- Madeira Holidays
- Funchal
- Vidamar Resorts Madeira
The Vidamar Resorts Madeira is a glittering jewel of a hotel – its clean and contemporary fascia and décor give it a very prestigious look and feel. Situated on the West side of Funchal, the island's capital, it gives easy access to the fabulous city, and from there, the Old Town in the East – where you'll find so many of the city's best attractions. As you would expect of one of Madeira's foremost hotels, picturesque ocean views are abundant. Just step into the beautiful hotel gardens and you can look straight out to sea.
Funchal looks like one of the world's foremost garden paradises – and it's well within reach of us Europeans. So isn't it wonderful that hotels like the Vidamar Resorts Madeira manage to maintain such impossibly high standards? One might think it would be impossible to match those views, or that staying in any hotel would feel like shutting yourself from all the beauty out there. That's certainly not the case at the Vidamar Resorts Madeira.
This is a light, airy and open hotel and totally given over to your comfort. Rooms are truly luxurious and have private bathrooms, as well as fabulous balconies overlooking the gardens and the ocean. Featuring cable TV, phone, refrigerator and more, you'll have all the facilities you need.
Holidaymakers to Madeira will certainly have ample opportunities to swim – and the Vidamar Resorts Madeira provides some of the best. You can choose from a superb indoor pool and a dazzling array of three outdoor pools, as well as the amazing Mar Sea Spa Thalasso facility. Not to mention the ocean itself –- easily accessed from the hotel.
Sporty types are similarly well catered for with a variety of seasonal watersports activities, squash, a multipurpose sports field and fitness centre. The hotel also provides a Teen's club, providing a wide range of activities including computer games, volleyball and more. Guests are also entitled to discounted rates at both Golf Courses (available locally) with transfers (subject to availability).
The Vidamar Resorts Madeira a five star hotel in a five star location. Your stay there will be luxurious, laidback and full of that special kind of Madeira magic. Half Board Dine Around offers a range of dining options & allows guests to sample a variety of cuisines at a selection of restaurants.
The Earlier you book the more you save! Save up to 10% on your hotel stay.
Valid for stays 01/05/2027 - 31/10/2027, if booked before 31/01/2027.
Combinable with Room Upgrade offer.
Book Seaview Room receive free upgrade to Superior Front Seaview Room.
Valid for stays between 01/10/2027 - 15/10/2027
Only applicable for stays of 14 nights or more.
The VIDAMAR Resort Madeira is a glittering jewel of a hotel. Its clean, contemporary fascia and décor give it a very prestigious look and ocean views are abundant from the hotels grounds.
Situated to the west of Funchal, it gives easy access to the fabulous city. Dine Around offers a range of dining options & allows guests to sample a variety of cuisines at a selection of restaurants.
⭐ 1 NIGHT OUT OF 7 — WE LEFT AND MOVED TO ANOTHER HOTEL
Booked through Broadway Travel — and one of our biggest holiday mistakes of hotel choice.
We arrived expecting a 5-star hotel and instead found ourselves next to a major building site, complete with a huge crane towering over the hotel. Not exactly the view you picture when booking a 5-star holiday.
Quite honestly, I struggle to understand how this hotel has been awarded a 5-star rating. We have stayed in many hotels over the years, and this is without doubt one of the most poorly designed and confusing hotels we have experienced.
There is very little signage, so finding your way around is something of an adventure. To reach the outdoor pool area, you walk along corridors, take a couple of lifts and basically hope that you are heading towards the sea rather than somewhere completely different. Perhaps they consider this part of the entertainment.
Our room was supposedly an upgrade. If this was an upgrade, I would hate to see the standard rooms.
The balcony sliding door was so difficult to open that it required two people to operate it. The room itself looked tired and dated, with various pieces of furniture that had clearly seen better days — including a drawer that was almost falling off its runners.
The safe battery was completely dead, although an engineer did replace it, so credit where it is due. There was also a distinct shortage of conveniently positioned electrical sockets.
Then there was the bathroom.
At some point in the hotel’s history, someone decided that a hydro bath would be a wonderful addition. Unfortunately, nobody appears to have told them that it might be a good idea to remove it once it stopped working. Instead, it remains sitting there looking rather like a museum exhibit, held together with what appears to be liberal amounts of silicone.
The shower and shampoo dispenser are positioned in such an inaccessible place that you actually have to stand up in the bath to reach them. And, of course, there is no separate shower cubicle.
THE DINING ROOM
Calling it a 5-star dining room would, in my opinion, be rather generous. It has much more of a canteen atmosphere.
There appears to be little or no dress code, with the majority of men turning up for dinner in shorts and T-shirts. Personally, I would expect a 5-star hotel to make at least some effort to create an appropriate evening dining environment.
And then there was the service.
We finished our main course, yet our dirty plates remained on the table for the rest of the meal. In fact, they were still there when we left.
Perhaps this is the hotel’s interpretation of 5-star table service.
BREAKFAST
Breakfast didn’t exactly improve matters.
Poor coffee, tough bacon and food that was barely warm certainly wasn’t what we expected from a hotel advertising itself as 5-star.
Unfortunately, judging by what we experienced, this seems to be regarded as normal.
OUR VERDICT
We had booked seven nights.
We lasted one.
After our first night we decided that we simply could not spend the remaining six nights here and moved to another hotel.
The building site, dated room, bizarre bathroom, confusing layout, lack of signage, poor dining experience and questionable service would all be disappointing individually. Put them together, and it is very difficult to see where the 5-star experience is supposed to be.
Perhaps the biggest attraction of this hotel is its 5-star rating — because unfortunately, that is where the 5-star experience seems to end.
Our second visit. We picked the hotel due to the location - a 30/40 minute walk down into Funchal with good bus links. Also for the swimming pools which also have access to the sea and there are always enough sunbeds and umbrellas for all. We had booked a superior sea view room ( which we had previously) and we're told we had an upgrade but it really wasn't. It was a family room I later discovered which meant there was extra hanging space but no sofa or chairs. By the time I realised this it wasn't worth hassle of complaining. The room was comfortable enough though the safe and air con needed us to request someone to fix them which happened quickly enough. The buffet breakfast was fine but durj G the evening it was a bit hit and miss. Fortunately we paid less for half board than bed and breakfast so it eant an issue. The dine around option helped although the pizza restaurant was also very basic. It's a bit of a "hotel box" with little atmosphere but if you only want somewhere to sleep and good pools then it's fine especially if you get a good package holiday deal. I would stay again but don't expect 5 star
Why are there so many negative reviews on this amazing Vidamar Hotel in Madeira, this Hotel is so lovely we are returning next year, our sea view room was very clean and comfortable, the pools outside well maintained with there own life guards and you can jump in the sea, and swim to the raft, as for the food so much to choose from, Chef and all his catering staff amazing, food was lush, Reception staff were very helpful and polite, bar staff amazing to, very friendly and as for the housekeepers they worked hard every day, didn't matter what time of day they were around being very busy, sleeping with the sliding doors open and the mosquito net closed the sound of the sea absolutely lush.
We loved this hotel. Amenities great, location fab and staff amazing. We liked the fact its a big airy hotel with high ceilings and marble clean floors. The food was delicious and the restaurant staff were so friendly and helpful. Would definitely recommend.
Lovely hotel, recommended by family. Delicious breakfast with a wide range of food ro choose from. Pool bar food and drinks delicious - especially sangria & pina colada. Breath taking views from sun loungers, with the option of sea swimming close by. Lots of lovely restaurants close to the restaurant to eat in. Bedroom with Seaview was perfect- with chocolates & wine on arrival. Nice touch. Bottled water left every morning when rooms were cleaned. Madeira is a beautiful place to visit. Also use the Bolt app for ordering taxis - you get discount for first 2 journeys and arrive quicker than uber.
