Anyone been to this place in Madeira?
07 September 2011, 12:52 AM
#1
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Anyone been to this place in Madeira?
07 September 2011, 07:42 AM
#3
Me and the mrs had our honeymoon just round the corner nearer the port ..... as said before, lots of old people! so night life isnt exactly thumping!
Scenery in land is awesome, we hired a yaris for a few days and gave it death on the mountain roads! loads to see in land and funchal isnt bad either for a few days!
No sandy beaches though so if your after a holiday of loafing in the sun, do the canaries instead!
The portugese temprement is a bit firey so the locals come across as quite arrogant.
The food .... alright but not amazing!
Madeira wine ..... gooooooood!
Scenery in land is awesome, we hired a yaris for a few days and gave it death on the mountain roads! loads to see in land and funchal isnt bad either for a few days!
No sandy beaches though so if your after a holiday of loafing in the sun, do the canaries instead!
The portugese temprement is a bit firey so the locals come across as quite arrogant.
The food .... alright but not amazing!
Madeira wine ..... gooooooood!
07 September 2011, 08:20 AM
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Ditto, went there for our honeymoon.
Ditto, lots of old people, but because of this we found everyone (including the locals) to be polite, easy going etc.
We stayed just outside Ponta do sol, nice walk into town (including a Ferrari garage).
Wine is amazing (and cheap), and if there are two things you HAVE to try while you're out there, its the Scabbard fish (which they serve with banana - amazing) and Poncha - the local liquer. Oh, and do the wicker taboggan run ;-)
Bad points... alot of numpties selling time share (we found pretending to argue as we walked past them worked a treat), mountian roads are suicidal at times.
It's not the place for clubbing/drinking lots etc but there's some beautiful places to see like Nuns Valley.
Unfortunately severe turbulance and a 'trainee' pilot leaving Funchal has now made me scared of flying, but otherwise, i'd happily go back.
Ditto, lots of old people, but because of this we found everyone (including the locals) to be polite, easy going etc.
We stayed just outside Ponta do sol, nice walk into town (including a Ferrari garage).
Wine is amazing (and cheap), and if there are two things you HAVE to try while you're out there, its the Scabbard fish (which they serve with banana - amazing) and Poncha - the local liquer. Oh, and do the wicker taboggan run ;-)
Bad points... alot of numpties selling time share (we found pretending to argue as we walked past them worked a treat), mountian roads are suicidal at times.
It's not the place for clubbing/drinking lots etc but there's some beautiful places to see like Nuns Valley.
Unfortunately severe turbulance and a 'trainee' pilot leaving Funchal has now made me scared of flying, but otherwise, i'd happily go back.
07 September 2011, 08:34 AM
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Spent a week in Madeira with the mrs a couple of years ago.
Funchal is a nice city, everything is clean and tidy, no litter or graffiti anywhere. The locals take pride in their island not being a chav-hole like most places in the Med. I found them very welcoming and not arrogant too.
We split our time with 3 nights up in the mountains at http://www.eiradoserrado.com - awesome location and stupidly cheap at about £40 a night per room. Car needed though! This was the view from our balcony http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photo...31591_1299.jpg. The island is stunning, get a car and travel round it, amazing mountains and roads. Some of the roads easily go above the clouds which is fun driving through.
Not stayed in that hotel you linked to, but its quite far out of town along the coast so a taxi job into Funchal. We stayed at the Casino Park Hotel which is 5 mins walk to town so nice in the evening to stroll in to get to restaurants and bars. Less old people here than I was expecting too! Maybe its because of the attached Casino, that scares them off a bit
Funchal is a nice city, everything is clean and tidy, no litter or graffiti anywhere. The locals take pride in their island not being a chav-hole like most places in the Med. I found them very welcoming and not arrogant too.
We split our time with 3 nights up in the mountains at http://www.eiradoserrado.com - awesome location and stupidly cheap at about £40 a night per room. Car needed though! This was the view from our balcony http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photo...31591_1299.jpg. The island is stunning, get a car and travel round it, amazing mountains and roads. Some of the roads easily go above the clouds which is fun driving through.
Not stayed in that hotel you linked to, but its quite far out of town along the coast so a taxi job into Funchal. We stayed at the Casino Park Hotel which is 5 mins walk to town so nice in the evening to stroll in to get to restaurants and bars. Less old people here than I was expecting too! Maybe its because of the attached Casino, that scares them off a bit
07 September 2011, 08:37 AM
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Agreed, get a one-way ticket up the cable car from Funchal up to Monte, then the basket ride down.
Their airport is nuts isn't it, i remember our pilot backing the place up to the end of the runway so the tail was almost hanging over the sea, then coming on the radio to say 'this place is one of the few airports where we have to take off at full throttle, so don't worry if the plane makes a few disturbing rattling noises, it'll be fine'
07 September 2011, 08:43 AM
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Their airport is nuts isn't it, i remember our pilot backing the place up to the end of the runway so the tail was almost hanging over the sea, then coming on the radio to say 'this place is one of the few airports where we have to take off at full throttle, so don't worry if the plane makes a few disturbing rattling noises, it'll be fine'
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07 September 2011, 08:44 AM
#8
"Scabbard fish (which they serve with banana - amazing)"
Agreed .... well tasty!
"and do the wicker taboggan run ;-)"
Also agreed ..... awesome fun! swear our two pilots were hammered though!
"mountian roads are suicidal at times."
haha ... yes, wasnt great for the mrs whos petrified of heights! But in a 1 litre yaris it was ace fun at times! loads of hairpins! the road up to the summit is epic!
"Nuns Valley."
Agreed!
"Unfortunately severe turbulance and a 'trainee' pilot leaving Funchal has now made me scared of flying, but otherwise, i'd happily go back."
Leaving funchal is fine, its arriving thats the problem! haha .... a week before we went we accidentally saw a programme called "worlds scaryest airports" (or something along those lines) and Funchal was on it due to the drop into the sea at the end!
We also did a day out on an old gallion type pirate ship called the santa maria. Was nice and chilled day out.
Agreed .... well tasty!
"and do the wicker taboggan run ;-)"
Also agreed ..... awesome fun! swear our two pilots were hammered though!
"mountian roads are suicidal at times."
haha ... yes, wasnt great for the mrs whos petrified of heights! But in a 1 litre yaris it was ace fun at times! loads of hairpins! the road up to the summit is epic!
"Nuns Valley."
Agreed!
"Unfortunately severe turbulance and a 'trainee' pilot leaving Funchal has now made me scared of flying, but otherwise, i'd happily go back."
Leaving funchal is fine, its arriving thats the problem! haha .... a week before we went we accidentally saw a programme called "worlds scaryest airports" (or something along those lines) and Funchal was on it due to the drop into the sea at the end!
We also did a day out on an old gallion type pirate ship called the santa maria. Was nice and chilled day out.
07 September 2011, 08:49 AM
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Also been. Really enjoyed it, we went for new years a few years back. They put on a huge fireworks display and the QE2 and various other ships were in port for the event.
I will defo go back.
The only thing to be aware of is your flight can sometimes divert due to winds or low viz so be aware of that.
I will defo go back.
The only thing to be aware of is your flight can sometimes divert due to winds or low viz so be aware of that.
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