Palheiro Village Resort

The view from the apartment was wonderful, especially to watch the sunset on the balcony. The quality of the meals and view from the Golf Course restaurant was amazing!

The resort felt dated, the gym was tiny and a long way away from the accommodation which was disappointing- the pool here was dry. The games room was old too. The apartment was a good size but there was no tea or coffee or washing sachets provided or shampoo etc which for accommodation of this price you would expect. The maids turned up unexpectedly 3 days into our stay to clean our room.

Location Staff very helpful (specifically Mrs. Cristina and other)

Nothing

Palheiro village, perched around 500 metres above Funchal, is more than just an exclusive holiday village. In addition to a variety of high-quality self-catering units, there’s a golf course and club house, extensive gardens, stylish hotel with spa and garden tea house, and communal pool. Our generously spacious, quiet, immaculately spotless, smart two-bedroomed apartment, with its fast broadband and effective a/c, was excellently equipped, with its large terrace with spectacular vistas overlooking the sea and Funchal. It was serviced halfway through our seven-day stay, and housekeeping is exemplary. A car is desirable, if not essential, if you don’t want to feel too isolated and reliant on buses or taxis, as Funchal is about four miles away, and there isn’t a grocery store at Palheiro itself. We were staying close by the Forum, where the swimming pool and estate office are, about an eight-minute walk down the steep road to the main road (and bus stop), 20 minutes steep uphill walk to the club house and its excellent Balancal restaurant, and a further 15 from there to the Casa Velha Hotel. By car, these places are a few minutes away, but a fairly strenuous walk otherwise. Apparently, there’s a shuttle service on the estate which can be pre-booked, though we were happy to walk. All the estate staff are fabulous, helpful and friendly, making Palheiro something of a special place. A few things can be improved, though these don’t significantly impact on my 5-star review. Check-in instructions were vague. We arrived on a Sunday, and although e-mailing ahead for instructions, we had to make phone calls once we arrived in order to find out where check-in was. This needs to be sorted out. Despite the well-equipped apartment, the TV was old technology. Guests expect a smart TV in quality accommodation. And what use is a DVD player? There’s a useful information folder, but a map of Funchal, and perhaps some other touristy leaflets, would have been welcome. Despite these minor niggles, it's a fabulous place.

Beautiful setting. Staff was very helpful and directed us to the best rental car service we found in Portugal. It was the only rental car service we found that didn't run an insurance scam (travelers be wary of renting a car through a secondary vendor!), even a direct rental company will try to make you pay a 2000 euro deposit on top of the insurance. This company charged 10 euro per day and delivered and picked up the car for us...excellent customer service! If it weren't for the receptionist, Christina, we would have been stuck without a car and the lodging is too far away from the city center to walk.

The only real complaint we had was the shower. It sprayed water all over the bathroom and we only had 2 towels to mop it up. Fortunately, the Christina had more towels sent to our apartment.

i loved the privacy and the beautiful villas but wish they were cleaner, too many ants everywhere

Villa was perfect

Zwembad + bar