Hotel Class: 
4 Stars - 37 Opinions
Rua Jose Joaquim Da Costa, Estreito de Camara de Lobos, Funchal, Madeira, 9325-034, Portugal
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of people enjoy staying here
37 Opinions
Funchal - Madeira
not so safe place to walk or play
Restaurant Portao
View from the Cable Car
can anyone tell me if you can drink the tap water?
thanks!
I would not advise drinking tap water in any strange land, even if it's considered safe and good. The reasaon is that your body may not adapt quickly to the local bacteria (all water has bacteria, even if it's "good" bacteria). Getting sick is rare, but why take chances on a trip.
I generally buy bottled water which is usually treated and filtered. If you stay long enough in any place, your body will get used to local tap water.
Enjoy Portugal!
In Europe it is not possible to bottle and sell tap water, no matter if it has been filtered and treated. Water that is sold in bottles is suppossed to be 'mineral water' i.e. to have a content of minerals that is not identical to that of simple tap water. So bottled water may be filtered, but it is certainly not treated with chemicals.
Tap water, instead, is trated either with chlorine or with ozone.
The water in Funchal is normally good, but especially after last weeks flooding and mudslides it may now be contaminated, so I would certainly consider bottles. Unless you are going in 6 months, when everything should be cleared up.
We are going at the end of March to the Pestana Promanade hotel. thankyou for your replies.
From the harbour you have a nice view at the Ponta do Garajau at the east side of the town, forming the eastern end of the bay of Funchal.
At a distance of 30 KM from the coast you can see the Ilhas Desertas, three small rocky islands of together 20 KM. The islands are not inhabited.
They told me, that the local people can forecast the weather in Funchal by looking at the situation at the Ilhas Desertas.
Funchal has now a panoramic balloon that goes up to 150 meters to show visitors a different perspective of the city bay and the surrounding areas.
With capacity for approx. 30 passengers, Madeira’s latest sight seeing attraction also comprises a museum at the station showing the history and traditions of the island, a cafe and a lower floor providing support to sailing, jet skiing, volleyball and windsurf clubs.
The balloon that started operating in June 2004 is already a great success with both locals as well as visitors to Madeira, especially efficient for those who only have a few hours on the island when their cruise liners make a stop in one of the most beautiful port of call in Europe!
The Pico dos Barcelos is a viewpoint about 1km above the hotel zone of Funchal. We stopped here on the way to Nun's Valley for the views over Funchal and the surrounding peaks. A sheer coincidence I have just found out is that one of the photos we took here (shown on intro page for Madeira) shows the home of VT member Salinhopt - what a shame we didn't get to meet :-(
They're very proud, at O Portao, for their good and many reviews they've got from the Internet people. They even printed some of them (they're not from virtualtourist, what a shame!) and showed them under the menu. I thought this was a bit too much, actually.
Apart from this, the reviews are well deserved, in my opinion.
One of the things I appreciated very much is that the waiters don't stay outside on the road trying to catch as many customer as they can, smiling, saying "hola" and trying to force you to have a look at their menu. They have customers even without that, probably thanks to internet.
We had starters, main dishes, wine and water and sweet madeira wine at the end for about 30€ per person.
The food was very good and at the end, together with the bill, they gave us some additional free drink.
Once up in Monte you cannot miss the Basket Ride. You sit in a kind of basket with two men pulling you down the slopes, they then jump on the back of the basket and steer you somehow the rest of the way, exhillerating or what??
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Address: Rua Jose Joaquim Da Costa, Estreito de Camara de Lobos, Funchal, Madeira, 9325-034, Portugal
