe Junior Suites are 37 m², mostly facing the sea, the suites run to 53 m², and at the top sit the two Signature Suites in the main building, the Winston Churchill and, on the seventh floor, the Atlantica. The style is classic rather than new: marble bathrooms, traditional Madeiran decor, high ceilings in the old building.
It is chosen as the island's icon, and the rituals are why. Afternoon tea is served daily on the terrace over the bay, with seatings at 14:30 and 16:30 and a choice of 38 teas. William, named after the founder, has held a MICHELIN star since 2016 and serves two tasting menus, Tuesday to Saturday evenings, facing the coast. Below the gardens, two heated infinity pools over the bay, one seawater and one freshwater, sit on the cliff terraces above a tidal pool at the water's edge, with a lift and steps into the open Atlantic. Guided tours of the gardens and the hotel's history run each week, and the MICHELIN Guide gives the hotel two Keys.
The trade is the price and the rooms at the bottom of the ladder. The entry rooms see the sea only in part, and the shower is over the bath in the rooms and in many suites below the Deluxe Suite. There is no beach, so the sea means the tidal pool and the steps. Funchal's Sé is 24 minutes on foot along the Estrada Monumental, with a gentle climb back, and the hotel runs a free shuttle into the centre. Book it for the terrace, the gardens and a room facing the bay, and take the Deluxe Sea View.
