The House

I stayed for 11 nights at The House, and for me it was a perfect base for exploring Funchal and the east of the island. It was close to the centre of Funchal and only 15 minutes walk to the ocean and the main tourist areas. There is a well stocked food shop within a few metres of the house. The house was clean, with lots of space and with good facilities. Maria was a friendly and helpful host who made me very welcome. Maria provided complimentary coffee, fruit, bottled water and bread which was very welcome when I first arrived at night when I had no food. I would highly recommend The House for anybody who wants to stay self catering, and would be happy to stay there again in future.

Almost perfect for me, apart from no views from any windows and the annoying barking of dogs late into the night.

Everything was great. The apartment was very spacious and comfortable in the good location to the centre of Funchal. There is a huge parking close to the apartment.

nothing

Good wifi, decent bed. A convenient location - usually no more than a 15-minute walk to most places you'll want to get to in the city. Spacious flat and nice little semi-outdoor area. They provide a washing machine, which is always welcome. Other than the insect problem I had, and the things that needed to be cleaned in the kitchen, the rest of the flat was clean enough.

This was the most expensive of the week-long stays I've been doing around Europe the last two months, and because of that I have to say it wasn't worth the money. Hairs and dirt in drawers meant I couldn't use them to store my clothes. I had to scrub and clean pretty much everything I wanted to use in the kitchen (cups, plates, glasses, coffee maker) as they hadn't been cleaned beforehand. The worst thing for me was the insect infestation in the kitchen, which meant that I couldn't use the main counter during my stay and resulted in my stay costing more than I budgeted for due to having to eat out more than cook for myself (which is why I paid extra for an entire flat). At first it was ants all over and afterwards either baby ants or a different type of insect. I'm not sure. They're in the photos. I was told that they've never had that problem before. The ants must have come with me then. Due to being in a general state of annoyance for my stay due to that, I started getting annoyed by other things in the place that I'd probably otherwise be more forgiving about. For example, there's a constant bad smell in shower room. I couldn't open the windows there to let air in as there's a dog and its kennel immediately outside that window (less than a metre away) and that smells exactly how you'd expect. The dog walks around the roof throughout the day and night, which can be clearly heard, and it, as well as another dog or two either next door or very close, barks throughout the day and night, so not suitable for light sleepers, in my opinion. They were barking at 4 am on my last night, which woke me up. The place looks very nice on first impression but all of that stuff together clearly made it overpriced. The rating of the place is pretty good so perhaps I got them on a bad week, or perhaps standards have dropped - who knows?

Ever since we booked our apartment ( few months in advance ), we were in contact with Maria, offering her help with everything we would need - that made our trip excellent. Check-in and check-out were 24/7 which was awesome ( we arrived after midnight and left early in the morning, 3 A.M. ). We even had private transport ( extra cost - to be discussed with Maria ) with his brother at those unappropriated hours because of our flights - thanks once again for all the help to both of you. When we arrived, we had bananas, biscuits, chocolate candies and 1 x bottled water - these small touches made us feel like home. The apartment and the other areas were very clean, with everything you needed for a long stay - a lot of storage space, the patio, the "green" room aka the terrace, big rooms, good internet for working ( even though during video calls, the signal was weak from time to time, but manageable ). The location was perfect: safe and very close to the ocean and the rocky beach, supermarket, pharmacies, mall, old town, city center etc. Because almost 3 weeks were not enough for us in Madeira, we will definitely come again and choose the same location, if available.

The location of the property was brilliant. It could be quite noisy in the evening due to the university located close by. The neighbours dogs could get quite loud. I liked that the fact that the owner was contactable by email and arranged transfers for me.