The catch at Savoy Palace
Five things sit between the photographs and the stay. The hotel publishes most of them itself, and none outweighs a rooftop infinity pool, a 3,100 m² spa and balconies over Funchal Bay, but each one decides how you plan the days and the evenings.
On our shortlists
The Laurea Spa costs €50 a day per guest, and it is for over-16s only.
The spa is a large part of the case for the hotel: 3,100 m² with 13 treatment rooms, a sauna, a steam room, a Jacuzzi, a halotherapy room, sensory showers, an ice fountain and its own heated indoor pool, open from 10:00 to 20:00. None of it is in the room rate. Daily access to the thermal areas costs €50 per guest, and €70 for visitors from outside. It is free on any day you book a massage or treatment of 60 minutes or more. Nobody under 16 is admitted, so a family swims instead in the free heated indoor pool on floor -1, beside the spa, open from 07:00 to 20:00.
What to do. Book one treatment of an hour or more on the day you want the circuit, and the access comes with it. For a swim under cover without the fee, use the indoor pool on floor -1.
There is no beach: the sea is a platform at the sister Royal Savoy, open from 10:00 to 18:00.
The hotel stands on Avenida do Infante, above the bay rather than on it. Sea swimming is from the maritime platform of the Royal Savoy, the sister hotel next door, about five minutes away through an internal bridge between the two buildings, and the platform is open from 10:00 to 18:00. Everything else is pools: the main pool in the gardens, open from 08:00 to 19:00, a children's pool beside it, the rooftop Galáxia Skypool and the indoor pool on floor -1. The water runs between 23 and 26°C; the indoor pools and the Skypool are heated, and the garden pools follow the weather.
What to do. Plan sea swims inside the platform's hours, and treat the pools as the main water of the stay.
The rooftop Galáxia Skypool is for adults only, and it closes at 18:00.
The heated infinity pool on the 17th floor is the photograph that sells the hotel, and it is open from 09:00 to 18:00, to adults only. It is a daytime pool: sunset belongs to the Galáxia Skybar beside it, not to the water. The second infinity pool on the roof, at the Jacarandá Lounge & Club, belongs to The Reserve, the separate hotel on the top floors, and is open only to its Premium guests, not to a Savoy Palace stay. Families swim in the main pool and the children's pool on the ground floor, free to every guest, and in the heated indoor pool on floor -1.
What to do. Swim on the roof before 18:00 and come back up to the Skybar for sunset. With children, plan the days around the garden pools.
The Sé is 23 minutes away on foot, downhill, so every walk back climbs.
The hotel sits on the west side of central Funchal, between the Parque de Santa Catarina and the hotel strip that runs out to the Lido. The Sé, Funchal's cathedral, is 1.7 km and 23 minutes on foot along the avenue, dropping from about 64 m at the hotel's door to about 30 m in the centre. The Mercado dos Lavradores and the cable car station in the Zona Velha are 29 minutes away. Going into the old town is an easy stroll; coming back is a steady climb, which you feel after a long dinner or a day on the levadas. By taxi the Sé is seven minutes and the market five.
What to do. Walk down and take a taxi back. For dinner you need not go into the centre at all: the street behind the hotel has good tables within eight minutes of the door.
Every restaurant needs a dinner booking, and Galáxia closes on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Six restaurants and three bars keep the evenings in the building, but dinner reservations are required at all of them; at lunch, only Terreiro takes bookings. Galáxia, the restaurant on the roof, serves dinner from 19:00 to 23:00, Wednesday to Sunday, with a smart-elegant dress code that asks men to avoid sleeveless tops, shorts and open shoes, and a €50 per person charge for a no-show or a cancellation less than 24 hours ahead. Alameda, by the pool, closes at 18:00. Il Olivo serves dinner every night from 18:30 to 22:30, and Pau de Lume and Terreiro from 19:00 to 22:30. The restaurants and bars are open to outside diners as well as guests.
What to do. Book Galáxia first, for a Wednesday to Sunday, as soon as your dates are fixed, then the other nights. Pack one smart outfit and closed shoes.
Who should skip it
Anyone who wants to walk from the room onto a beach, anyone who expects the spa in the rate, families whose under-16s want the spa or whose children want the rooftop pool, and anyone looking for a small, quiet hotel where dinner can be decided at seven.
Who should book it anyway
Couples, spa-goers and anyone after winter sun in Funchal without a car. The Galáxia Skypool hangs a heated infinity pool over the bay, the 3,100 m² Laurea Spa has won Portugal's Best Hotel Spa at the World Spa Awards four times, the rooms start at 41 m² with a balcony or a terrace, and six restaurants and three bars run from Galáxia's Madeiran menu on the roof to Pau de Lume's grill. Book a Superior Ocean Room, a treatment of an hour to open the spa, and Galáxia for a midweek night, and the old town is a downhill walk away.
The catch elsewhere in Madeira
- Reid's Palace, A Belmond HotelFunchal
The entry Superior Rooms are 23 to 26 m² with a partial sea view; the full view of the bay starts with the Deluxe Sea View
- The Cliff BayFunchal
Not in the centre: the Sé is a 33-minute walk along a busy road, uphill on the way back, or a bus or taxi
- Barceló Funchal OldtownFunchal
A small, shallow rooftop pool, about 10 by 6 metres, where loungers run short on busy days
- Hotel MadeiraFunchal
Small rooms: a Standard Room is 17 to 20 m², a Standard Balcony Room 16 to 20 m²
- Casa Velha do PalheiroSão Gonçalo
Funchal is a taxi ride, not a walk: the Sé is 18 minutes by car off-peak but about 70 minutes on foot, much of it steep
- VidaMar Resort Hotel MadeiraLido
The outdoor pools are seawater, and guests often find them cold outside high summer; the heated pool is the indoor one
- Sentido GalomarCaniço de Baixo
Half-board dinner is a buffet at the Ondamar restaurant in Sentido Galosol, the resort's other hotel, which takes children
- Hotel Quinta do FurãoSantana
A hire car is close to essential: Santana's centre is a 51-minute walk along the road and Funchal about 50 minutes' drive
- Estalagem da Ponta do SolPonta do Sol
The hotel is layered down a cliff: reaching a room can take a lift, a footbridge and several flights of steps, which is hard work with limited mobility or heavy luggage
Things to do from Savoy Palace
The nearest of the experiences we would book, by car from the hotel.
The food and wineA food and Madeira wine walking tour of Funchal
From €954.8(550)2 min by carWalk there
The west, by jeepWest Madeira by 4x4: Fanal forest, Seixal and the Porto Moniz pools
From €695(650)4 min by carFree pickup
The east, in comfortEast Madeira in a day: Pico do Arieiro, Santana and Ponta de São Lourenço
From €38.704.7(3,900)4 min by carPickup included
Whales, on a big catamaranWhale and dolphin watching from Funchal on a catamaran
From €354.6(7,900)5 min by car
Questions people ask
Good questions about Savoy Palace
What are the downsides of Savoy Palace?
Five things sit between the photographs and the stay. The hotel publishes most of them itself, and none outweighs a rooftop infinity pool, a 3,100 m² spa and balconies over Funchal Bay, but each one decides how you plan the days and the evenings. The Laurea Spa costs €50 a day per guest, and it is for over-16s only. There is no beach: the sea is a platform at the sister Royal Savoy, open from 10:00 to 18:00. The rooftop Galáxia Skypool is for adults only, and it closes at 18:00. The Sé is 23 minutes away on foot, downhill, so every walk back climbs. Every restaurant needs a dinner booking, and Galáxia closes on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Who should not book Savoy Palace?
Anyone who wants to walk from the room onto a beach, anyone who expects the spa in the rate, families whose under-16s want the spa or whose children want the rooftop pool, and anyone looking for a small, quiet hotel where dinner can be decided at seven.
Our verdict
A big, polished city resort with a rooftop pool for adults and a spa of real size, a walk from the old centre of Funchal. Check availability for the Superior Ocean Room.
Last checked: October 2026