The Cliff Bay is the five-star flagship of PortoBay, a Madeiran hotel group, on Estrada Monumental, the road of hotels that runs west from the centre of Funchal. It opened in 1994 on a natural promontory: a tall block of rooms above a terraced garden of old palms that falls away to the sea. It has 200 rooms, and in 2021 reception, the lobby and the restaurant Il Gallo d'Oro were refurbished.
The rooms are generous for a resort, 30 to 36 m² in the standard and sea-view categories and 42 m² in the family rooms, with carpeted floors, a balcony and Rituals bath products, and a Nespresso machine in all but the family rooms. What the money buys is the direction the balcony faces. The entry Standard rooms, on the 4th to 7th floors, look over the gardens at the entrance, not the sea. Sea View rooms face south or south-west over the open Atlantic; Funchal Bay View rooms look across the harbour to the city climbing its hills. The Superior Upper Floors categories, from the 6th floor up, add fruit and wine on arrival and free soft drinks in the minibar. The suites run from the 40 m² Junior Suite to the 112 m² Peninsula Suite on the 9th floor, with a dining room and two bathrooms.
The view does not stop at the balcony. Below the garden, at sea level, are a saltwater pool kept at about 21°C, a children's pool, an outdoor hot tub and the Blue Lagoon restaurant for lunch, and from a concrete jetty, ladders lead straight into the Atlantic, with snorkelling and diving arranged at reception. A heated indoor-outdoor pool sits beside the spa, which has eight treatment rooms and, in season, a gazebo for massages over the bay. Il Gallo d'Oro, where Benoît Sinthon has cooked since 2004 and which has held two MICHELIN stars since 2017, is closed for renovation, with no reopening date published; when it is open, it serves dinner from Tuesday to Saturday, with a terrace over the sea. Until then, dinner is at the Rose Garden, with a menu that changes daily.
The trade is distance and sand. The Sé is a 33-minute walk along the busy Estrada Monumental, with a climb on the way back, though city buses stop at the gate. There is no beach: sea swimming depends on the weather, and the nearest beach, the pebbles of Praia Formosa, is a 9-minute drive. Parking costs €10 to €15 a day. Book it for a week of sea swims, long breakfasts and evenings on the balcony, with Funchal close enough to visit and far enough to leave.
