OurMadeira - Heart of Old Town II

Brilliant location, right in the heart of the old town but amazingly not noisy. It doesn't look too promising from outside but as soon as you open the door to the top apartment you are met with a lovely open, light airy space. The bedroom balcony looks down on to the bustling tiny alley ways of Funchal. All in all a great place to stay. But there are a couple of minor negatives.

The owners to us did not come across as very friendly or particularly helpful. They seemed very brusque with their instructions and there was a lot of "do's and don'ts". The apartment although as I've said a lovely space we think suffers from a particularly bad damp problem. We say this because there was a very strong plug in air freshener going and because my wife is suffers respiratory problems with these we switched it off. And after a few hours you could smell the possible damp. But this wouldn't put us off staying again. We really liked it 🙂 Oh, one more thing, if you are staying on top floor you've got two flights of very steep stairs to climb, not great with the suitcases.....

The location was excellent. Endless restaurants on our doorstep, adjacent to the cable car, food shops nearby as well as the meeting point for all the tours and departure points for boat excursions, We were also able to swim nearby in the sea. The apartment was perfect for the two of us. We had a small issue when we arrived but we contacted the host and the next morning, even though it was a Sunday, someone came around early to sort it.

The local sewage system sometimes smells (in the street) and, from time-to-time there were bad odours in the bathroom but I don't think this was the fault of the apartment itself. Ultimately, it did not detract from our holiday and we would stay here again.

Quite loud due to location, but if you dont mind it, you will like it. No parking in the street, bit difficult with luggages. Our apartmenet was in the 2nd floor so not recommended for older people.

The apartment is really, really exceptionally nice. I was a little worried about the noise from Rua de Santa Maria side (bedroom) but decided to risk it having seen what seemed to double windows/doors. And they turned out to be exactly that, and the apartment is perfectly quiet. However, there are no curtains, so adult things with lights off only if you prefer privacy ;) (By the way there is no door if you plan to book for three). The bed is king size (I guess) with good quality mattress and bedding. There are two key locked night stands by each side, a wardrobe and big chest of drawers. The kitchen is equipped with microwave, dishwasher (some tablets provided), fridge and induction cooker. All of which was clean. There is a set of pots and cutlery, plates and glasses, a kettle and I think a coffee maker. There is a washing machine, drying rack, an iron but I was not able to locate an iron board. And there is very nice touch to it, but I am not gonna spoil it for you ;) The patio at the opposite side is sooo nice. Depending on the wind - there is some smell from the restaurants or none. But if there is - not too invasive.

Just one thing, but really important. The shower was disgustingly dripping with mouldy gunk when I arrived plus there was some hair. I got in touch with the host and they did send housekeeping personnel to fix this within an hour. But: when they arrived they asked "what needs to be cleaned" and cleaned only the spots indicated, leaving the rest disgusting as it was, though the mould was clearly visible. Kind of hilarious so I just left it at that. I should hope this will never happen again. The rest of the bathroom was clean.

Location. Easy parking. Cable TV.

Slight smell from bathroom pipes.

Great location